April 29, 2025
After seemingly constant nine-to-five days (and sometimes evenings) engaging with community members and collaborating with colleagues, it can be daunting for natural introverts to find the energy to put themselves out there and network.
Katelynn Morgenstern, AICP, director of planning and zoning in Kennett Township, Pennsylvania, had this exact problem. She solved it by diving headfirst into social media. In "Getting Connected: How Social Media Curated My Career" at the American Planning Association's (APA) National Planning Conference (NPC25) in April 2025 in Denver, she talked about how that helped her gain the skills to approach in-person situations confidently.
She also sat down during NPC25 with APA Editor in Chief Meghan Stromberg for an episode of People Behind the Plans, an APA podcast. She shared her origin story, tips for newbies, and why she believes the best social media profile is one that is authentic. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Listen to the whole conversation at planning.org/podcast.
MEGHAN STROMBERG: How did this all start for you — leveraging social media to further your professional skills?
KATELYNN MORGENSTERN: As an introvert, the idea of having a conversation with a stranger is my own personal form of torture. I call that my networking nightmare. At NPC in 2017, in New York City, I'm walking around as a first-timer and seeing all these people chatting and connecting with one another and I'm thinking, "I don't know how I'm going to do this for four days."
Katelynn Morgenstern, AICP, is director of planning and zoning for Kennett Township, Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of Kate Morgenstern.
Enter social media. On a whim, I started my Twitter account @CityPlannerKate and used the #NPC17 hashtag like my life depended on it. I ended up creating a powerful network of people who were at the conference and engaging with my content.
What I found through that experience was the impact and influence that creating a social media profile can have on your career if you use it in a careful and curated way. You have instant access, global reach. You can easily connect and share information, and you can have real-time collaboration and exchange ideas with anyone.
STROMBERG: Tell me about some of the other reasons you dove into social media.
MORGENSTERN: I was doing the work of municipal government planning, but often felt like my cup was not full and my planning practice wasn't touching on some of the more overarching planning themes. Social media became an outlet where I could talk about what I felt were important topics in planning that I didn't necessarily get to act on or participate in as part of my standard nine-to-five job. It helped me connect with other people who had similar passions and share ideas to make our communities better.
STROMBERG: What are some of those other planning themes?
MORGENSTERN: I've worked exclusively in the public sector and municipal government at the county and local levels. The work typically has been narrowly focused on addressing the task at hand, like current planning issues and responding to applying a zoning code, but it was not necessarily hitting the higher-level themes of equity, diversity, and inclusion, as well as housing policy or transportation policy.
I didn't have the influence or impact to steer projects to address those topics or do transportation planning, bicycle planning, or engage with other ideas I feel strongly about, like addressing hostile architecture in our built environment. I just felt that in your day-to-day job, you might focus on one thing, but that doesn't mean that as a professional you aren't interested in more.
STROMBERG: How does @CityPlannerKate differ from the real Kate Morgenstern?
MORGENSTERN: I would categorize myself as deeply introverted. I recharge and fill my energy stores by being alone, sitting in a quiet room. That is why, in some ways, I think social media resonates so well for me: I get to express my deepest thoughts without this fear of being around other people. It's nice to have that barrier in some ways because the initial expression of those thoughts can often feel scary or challenging.
STROMBERG: How has social media helped you build collaborative networks in real life?
MORGENSTERN: At NPC19 in San Francisco, I had been communicating with planners over the course of two years, and I felt I was ready to take the next step, so I put out a random tweet, inviting people to meet up. Ten people showed up, and I was so happy that we had the opportunity to connect and meet in-person.
That was the first time I felt that I had pushed myself out of my comfort zone. While at the end of that meeting, I was truly spent social-emotionally, it really reinforced to me that putting myself out there in this low-commitment way gave back so much more and solidified all of the connections I had made through using social media.
STROMBERG: On the flip side, have you ever had negative interactions online?
MORGENSTERN: Yes, so I want to make a clear distinction between my personality as @CityPlannerKate and the work that I do in my nine-to-five. The opinions I express on social media are my own and not necessarily that of my employer, but there have been times where, while working on projects in certain jurisdictions, there were folks who didn't necessarily agree with what I was working on, and they searched my name and found my personal social media accounts. [That was made public when] I was doxed at one point, and they called for me to be fired from my position simply because they didn't like something that was happening in the community.
There is certainly a balance with social media, because there can often be this more nefarious or negative side of being behind the screen and the empowerment that comes with not having to answer for or understand the repercussions of those actions.
STROMBERG: Cultivating one's own personal resilience is important. How do you recharge after a social interaction?
MORGENSTERN: I remind myself that when I'm starting to reach my social interaction limit, I need to find a way to step back and maybe that means going home for the night. It's OK to just take a minute to rest or go to another room for a moment to collect yourself and just breathe.
If I'm in a social setting or situation where I can't leave immediately, something I learned in one of my therapy practices is "3, 2, 1": I think of three things I can see, two things I can hear, and one thing I can smell. That helps ground me in the moment and recenter, refocus, and hopefully feel well enough to move along.
STROMBERG: What advice would you give to people just beginning or expanding their professional social media presence?
MORGENSTERN: Authenticity is certainly the one thing that shines through. Do something that you feel passionate about. That comes much easier than trying to force content or a particular thought or opinion.
I'm starting to rethink how the strategies I used in 2017 when I started my social media journey as a professional can relate to the trends and uses of social media today. Do the same platforms resonate, and can they help reach a broader audience? I'm going through that transition now of thinking about and understanding, "What does this look like for me moving forward?"
You never want to be out of date, or — at the risk of a silly metaphor — be the plan on the shelf. I want to be engaged in conversation and continue to make an impact in the profession through social media, so I'm trying to figure out how I can [use social media] that is authentic to myself, but also continues to contribute to the conversation, which I feel strongly called to do.
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