Tanya Ott: You lived—and thrived—in a male world for the first 50 years of your life. Describe your life today.
Katie Dudtschak: I am a parent to four incredible children — two boys and two girls. I am also an executive vice president with RBC in Toronto, where I have the privilege of leading our personal and commercial advisers across Canada — more than 20,000 experts serving 15 million Canadians. But to understand me, we have to rewind 80 years.
My parents grew up in Germany during the second world war. My mother was a child refugee and my father was a Russian prisoner of war. They both lost their parents to the war. Unfortunately, when they immigrated to Canada they brought the trauma from the war and their own upbringing with them, and that created trauma for my siblings and me. We grew up in a home with a lot of anxiety and verbal abuse. I also had learning challenges as a child. I feel certain that if an expert assessed me today, I would be diagnosed as dyslexic.
I came out to the world as Katie on June 17, 2019. Given that I’m a senior executive with over 30 years of experience, you might ask, ‘Why, at this point of your life?’ The practical reality is that each of us are whole human beings. Yes, I am a woman with gender transition experience, but I am a woman first. It has taken me many years to get to a place of full authenticity and peace with who I am. Today, I’m at a point in life where I
