The Friendship Stone Team

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Founder and President

Cathy, the second of three daughters, was born in Ocala, Florida but grew up in Columbus, Georgia. She earned a Bachelor of Journalism with Honors from The University of Texas with an emphasis on photojournalism. After studying commercial photography in Pasadena, California, Cathy moved to Israel where she has lived for the past 25 years. Cathy made her name in portrait and food photography before forming the My Stone Company in 2005.

Growing up in Columbus, Cathy was nicknamed ‘Raffi’, thanks to having another 5 Kathy’s in her class. She still remains in touch with many of her school friends. After graduating from university, Cathy continued her studies at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, majoring in commercial photography. Here she met her best friend, Lauré Warren, who has been an essential part of the development project for The Friendship Stone.

On a trip to Kenya, Cathy met an Israeli man who made a lasting impression on her. His daughter welcomed her into their home and helped Cathy to understand the cultures and traditions of her new country. The love and support Cathy received from this “adopted” family helped her move to a new Country an easy one.

Cathy met and married the man of her dreams at the age of 31.

They tried to start a family right away, but discovered that Cathy was unable to become pregnant. It took four years and twelve unsuccessful in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments before Cathy and her husband turned to surrogacy. In the years that followed, three amazing women brought three healthy children into Cathy’s and her husband’s lives.

With each child, (a daughter from her husband's previous marriage, then a son and two more daughters) Cathy’s work week became shorter and shorter. Her husband began working with a high tech company with long hours and many trips abroad, so Cathy put her career on the back burner to spend time with her children.

Cathy faced many medical difficulties throughout her life, diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitus when she was a freshman in college. On her 21st birthday, she had a total Colectomy (total removal of the large intestine): “I knew this was really my ‘birthday’, as I felt re-born on the day after I awoke from surgery. Because I had been medically challenged so many times, I realized the disease I dealt with on a daily basis was actually a gift. I spent quite a lot of time thinking about life and what was important to me.

“Before my surgery, I had forgotten what life was without pain. I could not imagine what it was like to have energy or even the desire to get up in the morning. Several months after the surgery, all of a sudden, I realized I did not think about my stomach for over an hour! I started crying tears of disbelief. From that moment on, there has not been a day that I am not aware of the feeling of being pain free; I feel amazing and love this life!”

This set into motion a series of ideas Cathy shared with the people closest to her. The conclusion was that these stones would be a wonderful symbol to remind people of some of the things that are most important in life; the things that have taken Cathy through a lot of challenging times: “I love the idea of the stone being passed along as a reminder of the importance of friendship, the power of a positive attitude, and as a reminder of the pleasure of giving, even spontaneously! It is smooth, beautifully vibrant and lasting. It could go with you in your pocket, sit near your computer, or be tucked in some special place to be re-discovered, creating a sense of well-being that this person who gave them the stone was important to them, for all the reasons I mentioned above”.

The Friendship Stone was born.

After much research, Cathy discovered this particular quality of Tiger’s Eye stones only come from a small area in South Africa. So she travelled to the place where they originate, to learn as much as she could about the source and tumbling of these amazing stones. While she was there, she saw many homes in the area that did not have running water. She made a promise to herself that when The Friendship Stone took off and circled the globe, she would GIVE BACK to this community and help bring running water into their homes to tangibly improve their lives, Project South Africa.

The Friendship Stone has evolved over the past five years. The best part of the entire process was having so many talented friends join Cathy on her journey; each offering their own expertise to help fulfil the dream of spreading her message around the globe.