Lifestyle

Pandemic opens new doors for model Jeimmy Garzon

Published

3 years ago

August 30, 2022

Colombian model Jeimmy Garzon has been building a modeling career that has taken her around the world.

Jeimmy has immersed herself in a world of fashion, travel and beauty since she was 14 years old. But she found herself at a big of a crossroads when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.

“In March 2020, a few days before officials really started to announce the enormity of the pandemic, I arrived in London for a photo shoot,” she said. “Upon finishing the work, I was told that they were going to close the borders.”

In a fortunate stroke of luck, Jeimmy said she was able to secure a flight on the last plane back to Colombia from London. But it was on the flight that she started to realize the extent of the global situation.

“During the flight, I developed symptoms,” she said. “I reported it when we landed, and they took me directly to a clinic.”

The results of the COVID-19 test was not what Jeimmy was hoping for. She was positive for the virus and deemed contagious.

“I was out of action for a month,” she noted. “And then I spent several months in isolation.”

Being locked up in quarantine meant that Jeimmy’s modeling career would be put on hold for a while. It was the life she knew, but she knew there were so many more talents she could unleash in the meantime.

“I made use of this time to work on my social media channels,” she said.

While Jeimmy was confined to isolation like much of the world at the time, she took to Instagram, Facebook and TikTok where she grew a following creating fashion, beauty and food content.

She said while the pandemic created an immense amount of uncertainty for everyone across the globe, she found it was a time, personally, that would afford her the opportunity to take a deeper look at her future and focus on additional interests she had been thinking about.

“To be honest, this was a very positive and productive period,” she said. “It really didn’t set me back at all.”

Today, Jeimmy lives in Spain and her hard work during the COVID-19 lockdowns has paid off as her social media channels are thriving. And as her modeling career resumed in full force in February 2021, she now operates multiple avenues of business all based around the industry that she has always loved.

Now, as she looks to her future, she sees a world of exciting possibilities that are just waiting to be unleashed with her determination and talents.

“My goals from here include being involved in projects with different national brands, both on the catwalk and in the photography studio. I would also like to venture into television as well as music videos,” she said. “And ultimately, I would love to work internationally with world-renowned labels.”

To learn more about Jeimmy and follow her social media journey, visit her on Instagram, Facebook and @jeimmygarzon on TikTok.

Lifestyle

Kat Marie Alvarez: Where Innovation Meets Regulation

Published

2 hours ago

January 23, 2026

Michelle Langton

Regulation is often thought of as a limitation, yet in healthcare, it also serves as a foundation for building models that endure. For Kat Marie Alvarez, Founder and CEO of KATALYST & CO, the framework of rules established by agencies like CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) and the OIG ( office of the Inspector General) create opportunities to design systems that are compliant, ethical, and transformative. Her approach demonstrates that regulation can be a platform for innovation when it is interpreted with both technical rigor and vision.

Kat’s 25-year career reflects this philosophy. A former nurse who advanced into executive leadership and strategy, she has led $2.7B+ P&L operations, advised on over $5B in healthcare transactions, and guided value based organizations including Innovacare, Cano Health, WellMed, Centene, and Humana through periods of exponential scaling. Her perspective combines clinical, financial, and regulatory experience, giving her a unique ability to design structures that support integrity and accountability while driving measurable outcomes.

Turning Statutes into Strategy

For Kat, regulation serves as a framework for building smarter and more ethical models. She interprets CMS guidance and OIG rules as levers for innovation, using them to advance integrity and accountability. With the CMS V28 risk adjustment model, Alvarez refined coding practices, strengthened clinical documentation, and structured risk frameworks that reward accuracy and elevate standards of care. In addressing RADV audits, she crafted strategies that protect stakeholders while keeping patient outcomes at the forefront. She aligns compliance, cost, and care in equal measure. Her current work as a contributor to the CMS IDea Challenge, an initiative focused on strengthening the foundation of trust in our system, further echoes her commitment to advancing regulations in ways that unlock innovation while safeguarding the integrity of care.

Her interpretive approach brings discipline and vision to every challenge. She engages stakeholders to redesign workflows that meet regulatory requirements and enhance the patient experience. Each policy becomes a mechanism to strengthen accountability and operational precision, shaping a system that is both compliant and humane.

Innovation Built Within Boundaries

At KATALYST & CO, this interpretive approach is carried into every project. Kat has integrated predictive analytics and AI-driven tools into care models, with safeguards that ensure interventions remain clinician-led and ethically sound. For example, AI flags in chronic disease management are connected to human-led actions that improve patient care. The result is a model that benefits from technology while preserving accountability and clinical integrity.

Staffing and infrastructure provide another example of her philosophy in action. By leveraging offshore BPO operations in Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, KATALYST & CO extends capacity for health plans and providers. These expansions are carefully designed to meet data security, licensure, and jurisdictional requirements, ensuring that global reach is paired with local compliance. It is a system that balances scale with responsibility.

The Art of Influence Through Alignment

Kat often describes her role as translating complexity into clarity. Whether she is working with payers, providers, or investors, she builds consensus by grounding ambitious strategies in the language of statute. Value-based care models, utilization management programs, and clinical frameworks are designed to prove compliant ROI for stakeholders while maintaining patient focus.

Her approach begins with people. In integrations, partnerships, and platform builds, she respects legacy strengths, listens to frontline voices, and creates systems that are not only efficient but also trusted. This ensures that compliance does not feel like restriction, but like a structure that supports innovation and adoption.

Redefining the Future of Compliance and Care

KATALYST & CO is scaling with $10M in initial funding, expanded international operations, and a growing advisory portfolio. Under Kat’s leadership, the firm is showing how regulation can be a foundation for both innovation and durability. She demonstrates that lasting progress in healthcare is achieved by leaders who know how to design systems that are bold, ethical, and deeply human.

By approaching regulation as a guide rather than a limitation, Kat Alvarez is building models that prove compliance and innovation can move forward together. Her formula ensures that the future of healthcare is shaped not only by ambition, but also by trust and responsibility.