Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Kathryn Roberts has lived in Berlin, Germany for 13 years now. She runs a media business, thrives artistically in the city’s incredible music scene, and teaches fitness and boxing at Box Girls Berlin. Who would guess she’s from Monticello?!
Roberts grew up on a farm on the Boston Freeway, the daughter of nurseryman Gordon Roberts and Dottie McPherson Roberts. She attended Aucilla Christian Academy until fourth grade, and even when she moved away, she was back in Jefferson County for vacations, summers, and other free time. Of his life in Monticello, Roberts remembers hanging out at the Jefferson Country Club pool, visiting Barbara Hughes at Milady’s Shop, and spending many Saturdays at William Hughes’ Jefferson Ace Hardware.
Roberts started making music seriously when she went to college at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, where she majored in media studies and played in the hip hop group Function for a while. six years. After college, she returned to North Florida, trying out the music scene in Tallahassee and putting her media degree to work at Penny Pincher, then FSU’s Mag Lab, where she did graphic design, photography and audiovisual support and finally at Adventures in Advertising. , where Howard Libin’s mentorship showed him how to run a small media business that could still have high returns.
Roberts lived for a time in Athens, Georgia, where there were more venues for musicians than in Tallahassee. Eventually, however, she was drawn to Berlin, where she believes all-night clubs offer ten times the opportunity to perform, even compared to the music scene she experienced in Paris and London. where clubs close at 2am.
“Berlin is a major artists’ center,” says Roberts. “I’ve never seen anything like it, personally. Once you’re there, as an artist, you see things differently. The skill level goes up. It’s a blessing as an artist. It gives you mental space to lean on. I was in a space where I could access my brain deeply.
His Berlin band, Dungeon Mob Collective, creates psychedelic soul and g-funk. Roberts also runs his own media company, M-ARCHETYPES, which focuses on marketing for musicians and artists. Additionally, she has maintained an interest in sports all her life, and now she is reaching a point where all three areas of interest – music, marketing, and sports – merge into one.
Roberts started playing football in college, was a member of its varsity football team, and played in the Tallahassee Open Football Leagues. She spent several years snowboarding at the sponsored semi-professional level, being part of the Farmer’s Backside Snowboarding Team. When Roberts arrived in Berlin, she played football but then took up boxing. She teaches at Box Girls Berlin, a private gym where she is happy to be paid to work out.
Recently, Roberts has developed a style of electronic music specifically for fitness workouts. With this venture, she aims to market a healthier option for accessing music by linking it to gyms rather than bars.
Looking to the future, Roberts begins to explore how to take his fitness music beyond Berlin. She hopes to start offering fight camps for girls internationally and is currently partnering with gyms that could offer her program. She envisions being able to travel more, including spending more time in the United States. Keeping in touch with her mother and her three sisters has become a priority. Interestingly, a perfect midpoint between their homes, which currently stretch from northern Georgia to southern Florida, is Jefferson County, where Roberts plans to return more often.
