1. Lisa Cotter is a leading Catholic speaker and author known for her practical insights on relationships, femininity, and living life with excellence. She has served FOCUS as a family for over 10 years, authored Dating Detox and Reveal the Gift (February 2022), hosted the popular How-to Catholic podcast, and traveled widely as a presenter at SEEK, Steubenville conferences, NCYC, and more. Lisa resides in Denver, CO with her husband Kevin and their four children.
(That’s the gist, now on to the non-official stuff.)

2. I married “the hot boy who goes to youth group”… at least that’s what my friends who knew him before I did called him. You can read our love story on my blog or you can watch part of it from the Beloved series below! We’ve been married since 2005 and I love him more now than ever. Yes, marriage is awesome.

3. Kevin and I have four kids ranging from teenagers to toddlers. Being a mom is pretty fantastic, plus if it weren’t for them I’d be a much more self-absorbed person.

4. I love lists (clearly). I think this is a direct result of my Type A, 100% choleric temperament. I’m practical and that’s what you’ll find here. Practical, how-to thoughts. My brain rarely works in any other form, but sometimes I’ll get sentimental. Just know that flowery is not a word that accurately describes me.

5. Made to Magnify was an inspiration of the Holy Spirit. After years of not having anything official to call my ministry, I decided it was time to give it a name. One day during adoration I was meditating on Mary’s Magnificat and – POW – it became clear to me that Made to Magnify was the title I was looking for. I think the Lord put it on my heart because I struggle with humility and magnifying the Lord like Mary is all about authentic humility.

6. I became a public speaker on accident. In 2010 I submitted a talk for a breakout session at FOCUS’ national conference and it was accepted. (Back then it was just “The FOCUS Conference.” Now we call it SEEK.) After the talk, I received a thank you card and $35.00 for speaking to 1,200 men. Yep, for my first official public appearance, I thought it’d be fun to speak to a bunch of college men… and you can buy a CD of that talk from Lighthouse Catholic Media to this day. Shortly after people began asking me to speak at their events. I told them that’s not what I do, but agreed anyway and somehow over the last decade, it’s become a real ministry with a website and all. You can learn more about bringing me to your next event by checking out my speaker page.

7. I hated writing in school. One of my last assignments for college was a 20-page, double-spaced paper and I thought I was going to die. But, when God calls a choleric to do something they figure it out. After blogging for five years and writing two books I’ve grown to love it… sort of.

8. FOCUS was our family’s base ministry for 11 years. While there, we were honored to work alongside some of the most selfless, holy, and ridiculously amazing Catholics in the world. During that time Kevin served as the Sr. Director of Curriculum. (Ever done The Story of Salvation Bible study? He wrote it… along with the majority of FOCUS’ bible studies.) And I, well, I was not technically on staff, but I did, and still do, some freelance work with FOCUS.

9. Don’t take me to a sporting event. No seriously, don’t. I’m a terrible fan. I always feel bad for the losing team so I’m always changing my mind on who to cheer for. You’d think being a cheerleader in high school would have worked that out of me, but nope.

10. Made to Magnify’s tagline of “Be saints – it’s worth it!” goes back to 2013 when I used it to end the first delivery of my “Real Womanhood” talk. The inspiration for the phrase comes from my girl Chiara Corbella Petrillo. It loosely derives from an unofficial translation of a letter she wrote to her son. The phrase sums up so much of what my ministry is about that I’ve continued to use it ever since.