Katie May

Katie Beth May (March 16, 1981 – February 4, 2016)[1] was an American model and businesswoman.[2] Dubbed "The Queen of Snapchat",[2][3] May was known as a social media star and brand ambassador before her death from a chiropractically-induced stroke at age 34.[2]

Katie May
Born
Katie Beth May

(1981-03-16)March 16, 1981
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedFebruary 4, 2016(2016-02-04) (aged 34)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationModel
Years active2005–2016
Children1

Early life and education

May was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Janet May and Joseph May,[1] both teachers.[2] She was the youngest of four, with two sisters and a brother.[1] May described her upbringing as "very traditional working-American", with a "real emphasis in my house on education, primarily the arts and history".[2] She grew up in suburban Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania and attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Jefferson Hills, where she was a cheerleader.[1][2]

From 1999 to 2003, May attended Ohio University, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in retail merchandising.[1]

Career

In 2003, May, who had "dreams and wishes ... far from Pittsburgh"[2] moved to Los Angeles. She worked in public relations at Dolce & Gabbana prior to launching high-end denim line SINR Denim with boyfriend Alex Maimon. [4] May then "broke out on her own",[1] co-founding May-Levy PR and Marketing, which operated from 2008 to 2012.[1] Subsequently, she served as vice president of strategic marketing at Gen Arts, an arts incubator based in Los Angeles. Per May, "Then that company was sold and I was unemployed without a penny to my name."[2]

In 2014, a photo shoot featuring May caught the attention of online magazine Arsenic;[1] subsequent shoots published by the magazine went viral.[1][2] Less than two years later, May, at the age of 34, had amassed nearly two million Instagram followers[3] and had been named "The Queen of Snapchat".[2][3] In addition, May had modeled for such mainstream publications as Sports Illustrated, GQ, and Playboy,[3] and had acted as model for sports betting company JetBet, with which she partnered. Said May, "I am letting my fans see the sexy campaign and billboards while at the same time letting them know that I'm an active and vocal part of the company."[1]

Personal life

May was a single mother.[2][3] She cited her daughter as her source of motivation: "I had the most important person in my world, my daughter, to make proud each day and to remind me what I was working towards. Failure was not an option, not putting her in the best school was not an option, not living the lifestyle that I had dreamed of for us was not an option."[2]

Death

May tweeted on January 29, 2016 that she had pinched a nerve in her neck on a photoshoot and "got adjusted" at a chiropractor. She tweeted on January 31, 2016 that she was "going back to the chiropractor tomorrow." [5] On the evening of February 1, 2016, May "had begun feeling numbness in a hand and dizzy", and "called her parents to tell them she thought she was going to pass out." At her family's urging, May went to Cedars Sinai Hospital;[1] she was found to be suffering a "massive stroke."[6] According to her father, May "was not conscious when we got to finally see her the next day. We never got to talk to her again." Life support was withdrawn on February 4, 2016.[1] A coroner's report confirmed that the stroke was the result of the chiropractor's neck adjustment, which tore her left vertebral artery. The coroner's office ruled it an accident.[7]

gollark: https://pastebin.com/Frv3xkB9Full badly-commented thing.
gollark: I *did* test this, you know.
gollark: ```lua-- Convert path to canonical formlocal function canonicalize(path) return fs.combine(path, "")endlocal function path_in(p, dir) return starts_with(canonicalize(p), canonicalize(dir))end-- Resolve a path with the given root - if you go outside it, loops you back inlocal function resolve_path(path, root) if path_in(path, "/rom") then -- allow access to shared ROM return path end local new_path = fs.combine(root, path) if not path_in(new_path, root) then return resolve_path(new_path, root) else return new_path endend```Relevant code.
gollark: FS overrides can create some really "fun" filesystem messes.
gollark: If you try to cd .. it just puts you in the same directory for funlolz.

References
  1. Hamill, Sean D. (March 31, 2016). "Obituary: Katie May". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  2. Denmon, Nicholas (January 16, 2016). "Katie May: A Single Mom's Journey to Royalty". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  3. Mazziotta, Julie (February 4, 2016). "Playboy Model Katie May Dead at 34 After Suffering a Stroke, Her Brother Confirms". People. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
  4. "Queen of Snapchat, Katie May dies after suffering a stroke". news.com.au. February 5, 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  5. Mazziotta, Julie (February 5, 2016). "Playboy Model Saw Chiropractor for Neck Pain Prior to Deadly Stroke but Not Medical Doctor, Family Says". People. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
  6. Boon, Jon (February 6, 2016). "Katie May's Final Hours Revealed: How Family & Friends Said Their Last Goodbyes". Hollywood Life. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  7. Shepherd, Ken (19 October 2016). "Katie May, Playboy model, died due to injury from chiropractor visit: Report". The Washington Times. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
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