9 Totally Underrated Catholic Influencers You Should Follow in 2025
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As a community of over 300 Catholic content creators, artists, business owners and ministry leaders, we believe that we all have influence and we, as individuals and as a group, desire to influence hearts for Christ.
Each member of the Catholics Online community responds to God’s unique personal mission with much prayer and vigor.
As a group, we tend to feed off one another’s energy and find ourselves truly inspired by the work of others who love God with all their hearts.
A moment to recognize, celebrate and recommend Catholics who are influencers for Christ
We would like to take the time to recognize, celebrate and recommend the following members as Catholics Online who are rising above and beyond their calls as Christians and social media influencers. If you enjoy lists like this, take a look at last year’s winners here!
We invite you to follow each of the following on social media and connect with them through their personal websites and professional platforms. If they inspire us, chances are, they will inspire you too.
We are celebrating more than nine individuals, but definitely feel these 9 categories of Catholic Influencers that get overlooked!
Homeschool Businesses posting on social media and YouTube
Catholic Marketing Leaders and Business Coaches that teach and encourage the use of social media and online platforms
Catholic Ministry Leaders and Content Creators that help those grieving and suffering loss
Catholic Artists and Artisans
Local Catholic Pro-Life organizations demonstrating how to cultivate a culture of life.
Catholic Authors
Catholic Community Builders
Catholic Influencers who put collaboration over competition
and . . .
Please note: each Catholic influencer we are spotlighting has a listing on our website directory. That listing has all of their social media and online platforms linked. Some use Instagram, others prefer YouTube, some have a podcast and others have all three and more. Listings have been linked so you can choose to follow on your platform of choice or all platforms listed.
#1 Successful Catholic Homeschool Businesses
In recent years, the number of homeschooling families have increased significantly within the United States. Approximately 3.7 million students in the United States are presently homeschooled. Resources provided by homeschool businesses not only help families who choose to home school, but also provide supplemental materials for those who are choosing in school learning.
On a personal note, blogging introduced me to many homeschooling moms. I don’t think I ever knew anyone who homeschooled growing up, but I found their content to really be insightful and helpful. I mentioned this to one of my new homeschool mom friends and she said, “it’s basically, parenting.” Many of us can benefit from following homeschool content creators – not just other homeschooling families!
Two Catholic Homeschool Businesses that post content and images that make anyone say, “WOW” are Into the Deep and Homeschool Connections. Plus, these resources help parents, Religious Education Teachers, Catholic School teachers as well as those homeschooling children. They also help adults grow spiritually and reignite faith in lifelong students too. If you were to only follow two Homeschooling Businesses on social media and YouTube, we suggest Into the Deep on Instagram and Homeschool Connections on YouTube.
Olivia Spears: Into the Deep
Olivia Spears stewards Into the Deep, where their team creates faith formation resources for parents to use in their homes.
They hand on the Faith through truth, beauty, and goodness, catechizing through sacred art, music, poetry, nature study, and story. She is passionate about parents as primary catechists and seeks to make that mission a bit easier through open-and-go catechesis that can be used with the whole family.
Find homeschool curriculum, family-style studies, sacred art studies, Catholic student planner, Scripture journals, and more at intothedeep.co!
Olivia and Into the Deep have been an amazing inspiration for me as a Catholic Homeschool Mom, but also on my personal faith journey. It’s a delight to learn even more about my faith and to use their amazing resources to pass on the faith to our children.
From the first time we spoke on the phone, I was inspired and delighted by Olivia. Her faithfulness, passion, and desire to bring Christ to children in the deepest way is something that will remain with me forever! I was excited to work with her as an illustrator, but her work ended up changed my own life and deepening my love for the Lord. Olivia pours every bit of herself into her work, and does so with an impossible to miss love for Christ.
Maureen Wittman: Homeschool Connections
Homeschool Connections currently has over 8,000 YouTube subscribers and is consistently growing on that platform.
Maureen Wittman is the co-founder and co-director of Homeschool Connections.
Walter Crawford and Maureen Wittman founded HSC in 2008 to help parents with free webinars.
