Meet Katie
Dog groomer. Creative. Photographer. The person behind Rise With Design.
I have spent over 10 years working professionally within the pet industry and I am qualified to Level 3 in dog grooming, with additional qualifications in grooming assistance and animal care.
During that time I have worked with a wide variety of breeds, supported and trained apprentices, worked closely with pet owners and developed a real understanding of what goes into running a professional grooming business.
Grooming has taught me far more than how to create a great finish. It has taught me patience, attention to detail, how to read dogs and how much care goes into creating an experience that customers trust enough to return to again and again.
Alongside grooming, I have always had another side to me. I have always loved photography, art and design. I notice details. I enjoy creating things. I like finding ways to take something that already has heart and character and present it in a way that allows other people to see it too.
Rise With Design is where those two parts of my life meet.
Level 3 Dog Grooming · Level 2 Grooming Assistant · Level 2 Animal Care
Why I started Rise With Design
Over the years I have seen some incredibly talented groomers doing beautiful work, but you would not always know it from looking at their photographs online.
Not because they do not care about their business, but because they are busy running it.
When you are grooming dogs all day, answering messages, cleaning the salon, managing appointments and dealing with everything else that comes with being self employed, photography and content creation often happen in whatever few minutes are left.
I know that because I have been there too.
A quick photo gets taken between appointments. A post gets written late at night. A beautiful groom is photographed against whatever happens to be in the background. Then the next day starts and the same thing happens again.
The idea behind Rise With Design was simple. What if groomers did not have to become photographers, designers and content creators as well?
What if somebody who already understood grooming could help them capture the quality that is already there?
That idea became Rise With Design.
It is also why I write about showing the person behind the grooming business.
A creative service built around real grooming businesses
Rise With Design is not intended to be a generic marketing agency and I do not want every business I work with to come out looking the same.
I want to understand what makes your business yours.
Perhaps your salon is calm and quiet and you are known for working with nervous dogs.
Perhaps you have built a lively team and your personality is part of why customers love coming to you. Maybe your work is highly polished and premium, or perhaps your brand is warm, rustic and relaxed.
There is no single correct way for a grooming business to look.
My job is to listen, understand what makes yours different and create photography and visual content that helps other people see it.
That is why Rise With Design is being developed through real projects with real groomers, learning what genuinely saves them time and helps them present their business with confidence.
I want every client to look at their images and think, yes, that feels like us.
Qualifications and industry experience
I hold a Level 3 Dog Grooming qualification, a Level 2 Grooming Assistant qualification and a Level 2 Animal Care qualification, supported by 10 years of practical experience within the professional pet grooming industry.
That experience means I am comfortable working in a salon environment, understand the importance of animal welfare and safety and know how to work around a busy grooming day without expecting the dogs or the business to behave like a photography studio.
It also means I understand what groomers are proud of, what their clients care about and the details that deserve to be captured.