Meet Katie Cleasby

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie Cleasby and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, how does your business help the community?
Recspert is built on the belief that recreation isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s essential for healthy, connected communities. By making it easier for families to find and register for local programs, camps, and activities, we’re helping reduce barriers to access, especially for busy parents, newcomers to an area, or those unfamiliar with all the resources their community has to offer.

We also partner directly with recreation centers, sports clubs, and youth programs — many of which operate with limited staff and marketing budgets — to increase their visibility and participation without adding to their workload. This means more kids staying active, more community members finding belonging through shared activities, and more local organizations thriving.

Ultimately, Recspert supports the social fabric of a community: encouraging wellness, connection, and inclusion by helping people ‘re-create’ themselves through play, movement, and togetherness.

What should our readers know about your business?
At Recspert, we believe that recreation is essential to human connection, wellness, and community.
We built Recspert to solve a problem we saw firsthand: families struggling to find and register for recreation programs in their area. From youth sports and swim lessons to fitness classes and summer camps, these activities are often scattered across paper brochures, outdated websites, and complex registration systems. Recspert brings it all together—making it easy for parents to discover local programs and register in just a few clicks.

What sets us apart is our commitment to equity and access. We’re not just a search engine—we partner directly with recreation centers, YMCAs, JCCs, and software providers to integrate real-time class listings and availability. We help centers fill more classes, serve more families, and reduce administrative burdens, all while making recreation more discoverable and inclusive.

Getting here wasn’t easy. Like many startups, we’ve navigated limited resources, technical hurdles, and the challenge of gaining trust in a traditional industry. But what pushed us forward was our belief in the mission. We’ve overcome challenges by listening to our users, building strong partnerships, and staying laser-focused on impact.

We’re most proud of the moments when a parent tells us they were finally able to find a class their child loves—or when a rec center says we helped them fill a program that was about to be canceled. These are the wins that remind us why we do this work.

What we want the world to know is this: Recspert is about more than recreation—it’s about access, equity, and opportunity. We’re here to connect families to experiences that build confidence, health, friendships, and joy. And we’re just getting started.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend were visiting Carlsbad for a week, I’d give them the full coastal experience—starting with sunset drinks at Campfire and tacos in the Village, followed by beach days at Tamarack and paddleboarding at Agua Hedionda Lagoon. We’d hike Calavera Mountain, unwind at Ocean Crest Spa, and enjoy world-class dining at spots like Jeune et Jolie and Bluewater Grill. Midweek, we’d explore The Flower Fields or Leo Carrillo Ranch, bike along the Oceanside Strand, and grab beers at South O Brewing. There’d be plenty of shopping in the Village, brunch at Café Topes, sushi at Wrench & Rodent, and long walks along the Seawall Trail. Carlsbad has a little of everything—outdoor adventure, coastal charm, and great local food—making it the perfect place to play tour guide.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My Shoutout goes to a few key people and teams who have been instrumental in Recspert’s journey.
First, Richard Safran, our incredible Chief Technology Officer, who built the app from the ground up and continues to ensure it runs smoothly and scales with us. His dedication and technical brilliance have been essential to our success. I also want to recognize Stuart Gill, our brilliant Chief Product Officer, whose thoughtful design and user-first approach have made the app both beautiful and functional for families and recreation centers alike. Lastly, I’m deeply grateful to our advisory board, who believed in Recspert from the very beginning and have consistently supported our mission with guidance, encouragement, and expertise. This has never been a solo journey—it’s been a collective effort every step of the way.

Website: http://www.recspert.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/recspert/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkatiecleasby/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/recspert

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@recspert332/videos