Katie Cauthen

Her job: Founder/owner Cauthen Law Firm; founder/owner of Nationwide Administrators and Cauthen Enterprises; member, Blythewood Town Council

Age: 38

Family: Husband Mark Cauthen

Education: Bachelor’s degree, English, USC; law degree, USC School of Law

Community involvement: Former chairwoman, Blythewood Board of Zoning Appeals; former chairwoman, S.C. Bar Conventions Committee; charter member, Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce; Advisor of USC Chapter of Chi Omega; president and chair, Cauthen Charitable Foundation

From her nomination: “She tries to find ways where she believes she can make a difference, either in advocating or educating. She is able to make inroads on issues which matter to her clients, her constituents and area children.” — former client Margie McCoy

How do you define success? “If I get to live my life on my own terms. . . . I’m getting there. In the grand scheme of things, I’m closer now than I was five years ago” when she had yet to establish her solo law firm or her own escrow company, Nationwide Administrators.

Why did you go out on your own? “The actual intention was to work less” than she had in larger law firms. But, as it happens, she works more. “If I think for a minute there’s a free moment, I have to overschedule it.”

Will you recognize when you’ve achieved what you define as success? “I don’t think success, as I’ve defined it, is something I’ll recognize until I’ve passed it. I usually fly by at 75 miles per hour and realize, ‘Hey, that’s my exit.’” She’s working on the “working 15 hours a day” exit. She hasn’t made it because “now I find myself doing (work) at all hours of the day and night. I work the vast majority of the time in my pajamas — and that is pretty close to successful, in my book.”

Is there a mantra or a slogan that you live by? Yes, one by Transcendentalist and early American author Henry David Thoreau: “I had three chairs in my house: one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society. When visitors came in larger and unexpected numbers, there was but the third chair for them all, but they generally economized the room by standing up.” “Basically, he’s saying to limit your universe to make it reasonable, to limit what you let into your life.”

Do you do that? “No. . . . I’m always racing.”

What lies ahead for you? “My goals are pretty selfish. I want to work less (and) be more efficient. I don’t want every waking hour to be consumed by work. But at the same time, I enjoy law. I feel good when I help someone, and that usually means winning. But if I could just spend a little more time with family and friends and travel and do it on my terms, that would be great.”