About me: Katrina Breitenbach

I was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I have lived in North Carolina all my life (though I have traveled widely and visited more than a third of the U.S. thus far). I learned to read at the age of three, began telling stories at age four, started acting when I was eight, and have loved singing and dancing for as long as I can remember.

At High Point University, I majored in English, with a concentration in writing, and minored in music, taking three years of voice lessons and one year of piano. I also completed a year of graduate-level classes through Regent University’s online program, studying film, television, and playwriting.

I have studied contemporary and Shakespearean acting, voice, dance, and stage combat with film and theatre professionals from across the U.S., Canada, and Britain. I have appeared in productions in Cary, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Asheboro, N.C.; the Greensboro Playwrights’ Forum produced my short play “Best of All Possible Worlds” in January 2004.

In October 2007, I presented a paper on women in films of the 1930s and ’40s at the annual conference of the Virginia Association of Communication Arts and Sciences. I have also had articles and photographs published in several periodicals, including The Leader and Southeast Equine.

About Lady Steel Ministries

My faith

My parents were still very new Christians when I was born — they were deeply committed to and enthusiastic about their faith. By the time I was four years old, I knew I wanted a relationship with God; my mother led me in the prayer of salvation as we knelt beside my bed.

I grew up going to church two or three times a week, participating in children’s musicals, attending Vacation Bible School, memorizing Scripture. At the age of eight, I was baptized (the old-fashioned way: dunked in a lake), and I recommitted my life to the Lord.

My parents lived out their faith by opening their home to people who needed a place to stay: a bag lady, a woman recently released from a psychiatric ward, a teenager from a group home, a young girl whose mother was in jail. Their example taught me to see every human being I met as a child of God, regardless of age, race, gender, background, or socioeconomic status.

Not everyone believes that, of course, and as I grew up, I met people with cruelty, selfishness, hatred, bitterness, and prejudice in their hearts. I discovered that life could be unfair and painful. I struggled with depression; I questioned God; I questioned my purpose on Earth, even my very existence.

Yet I never felt abandoned by God, and I never abandoned my relationship with God. I discovered that there are few easy answers in life — and so, as God helped me to heal from the wounds life (and other people) had dealt me, I found myself reaching out to others. “[W]e can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (II Cor. 1:4, NIV).

If you have never walked through the dark valley of depression, how can you say “I understand” to someone struggling with depression? If you grew up in a happy, functional family, how can you truly have empathy for someone dealing with the scars of abuse? If you have never felt crippling fear, how can you help someone paralyzed by the inner voices of doubt and criticism?

I have been in all of those circumstances; I can say truthfully, “I understand.” My goal in my ministry is not to give easy answers — often, there are none. My desire is to offer hope, support, and encouragement to those who so desperately need it — and to explain how all of us can learn to be compassionate, empathetic friends and supporters to those around us.

Where did the name come from?

In Joshua 1:6, God said to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.” Ten times in the Bible, that phrase appears (the eleventh time, God said to Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous”). God said it to Joshua, to Moses, to the children of Israel. Moses said it to Joshua. David said it to Solomon. Hezekiah said it to the people of Israel.

I believe, then, that the commandment is not just for men, but for all people. Including women. As women, however, we have few examples around us — or even in the Bible — of what it means to be “strong and courageous” as a woman.

I certainly didn’t. God made me an adventurer — I have no doubt of that. From the time I was young, I loved to climb trees and ride horses, go fishing and hiking, and pal around with the boys. And yet, there were many things I longed to do — but did not do because I was afraid.

In 2003, a friend of mine gave me the chance to participate in a staged swordfight. The first time he laid a sword hilt in my hand, I felt a tremor run through me, and I knew that this experience was about to change my life. Even though my character lost the fight, I won something for myself — a self-confidence I’d never had before.

It was not about the violence. I am not a violent person. I abhor violence. But the sword is a Biblical weapon. The word “sword” appears in the Bible more than 400 times. The Bible itself, according to Ephesians 6:17, is the “sword of the Spirit” (NIV).

Holding a sword in my hand and learning to use it — as an actor (stage combat is very different from fencing or SCA fighting) — brought out the warrior side of me. I discovered a strength in myself that I had barely glimpsed before. Over the course of the next three years, I attended stage combat classes, workshops, and lessons, training with film and theatre professionals from across the U.S., Canada, and Britain. I pushed myself to new limits physically, emotionally, and mentally. I lost weight; I gained muscle and conditioning. By 2006, I was in the best shape I had ever been in my life.

As a tribute to that strength — of body, mind, soul, spirit, and character — I named my web site “Lady Steel.” I believe in being a lady — kind, compassionate, gentle, respectful. But as another actor put it to me when she saw the name, “You are a steel lady.” Steel, when forged correctly, is one of the strongest metals on earth. It can be used to create swords — or buildings, bridges, and sculptures. Lady Steel, then, is a tribute to the strong woman of faith that I am learning to be — and that I hope many women will learn to be as well.