COVER REVEAL COMING SOON
NORTH ATLANTIC BOOKS
MARCH 23, 2027
We Are
the Message
Rethinking Visibility, Marketing, and Power in the Digital Age
by Tristan Katz · foreword by Michelle Cassandra Johnson
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COMING MARCH ’27
❋
FROM NORTH ATLANTIC BOOKS
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PAPERBACK · EBOOK · AUDIOBOOK
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NARRATED BY TRISTAN
❋ COMING MARCH ’27 ❋ FROM NORTH ATLANTIC BOOKS ❋ PAPERBACK · EBOOK · AUDIOBOOK ❋ NARRATED BY TRISTAN
THE QUESTION AT THE CENTER
The internet is one of the places where culture gets made.
Every post, newsletter, launch, and comment thread carries values forward, repeating the norms we inherited or practicing the ones we hope to live by.
We Are the Message asks a question for anyone whose work, community, or livelihood runs through a screen: Are we building platforms to reinforce the world we live in, or to imagine the world we want?
Drawing on nearly two decades in marketing and communications, sociopolitical analysis, and embodied reflection, Tristan Katz reframes visibility and marketing as acts of cultural influence. The book traces how capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy shape what we see online, what we value, and whom we reward.
Then it turns toward what we can build instead: visibility rooted in relationship, accountability practiced as repair, and a digital presence that reflects the world we believe in.
WHO IT’S FOR
This book is for the voyagers building bridges as they go.
It’s for solopreneurs, creators, educators, organizers, healers, authors, and cultural workers whose livelihoods and ethics are bound up with being visible—and for anyone who feels conflicted about being online at all.
It speaks to queer, trans, BIPOC, disabled, and trauma-impacted readers who navigate hypervisibility and erasure at once, and to readers holding privilege who want to wield their platforms with greater awareness and integrity.
You don’t need to be a marketing expert. You only need to care about how you show up.
INSIDE THE BOOK
Two movements — a reckoning, then a becoming.
PART ONE
Collective Reckoning
Names the systems embedded in our digital lives and invites readers to examine their own conditioning and participation.
❋ Power Is the Context
❋ Business as Usual Is No Longer an Option
❋ Intention Is Not the Same as Impact
❋ There Is No Finish Line—Only Practice
PART TWO
Collective Becoming
Offers a vision for shared responsibility and cultural creation.
❋ Balancing the Personal and the Collective
❋ Believe in the World We Want to See
❋ Our Roles and Responsibilities Are Different
❋ None of This Is Easy. We Do It Anyway
The framing of these chapters is rooted in the teachings of Dismantling Racism Works (dRworks).
Throughout We Are the Message, cultural analysis is paired with storytelling and reflective practice—inviting readers to pause, feel, and choose their responses with presence and care.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
We Are the Message is a clarion call to interrogate and integrate the virtual as personal and political.
ANJALI RAO, author of Yoga as Embodied Resistance
Tristan Katz reminds us there is no neutral in the digital world.
TEMA OKUN, author of The Emperor Has No Clothes
…a radical and essential invitation to cocreation, responsibility, and sovereignty in service to our collective liberation.
DR. ALEX IANTAFFI, award-winning author of Gender Trauma
…a necessary offering for anyone seeking to create, lead, or show up online without abandoning their values or their humanity.
ILYA PARKER, founder of Decolonizing Fitness
Tristan Katz turns promotion and sharing one's message into an adventure, one that supports unique voices, creativity, relationality.
MEL CASSIDY, relationship coach and author of Radical Relating
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tristan Katz (they/them)
Writer, educator, digital strategist, and equity-inclusion facilitator.
Land of the Cowlitz, Clackamas, Umatilla, Walla Walla, and many other tribes, colonized as Portland, Oregon.
Tristan specializes in conscious marketing and queer and trans equity. They are the founder of Katz Creative and creator of the Conscious Marketing Club, a community learning space for entrepreneurs and creatives navigating visibility, storytelling, and business growth through a politicized lens.
Tristan has presented and facilitated for Stanford University, HubSpot, Portland Public Schools, the Port of Portland, and the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the U.S., among others.
Their path into marketing began in journalism and activism, with a focus on lifting up untold stories. They hold a BA in Politics and Latin American Studies from UC Santa Cruz and an MA in Latin American Studies and Human Rights from the University of New Mexico.
A yoga practitioner since 2000, Tristan served on the board of Accessible Yoga until its closure in 2024 and continues to teach with nationally recognized teacher trainings. Yoga Journal named them one of 15 Game Changers in 2021, and Kripalu recognized them as a Visionary in 2023.
PREORDER THE BOOK
March 23, 2027 — from North Atlantic Books.
Preorder from wherever you buy books. If you can, choose an independent bookstore or Bookshop.org.
Paperback
Available for preorder.
Ebook
Available wherever you read.
Audiobook
Narrated by Tristan.
ABOUT THIS SITE
The Portal—keep going; beyond the book.
We Are the Message comes with a companion portal: a growing collection of resources, visual frameworks, and spaces for further learning. It’s here for readers who want to go deeper, for educators and facilitators bringing these ideas into their communities, and for anyone curious about where this practice leads.
Everything in the Portal is free and open to all. No login, no paywall. Come in whenever you’re ready, and return as often as you like.
free & open
no login
no paywall
New resources are added over time. Join the list to hear when the portal is open.
FOR PRESS, PODCASTS, INQUIRIES
Let’s talk.
I love talking with podcasters, journalists, booksellers, educators, and organizers about visibility, marketing, and power—and what it looks like to practice our values in digital spaces.
Share a little about what you have in mind, and I’ll be in touch within a week.
Looking for a press kit?
The press kit will include everything ready to use: cover image, author photos, bios in three lengths, sample interview questions, and key dates.
COMING SOON
