We’re excited to highlight the August LOLA of the Month
Congratulations Kat Murti!
Meet Kat…
Kat Murti serves as the Communications Director and Washington D.C. Chapter Leader of the Ladies of Liberty Alliance (LOLA). She is also co-founder and Executive Director of Feminists for Liberty, a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting libertarian feminist ideas and voices. She works as the Associate Director of Audience Engagement and Acquisition for the Cato Institute in D.C. Murti also serves on the boards of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the White Coat Waste Project. Before working at Cato, Murti worked at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She grew up between North Texas and South India, got a political science degree at the University of California at Berkeley, and now lives and works in Washington, D.C. with her husband. As an outspoken, principled, and dedicated advocate for liberty in both her personal and professional lives, Kat truly embodies what it means to be a Lady of Liberty.
We asked Kat about her experiences in LOLA thus far. Here’s what she had to say!
How did your involvement with LOLA begin?
I first got involved in LOLA way back in early 2012, before the chapter model even began. I met Nena Whitfield in late 2011, soon after she had established the Ladies of Liberty Alliance (originally started in 2009!) as a full-time educational nonprofit. As a young woman who had recently started a career in liberty, LOLA’s mission of empowering female leaders within the liberty movement immediately interested me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about an organization only for ladies, but I was excited to meet other libertarian women, learn how to advance my career, and discuss ways in which women specifically are negatively impacted by government policies around the world. The opportunity to participate in free professional development workshops (including my first on-screen TV training!) drew me in, and once I got involved, I felt immediately welcomed as a valued member of the community. I enjoyed the fun activities we got to participate in (some early highlights include going to the shooting range and a cooking lesson), and was deeply honored when Nena asked me to help lead the newly-formed D.C. chapter. Over the many years since, I have participated in myriad fun activities (ranging from movie nights to structured debates and even a Milton Friedman-themed sleepover) and watched my bonds with other women in the movement grow.
“Over and over again, I hear women say they are a part of the liberty movement because of LOLA, and if it weren’t for their interactions with the Ladies of Liberty Alliance, they wouldn’t have considered themselves libertarians or delved deeper into the ideas of liberty at all.”
Kat (back row, far left) at the 2018 LOLA Retreat.
What is your favorite part of your role with LOLA?
Before I joined LOLA, I was skeptical of gender-segregated organizations, but being part of LOLA has shown me the value of a space exclusively for libertarian and liberty-curious women. Prior to joining, I never really noticed that I was often the only woman in the room. Now, I am part of an international network of smart, passionate women who are dedicated to individual liberty and building a better world. I have so many new (and now old!) friends around the globe I can reach out to any time. We discuss frequently overlooked or ignored issues and policies in a way that I haven’t seen anywhere else in the libertarian movement, specifically because we are all women (two such topics my chapter has addressed have been birth freedom and access to menstrual products). LOLA supports libertarian women in a way no other organization does, and I have watched many interns grow into a full-fledged professional libertarian, all while relying on fellow LOLAs for career advice and job leads. Over and over again, I hear women say they are a part of the liberty movement because of LOLA, and if it weren’t for their interactions with the Ladies of Liberty Alliance, they wouldn’t have considered themselves libertarians or delved deeper into the ideas of liberty at all.
Why is LOLA important to women in your community?
D.C. is unusual in that, while we definitely do have chapter members who work in other fields, the vast majority work in the liberty movement. Because of LOLA, I have close friends at essentially every liberty org in D.C. (and beyond). Having a support network of women with similar interests, values, and careers to discuss work, life decisions, and more has been invaluable. The professional connections I have developed through LOLA have been every bit as valuable as the social ones. LOLA fulfills an important role in the liberty movement, creating a space for libertarian women to gather, discuss issues, and work together to find solutions. Without LOLA, we would have far fewer women (and people in general) who identify as libertarians. Whenever I meet women who are new to the movement (or even women who are simply curious about liberty), I always tell them to join LOLA.
Can you tell us the story of how you found Liberty?
I have probably always been a libertarian, but I didn’t know what one was until I was 15 years old. I was on a cannabis message board, explaining that while, yes, of course, all drugs should be legal, I was worried about what taxation and regulation would look like in a post-Prohibition world. Someone on the board told me I sounded a lot like a libertarian and sent me the four-way political chart quiz. Unsurprisingly, that’s exactly what I scored as. I Googled “libertarian” and found resources from the Cato Institute. Throughout most of my life, I had been frustrated that no one seemed to share my ideas for how to build a better world, but for the first time, I was seeing policy positions that almost perfectly aligned with mine. Nowadays, I work at Cato and I love being able to dedicate my life to the values and policies I’ve always been passionate about.
How do you balance being a LOLA chapter leader with other roles in your daily life?
My involvement in LOLA has enriched my life in countless ways. Not only does LOLA provide a social circle of smart, talented, interesting women, but it has also helped expand my professional networks and deepened my understanding of liberty. LOLA was a valuable resource when I started Feminists for Liberty, a libertarian feminist 501(c)3 nonprofit aimed at eliminating sexism without the state. LOLA co-hosted many of our early events, and LOLA chapters and the larger organization invited me and my co-founder, Elizabeth Nolan Brown, to speak at conferences, meetings, and webinars. LOLA and F4L have shared booth space at LibertyCon and other events, and I was able to rely on my fellow LOLAs for help and advice getting legally incorporated—and LOLA president Nena is even on our board of directors!
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