After six years of teaching middle school in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Katy started out with two suitcases of Indian jewelry in her parents' antique shop in Waunakee in 1974. Up until then, Indian jewelry was not known outside of Arizona and New Mexico. Slowly the business grew and Katy's Turquoise Shop moved to the corner of Regent and Allen Streets in Madison, WI in 1977. And then in 1983, Katy made the move to Monroe Street and became Katy's American Indian Arts, adding a wide range of Southwest arts and crafts. Since the beginning, it's always been important to Katy to represent artists who might not otherwise have the opportunity to sell their work. And to this day she continues to represent the next generations of these same artists she first represented back in 1977.