(Editor's note: Our continuing series that looks at Oakland Local's picks for people/organizations to watch in 2011. See all profiles in this series.)

The daughter of a San Francisco Unified schoolteacher, Kate Hobbs has always been interested in education.

When she came to Oakland in 1978 from San Francisco, she began to study martial arts under the leadership of Professor Colleen Gragen. At the same time as she was studying Kung Fu, she also was working with a children's program called "Hand to Hand" founded by Gragen. This work inspired Hobbs to start Destiny Arts Center.