According to Maureen,
“Soon after parents asked if we could use that technology to create online courses. So we did 🙂 We figured we’d offer three or four courses a semester to help parents supplement their homeschools. Today we have about 140 LIVE courses per semester. We also have 750+ independent-learning courses in recording.
Right now Maureen and Homeschool Connections are working on a few new things which include:
*completely rebranding their podcast. Season seven, launching in August, will have a new host, guests, and be more engaging.
*a new multi-year plan to expand our grade school offerings as well as preschool helps.
* taking a new direction with our Latin program, with long-term plans to add more Ecclesiastical Latin.
The member who nominated Maureen, says this about her:
I first met Maureen about 20 years ago through a Catholic moms’ homeschooling group online, and I thought she was brilliant then; her work through the years with Homeschool Connections has made me sure of that. But what really strikes me about Maureen is her devotion to a top-notch Catholic education that allows children to compete on any terms, and with a solid foundation in the faith. Maureen is tireless, positive, and focused, and has cultivated a culture of excellence at HSC that changes lives. She has multiplied her talents 100-fold.
#2 Holy Catholic Marketing Leaders and Faithful Business Coaches
Many of us started blogs and Instagram accounts with no background knowledge of business or marketing. Having skills and awareness in these fields helps our work tremendously. From the very beginning of our community, Emily Ricci has helped members learn how Jesus used marketing to spread the Gospel. A few years ago, God blessed our community with Sophia Lebano who has transformed many of our websites (including this one) and has taught us how search engines and podcasts can elevate our missions and enhance our ministries. If you are trying to evangelize online, your work will go much further simply by following these two women on social media and signing up for their newsletters.
Emily Ricci: Gloriam Marketing
Emily continuously shows up for her audience. Every single week her emails are a vault of knowledge, and her landing page/website design skills are INCREDIBLE! She has such a gift for understanding her clients’ customer pain points- it’s extraordinary. 👀 She gives and gives and gives and never expects anything in return.
Emily and Gloriam Marketing have been so inspirational and helpful to me in my ministry. I worked with Emily one-on-one to receive feedback and suggestions about my website and email, which was extremely useful to me as someone who has no experience with marketing and who sometimes feels cringey about self-promotion and sales. I also took part in Emily’s email workshop and learned the ins and outs of creating a helpful email newsletter for my followers. But even the free email newsletter that Emily creates weekly for her followers is so useful and always points to the Lord as the ultimate one we are serving in our ministries. Her encouragement to “market like Jesus” has helped to remove some of the cringey elements of marketing for me and encouraged me to share what I do with people out of love for them and a desire to help and serve them – like Jesus did. I’m so grateful for Emily’s wit and wisdom and the approachable way she shares her knowledge with those of us who don’t have the marketing experience that she does.
Sophia Lebano: Sophia Lebano Creative
Sophia Lebano is focused on helping Catholic and faith-driven entrepreneurs grow meaningful, mission-rooted brands.
Sophia shares:
“Through my creative studio, I offer custom websites, branding, and marketing strategy — all with the goal of making it easier for small businesses and ministries to share their message with clarity and confidence.
Whether I’m building a site for a Catholic company, creating marketing plans for a nonprofit, or mentoring other creatives in my mastermind, I’m always striving to help clients build something beautiful, intentional, and deeply aligned with their mission.”
Sophia embodies what it means to lead with both bold vision and a servant’s heart. As a creative entrepreneur, she brings unmatched dedication to her craft—and more importantly, to her clients.
Sophia serves unapologetically, with a mission rooted in truth, beauty, and goodness. She has built her business around supporting individuals and organizations who are committed to the Catholic faith, offering them not just products or services, but a partnership anchored in shared values.
Her clients know they can trust her to deliver not only excellence, but authenticity. In the world of website and branding design, Sophia has become a trusted guide—helping others bring their visions to life with clarity, creativity, and intention. She goes above and beyond to care for her clients with love and creativity, ensuring they feel seen, supported, and celebrated throughout the process.
Every project she undertakes is done with purpose, marked by prayerful discernment and a wholehearted desire to lift others up in their unique missions. Sophia is a light in the entrepreneurial space, and it is a joy to recognize the way she pours her heart into work that is both ministry and mission.
