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Ever Wonder How The Carefullist Got Its Name? Canvas Rebel explores this topic with founder, Katie Kristofic
Jan 26, 2025
We were lucky to catch up with Katie Kristofic recently and have shared our conversation below. 
Alright, Katie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
The Carefullist was founded in honor of my mom and my family’s experience with caregiving during her journey with Alzheimer’s. Initially, I wanted to include her name in the company name somehow, but that proved to be difficult while also successfully hinting at what the company does.
And then, of course, you have the challenges of names already being used or too close to what you selected so you have to think of something else. I grabbed a post-it note and wrote down a bunch of keywords associated with what the business did and came up with some options.
Then, I shared the list and company mission with some super creative former colleagues. They all voted and made some suggested tweaks and that’s how The Carefullist was born. To break it down for everyone, we are an online resource for family caregivers; folks who are providing long-term care at home for loved ones with disease or disability who need assistance.
The information we provide is a carefully vetted list of resources. There was some discussion about whether the second L should be capitalized but we decided against it since it would show up as a lower case L in many instances anyway. I still wanted to be able to pay homage to my mom in some way, and that’s where the logo comes into play.
To the outsider, it won’t mean much, but there are layers to those branches underneath the business name. They form a V where they come together in the middle, for my Mom’s name- Vicki.
They expand and go in different directions to replicate the fragmentation a caregiver experiences trying to find answers to myriad questions. And if you look at the branches starting from the outside and moving toward the middle, they form a simple, clean funnel. That’s exactly my intention for this platform- to distill everything that’s out there into one place and become a trusted resource that helps people in this deeply personal experience. 

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Career-wise, I spent 20 years in various sales and marketing communications roles in pharma and biotech. The main theme with all of these jobs was that they helped people, each role more directly than the last. In my late 20s, I noticed changes with my mom. Then in my early 30s, I knew something was very wrong.
She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2015. I was a long-distance caregiver while my dad and sister were her primaries. Over the years, I’d figured out how I could still support and participate in her care but it was difficult. The internet is a vast place with lots of information…if you can find what you need when you need it. I kept thinking someone had to create a website that brought all of this information together in one place. 
I call 2023 the year of two pushes and a shove. I experienced my first layoff in January- that was push number one. Push number two came with my mom’s passing in early September 2023. The shove happened three weeks later when I was laid off again. That was a bad month. I wallowed for a while. I binge-watched a show and then I came back to my idea; an online resource and community for caregivers. It still didn’t exist.
The average caregiver spends at least 13 hours every month on research for their person. Time is the one thing all caregivers lack. I spent tons of time looking for products, resources, information, and general help, and I didn’t even have the day-to-day care of my mom. I took the research and networking piece on as something I could do from afar. If The Carefullist can give time back to caregivers to spend with their loved one or take better care of themselves, then I will call that a success.
Caregivers are often isolated, lonely and burned out. The older they are, the more likely they will pass before the person receiving their care. This challenge is exacerbated by economics and access to healthcare. 
To ensure access for everyone, a portion of our site is free. We offer an annual membership option for $12.99 that grants access to The Carefullist Toolbox as a thank you for supporting our work. We are extremely honored to support folks in what can be the most challenging time of their lives. 

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My original plan and goal for The Carefullist was to build a website. When I started out, I quickly realized that I would need to establish a social presence first. There were a couple of reasons for this. First, the website was going to take time. Second, cultivating an audience was crucial to testing information and validating the direction I was going with the information to be included in the website.
The next major pivot was that the original plan was to fund the website through grants. I was unable to secure grant money, so I had to fall back on what I knew about Wix to create my first version. I worked with a developer on a second version that implemented some features I didn’t know how to do on my own. 
I still have an unrealized vision for how I want the site to function to best serve our members and that is a work in progress. The ability to pivot and roll with the punches is absolutely necessary. I’m convinced companies that succeed aren’t better than the others, they just didn’t give up.
Any fun sales or marketing stories?
I still laugh about this story when I tell it. I was invited to be featured on a podcast. In all my years of marketing communications, I lined up plenty of opportunities for other people to sit in the hot seat and somehow avoided sitting there myself. I can confirm it is, in fact, a much bigger deal when it’s you!
I got through the interview and I’m not ashamed to say I was sweating in places I didn’t realize one could sweat. It went well and I found it exhilarating. During the closing portion of our conversation, off the record, the host mentioned to me that I should consider starting my own show. I laughed in his face (I’m not saying I should have, I’m just saying I did). 
Me? Host a podcast? Are you out of your mind? That’s not something I ever considered. He told me to think about it. I laughed again (I’m not a jerk, I swear) and we ended the call. When my husband asked how it went, I told him about the suggestion to host a podcast and I laughed even harder as I recalled the conversation.
He said, “Actually, it’s perfect. You talk to caregivers every day. You hear their stories, you see what they’ve created or started as a result and add them to the resources on your website. It would be awesome to give them a platform to tell their story and show why you’ve partnered with them.”
He wasn’t wrong. Neither of them were. When I silenced my imposter syndrome for a moment, it was clear that my next marketing move was to create a podcast. As a matter of fact, I’m recording season 2 of Carefullist, The Podcast right now.

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