Our Story
SunRoot began with a spark — a circle of women gathered in the countryside outside Austin, TX to pause, move, and listen inward…
Kate hosted that retreat for her 40th birthday in 2022, inviting friends and fellow creatives into a day of reflection and creative restoration. Heather led yoga that morning, and something unexpected unfolded: women who arrived as strangers left feeling connected, seen, and creatively renewed.
That moment shifted something in both of them. As mothers, community builders, and artists in their own ways, Kate and Heather felt firsthand how presence, movement, and shared expression can awaken a deep sense of lifeforce — the kind that makes everything else flow with more ease. They began wondering how to offer that experience more widely, to the people in their communities who were craving space to slow down, reconnect, and reclaim their creative voice.
Three years later, that seed has grown into SunRoot — a creative-wellness initiative supporting people who create deeply and care deeply. Co-founded by musician and facilitator Kate Priestley and educator, coach, and somatic practitioner Heather Wong, SunRoot brings together their complementary gifts: artistry, movement, reflection, presence, and a shared commitment to community.
At SunRoot, we see creativity as lifeforce — an energy that fuels how we care, create, and connect. Through grounded practices, embodied experiences, and circles of support, we offer spaces to pause, replenish, and nurture creative self-expression. Our gatherings help people return to their art, their relationships, and their lives with more presence, clarity, and purpose.
Together, Kate and Heather are building a framework for sustainable creative living — one where care and creativity move in rhythm again, and where people leave feeling rooted, resourced, and inspired.
How We Met
Way back—when technology was apparently limited (as evidenced by the photo)—Kate and Heather met in 2014.
Kate and Heather’s story begins long before SunRoot had a name—back in 2014, in the middle of Austin’s live music scene.
At the time, Heather had just started dating Nick, a bassist in KP & the Boom Boom—Kate’s band. One night, Heather came out to see the band play at a local Austin show. Music, movement, and that unmistakable Austin aliveness filled the room—and after the gig, Kate and Heather met.
They didn’t know it then, but that moment planted a quiet seed.
Over the years, life unfolded. The pandemic hit, and suddenly many of the Boom Boom crew started having kids—five pregnancies all around the same time (three bandmates and two bandmates’ partners). We lovingly call them the Boom Boom babies. Heather and Nick would eventually marry. And through it all, Heather and Kate’s connection shifted and deepened—woven through shared values, creative sensibilities, and a mutual understanding of what it means to nurture others while staying connected to inner life and creativity.
Their paths continued to cross through music, community, and friendship, long before they ever imagined building something together. One night, at a friend’s gathering at Scoot Inn, music played, tears were shed, and they found themselves talking about a possible business venture—sparked by Kate’s 40th birthday retreat.
SunRoot grew from years of lived experience and a relationship rooted in creativity, community care, and trust. What began in a music venue circled back around twelve years later in another music venue—and eventually found its way into circles, retreats, and practices designed to help others return to themselves.
Some things take time to reveal what they’re becoming.
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