Kate Parfet is a writer, creative strategist, occasional model and co-founder of Wiggle Room, a creative studio focused on modern family life. Her book,Milking a Duck, brings together poetry, art and photography about endometriosis, infertility and motherhood. She lives in LA's Mount Washington neighborhood with her husband, Danny, and their son, Louis. Today, we’re talking to Kate about her many interests and how she brings her full self to all of them. 

1. We’re such huge fans of your work around women’s health advocacy. What was the moment when you decided you wanted to give this area more of your attention?

Even with all my privilege and access, getting good care was incredibly hard. I had severe endometriosis, went through IVF, and spent years finding the right doctors, dealing with insurance and learning to advocate for myself.

What helped me most were other women. Friends and friends of friends were so generous with their experiences, recommendations and information. I madeMilking a Duck as a way of processing my own experience, and as I started talking about it more openly, women I'd never met began reaching out. Some wanted doctors' names, others just wanted to share what they were going through.

My DMs are still open, and lately I've started getting groups of women together to have these conversations in person. So much of women's health has been treated as private or taboo for so long, which is ridiculous. Every time we get together, I learn something I wish I'd known years ago.

2. We’re also, of course, big fans of your work at Wiggle Room. Can you tell us how the studio came to be?

Emma and I kept talking about how marketing tends to speak to women in these very specific chapters: the bride, the new mother, now the menopausal woman. As though we all move through life in this neat sequence, when of course we don't. And there's so much else going on at the same time.

After I had Louis, I was obviously consumed by motherhood, but I still cared about clothes, sex, restaurants, my friendships, my home, all the things I'd always been interested in.

I think we just wanted to build a studio that spoke to that whole person. Motherhood changes so much about your life, but you're still you.

3. Which projects from this past year are you most proud of?

Some of my favorite projects this year have involved food. Our friends at Good Bacteria just celebrated their one-year anniversary, which reminded me of the launch dinner we put together for them. Gut health can be a little abstract, so we figured it would be more fun to eat our way through the subject than talk about it. We created an ecological dining experience, a fermentation workshop and a farm stand. 

I love when food is actually part of the idea, not just something you tack onto an event because people need dinner.

We've been lucky to work with incredible women in food this year, including Kyna Payawal, Heidi Ross, Zehra Ahmed and Camilla Marcus! They all interpret ideas so differently, which is half the fun.

4. Events are a huge part of your work. What do you think most people get wrong when planning / hosting an event?

The guest list. Chemistry is everything.

I think we've become more obsessed with who's influential than who's actually interesting. The best guest lists have a few people you wouldn't expect.

And then you need just enough structure that no one's standing alone pretending to text, but enough room for the night to become its own thing. I'd almost always rather have 20 people squeezed around a table at someone's house than 200 in an event space.

5. What or who are you most inspired by these days?

Women in their 40s and 50s. Everyone seems to be getting weirder and more compelling. Maybe just more themselves. There's less performing.

Rapid fire

Favorite way to use avocado oil:

Honestly, salmon. Avocado oil, salt, very hot pan.

Best restaurant in LA:

Speranza is my forever answer. Easy, consistently good, never gets old. We recently had a fantastic meal at Cafe Triste, and Belle's Bagels is in very heavy rotation with our almost three-year-old.

Movie you’ve seen the most times:

EitherGood Will Hunting orThe Talented Mr. Ripley. Wow, double Damon.

Your tried-and-true, go-to recipe:

Grandma Betty's Swiss Steak

Ingredients

6 pieces beef round

3/4 C flour

Salt + pepper

1/2 stick unsalted butter

2 carrots, grated

2 sticks celery, grated

1 yellow onion, peeled + grated

Mix flour, salt + pepper in a bowl.

Pound meat w/ side of knife to tenderize. Dredge in flour + place on plate.

Melt butter in a very large, deep skillet. Brown meat on both sides.

Cover meat w/ carrots, celery + onion. Add enough water to fully cover.

Cook on low for 2–3 hours, checking hourly to see if more water is needed.

In final 30 mins, allow 90% of water to cook off.

Serve w/ mashed potatoes.

 

Thing you’re leaving behind in 2026:

Being impressed by being busy.