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Katie and Nick Guiliano — 2023 Young Life Young Professional of the Year Award
By Jonathan Schultz
In 2013, Katie Lipps began following Jesus after graduating from Mason High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, and attending a week of Young Life camp at Lake Champion. This transformational camp experience ignited a passion in Katie to understand and share the Word of God with others. A little over a year later, as a sophomore at the University of Cincinnati, Katie was placed as a WyldLife leader at Sycamore Junior High School. The year was 2014. Around the same time, her now husband, Nick Guiliano, having been very involved with Young Life in high school (enjoying club, camp and work crew at Lake Champion), was also attending the University of Cincinnati, leading Young Life at Madiera High School.
In 2015, while studying abroad in Spain, Katie had the idea to re-bind her bilingual Bible with a fresh canvas cover, and paint it to be beautiful and personal, a reflection of the way the words on the inside made her feel. Immediately, Katie saw the ministry that this could become!
Over the course of the next few weeks, Katie tried out different materials and processes. Katie gave Bibles as gifts to WyldLife students, strangers, and friends, hoping people would share her excitement for the tool of a beautiful Bible. People were overwhelmed by the beauty and quality, and could not resist telling others. Her idea grew into the business and ministry that is now Hosanna Revival.
During her next year of college, Katie found that demand for beautiful Bibles outpaced her ability to keep up with incoming orders. She found success in entrepreneurial competitions, a rapidly growing social media following, and consistent growth in online interest. Before she knew it, the undertaking grew so big that her parents, professors, and friends encouraged her to step away from college, and focus on developing her business. Katie was thrilled to focus all her energy on sharing the Word of God with so many people, and soon licensing contracts with major publishers, stores (including Young Life camp stores) and manufacturers began to spring up. (Katie did, eventually, return to college and finish a degree in business in 2020.)
Meanwhile Nick and Katie married in 2017. In fact, the day before their wedding, Nick quit his job as a front-end developer to help run the growing Hosanna Revival business. Today, Hosanna Revival employs 12 people, including Katie’s father, and has expanded to publish Bible studies, and other beautiful faith-based products.
Over the years, as the Guilianos have grown and stewarded their business, Nick and Katie have continued to be huge advocates of the Young Life mission. They have supported Young Life financially and have employed many Young Life leaders. The couple is also very committed to their local church, where Nick serves as an elder and has helped to foster significant church support for Young Life in Eastern Cincinnati. Among other things, the couple allows the local area to use their office space for Campaigners and regularly gives donations of Bibles to Young Life auctions around the country.
When asked if their past involvement with Young Life has had an impact on their current business pursuits, Nick is quick to point out: “The way we build our culture was significantly impacted by Young Life. Like Young Life, we are not expecting our people to be perfectly self-qualified, but to be ‘qualified’ by Jesus.” Katie adds, “Young Life models that Jesus is attractive in so many ways and it is important to put this on display. God’s Word is beautiful, so we work to highlight that to remind people of the richness God’s Word has to offer.” She adds, “Young Life taught us that a different method of outreach can draw in someone who might otherwise never have any interest in Jesus. So, we use beautiful design as a different method to draw people towards Christ.”
Katie and Nick, it is a privilege to honor you with our 2023 Young Life Young Professional of the Year Award! Your partnership and faith serve as an example and inspiration to us all on how to embrace our God-given gifts and steward them for His glory and other’s best. We celebrate your creativity and passion to share God’s Word in such a beautiful and personal way!
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