Women Who Inspire Wednesday: Cait Olson
Written by Program Coordinator, Chris Schnell
This week, we are honored to highlight Cait Olson, social worker, dancer, mother, and advocate, as part of our Women Who Inspire Wednesday series. Cait’s story is a profound testament to the power of resilience, faith, and creative expression.
Born in Lima, Peru, and adopted as an infant by a family in Alaska, Cait spent her early years in Chugiak and Palmer before entering foster care at the age of 12. Over the course of her adolescence, she experienced more than 16 placements and faced profound instability and trauma, but through it all, Cait remained grounded by her unwavering faith and an early passion for music and dance.
Despite being told she might never graduate from high school, Cait fought hard to earn her diploma from Colony High in 2007. She went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Human Services from UAA in 2012, later completing her master’s in psychology. These milestones were not just academic achievements; they were hard-won victories against a system that had once doubted her potential.
Cait’s professional journey has been defined by service. From her first role as an Elder Refugee Grant Coordinator at Catholic Social Services to working as a substance abuse counselor at Akeela and later as a case manager at the AWAIC shelter and Covenant House Alaska, Cait has consistently channeled her lived experience into compassionate care for others. Today, she serves as a social worker with the Anchorage School District in the Back on Track program, based out of Covenant House Alaska, supporting youth navigating housing instability and educational barriers.
Dance, for Cait, has always been more than movement. It has been a lifeline. In her youth, it offered a form of escape and a way to connect with her identity. As an adult, it has become a powerful medium of healing, empowerment, and cultural pride. Her latest project, Beauty De La Cruz, in partnership with the YWCA and YMCA, is a dance empowerment workshop designed to help young people find strength, expression, and confidence through movement. It is already drawing attention and enthusiasm from community partners across Anchorage.
Cait is also a proud mother of three and continues to be inspired by the young women she raises and supports. Her dream is to one day open a dance studio and a shelter for youth, spaces of safety, joy, and belonging that she herself once longed for.
When asked what advice she would offer young women, Cait shares this message: “Never allow people or your past to define who you will become. You have strength inside you. Drown out the voices that say you can’t. You can.”
Cait Olson is a woman who inspires not just because of what she has overcome, but because of how she continues to lift others as she rises.