The Makers

Katya Oddio

Role: Web Developer, Toy Maker, Graphic Artist

Location: Arizona, USA


BIOGRAPHY

Growing up in many different places, I got to hear all kinds of cool music and sounds. This made me love listening to and making music. In school, I loved science and math, so I grew up to be a chemist. As a chemist, I have worked for labs that test for pollution, make medicines, make body products (like soap and shampoo), and create foods.

I work as a web developer, too. Working for Nickelodeon on their preschooler network (Noggin then) and their teen network (now TeenNick) websites was fun, because I got to play the games and check out the art and music kids sent in to Nick! Cool!

Speaking of cool, I was also on the team of Comfort Stand Recordings, one of the first free netlabels to share many kinds of music and sounds. That was really fun! Some of the friends from that project also make the Kazoomzoom project, so we are still having fun together now!

The Kazoomzoom website is built by, paid for, and maintained by Katya Oddio — founder of Oddio Overplay c.1994, a member of of the Oddio Overplay Family, a member of the landmark 2003-2006 project Comfort Stand Recordings, and an admin for the Free Music Archive, a project of the legendary radio station WFMU.


THE SECRET SIX

1. Some Favorite Childhood Music

I loved some of everything. Are you like that, too? Some I can remember are: Frank Luther kid records ('40s-'50s), Bing Crosby (early '30s), Blondie, Herbie Mann, the Knack, Nina Hagen, Rites of Spring, classical ballets, hardcore punk, everything on oldies radio ('50s-'70s pop and soul), Beethoven, and Saint-Saens

2. Favorite Childhood Games

Love hiking and soccer. In school I played basketball and lacrosse and ran track. Favorite board games are Sequence, Funny Bones, Memory and music trivia games

3. Favorite School Subjects

MATH!! Languages, Science, Art, Writing, Ancient History, Music, GYM!!

4. Some Favorite Places from Youth

  • The Old Straw Hat, VA - 1890s themed ice cream parlor with player piano, penny candy shop and penny farthing bikes
  • Musee Mecanique, CA - antique arcade machines from more than 100 years ago
  • Public libraries
  • Barn loft where I would read and write
  • Playroom where my Dad built a 12-foot house for our dolls
  • The caves at Carlsbad Caverns, NM and Luray Caverns, VA
  • The world's beaches
  • Amusement parks, especially King's Dominion, VA and Marriot's Great America, CA and both Disneyland and Disney World
  • Colonial Williamsburg, VA
  • My imagination
  • On my grandmother's lap

5. Childhood Heroes

  • Jacques Cousteau - inventor of SCUBA, underwater explorer
  • Jim Henson - puppeteering genius
  • Beverley Cleary - author of the Ramona books
  • Benjamin Franklin - scholar, statesman, scientist, American founding father
  • Jane Goodall - biologist, primatologist, champion of conservation
  • Helen Keller - blind and deaf writer

6. Dream Super Powers

  • Travel through time and space at will
  • End suffering
  • Convince the world to live in peace and to share
  • Breathe underwater
  • Immortality
  • Read books super quickly
  • Learn whole subjects in minutes