About Courtney Krishnamurthy

I grew up in Northeast Tennessee, in the midst of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains. Living my entire childhood near the lake, I was an avid swimmer, lake rat, and rock collector at an early age. Some of my earliest memories are of my mom and dad, swinging me by my arms in the water after work, which usually resulted in me getting my clothes completely soaked and running back up the hill to our apartment in my birthday suit. We spent a lot of time in the mountains as well, hiking, camping, picnicking with the family. An only child, I formed close bonds with my extended family, and I’m lucky to have been surrounded by so much love growing up. I enjoyed many years with not only my grandparents, but most of my great grandparents as well.

There came a time to leave the nest, and for me it was fairly early. At 18 years old I packed up my belongings to attend a fine art school in Kansas City. My foundation year led to me discovering a love for photography I didn’t have before arriving here, resulting in a BFA with a focus Photography & New Media. I’ve shown my work in galleries in Missouri, Kansas, and California, as well as in a few publications. My love of photography was partially due the work and manipulation I would do in the dark room, and though I utilize my skills through digital photography, I haven’t found the same love I had for film. Thus one chapter fades while another emerges.

Art school was wonderful, but being somewhat pragmatic and wanting a more secure future, I decided to move into a different arena. My first job out of college rather randomly ended up being in online advertising which was just getting going at the time. Over the years I worked my way up from operations to creative direction and account management to program management to product marketing, most recently at Yahoo! and Adobe. I had the privilege to work with many high-profile clients over the years, though I would have to say one of my favorites was working with Electronic Arts since I could legitimately play games as part of my job.

In 2012 I decided to take a short break from the online world, and that short break became longer and longer as chances to travel kept popping up. My mom loved to travel, and I’m lucky I married a man who also loves to travel, maybe more than me! After spending a few weeks in Japan that year, we settled down for a short stint in London where we were able to bounce around Europe and even head over to Morocco before finding our way back to California. Around that time, deciding I finally had the time and money to take a yoga teacher training, I did, and the rest is history. The past few years I’ve been doing the extremely scary thing of letting go of my more secure job to pursue my passions, yoga being a big one! I also continue to run my first business, Madd Hatter’s Lab, where you can catch a glimpse of my photography.

Besides photography, yoga, swimming, traveling, and hiking I love to play golf, listen to music (my tastes range from classic rock to 90s gangsta rap to reggae), and cook. A few years ago I was inspired by friends who were reconnecting with their families while making my recipes, so I decided to share the recipes with a larger audience through Madd Hatter’s Kitchen. With the work I put into Om Fairy today, Madd Hatter’s Kitchen doesn’t get quite as many new posts as it once did, but there’s at least a good 200+ recipes already on the site which I keep coming back to myself. New additions do on occasion make an appearance.

While my interests seem varied, at the heart of it all, I love to create new things and I love to be in the sunshine. Whether I’m creating a new recipe, art, or a yoga sequence, the ability to dream something up and make it reality is my passion, and it’s what keeps me going. Seeing others realize they have that ability brings me tremendous joy, and it’s why I put my heart and soul into helping others discover their inner-guru through yoga. All the answers are within us, we just need to listen.