#3 Ministry Leaders and Content Creators that help those grieving and suffering loss
We are more connected than ever in the history of humanity, yet, feelings of isolation and anxiety continue to soar.
People scroll for hours a day, yet their hearts ache and they grieve different losses. God has inspired certain women to help those grieving and lead them to Himself. Two women doing this in incredibly effective ways are Eileen Tully and Heather Labano.
Eileen Tully: Sursum Corda
Eileen Tully has a heart for the grieving, and shares the goodness, truth, and beauty offered by our Catholic faith with those who are suffering. She does this through Sursum Corda, her apostolate for mothers of pregnancy and child loss, and also as the editor of a new online magazine called Those Who Mourn. You can learn about Eileen’s apostolate at EileenTully.com and read Those Who Mourn at thosewhomournmag.com.
Eileen has been incredibly supportive throughout my grieving process after I miscarried twins last year. She has also been very supportive of my writing. I love her ministry in supporting and educating people who are grieving after the loss of a baby and the resources she has to offer. She has inspired me to continue talking and writing about my miscarriages and the grief and suffering that follows. I am beyond excited to be involved with her new project, a magazine about grief. I very much appreciate her and her kindness she has shown me.
Heather Lebano
Heather Lebano was recognized last year as an up and coming Catholic Influencer … and she has continued to share and inspire others through her words and openness. Follow Heather on Instagram here and hear what other members have to say about her platform:
Reading Heather’s posts are like a balm to my soul. She is real, she doesn’t sugar coat anything or try to be something she’s not. Her authentic approach to being fully present to the ups and downs of life is something that I think most people aren’t able to do. In a sea of curated videos and AI written captions, I have really been able to find joy in the simple, straightforward blog style writing and normal photos of daily life.
Heather is not only my mother but one of my greatest spiritual influences. Over the past few years, I’ve watched her walk through some of life’s heaviest crosses—caring for my dad during his battle with cancer and eventually grieving his loss—with extraordinary faith and grace. In the midst of deep suffering, she chose not to turn inward, but to offer her story to others as a way of ministering to those navigating similar paths. Through her writing and quiet daily witness, she has reminded so many (myself included) that grief and faith can coexist—beautifully, painfully, and honestly. Her words carry the weight of lived experience, and her compassion reaches places polished theology can’t touch. She continues to show up for our family and community, even in the aftermath of loss, with a heart open to God’s will. Watching her pray, serve, and create while still holding space for sorrow has deeply shaped how I understand discipleship. She doesn’t preach from a mountaintop—she walks beside you in the valley. Her faith is not just inspiring; it’s transforming.
#4 Catholic Artists and Artisans
The creativity of Catholics is both impressive and astonishing. In our community alone we have seen toy makers, Rosary makers, painters, jewelers, embroidery experts, quilters, fashion designers and more. God can truly be glorified through any and all talents! The creators that have made spectacular impressions lately are Rosary maker Jess Nayden and artist Mary Claire Scholl. Both use their talent to invite others to prayer and contemplation.
Jess Nayden: Refuge Rosaries
One member nominated Jess and said this:
“Jess has always been supportive through social media or through the FB group, her experience and wisdom has helped me in my business and I appreciate it so much!“
Last year, Jess Nayden spoke about how she started her Rosary making business and what actions enabled her to be grow and maintain success in a way that is both holy and profitable. You can hear her tips and learn more about the origin of Refuge Rosaries here:
Mary Claire Scholl: 12th & Blossom
“The Glory of God is man fully alive!” this Saint Irenaeus quote which Mary Claire uses in her listing description for 12th & Blossom is absolutely perfect for such a joyful, talented and generous creator and business owner. Mary Claire’s art is bright in color and in every aspect of its being. 12th & Blossom celebrates Our Lady’s love and care for all of us and provides gifts that sparkle and spark helpful conversations about the role of Our Blessed Mother within our Catholic faith. On top of working full-time, owning a business and caring for family members, Mary Claire has designed our community’s Christmas catalog without compensation for the past two years. If you have seen these catalogs, you know first hand that Mary Claire is not only talented with a paint brush, but with technology and graphic design as well. I highly recommend you follow Mary Claire on Instagram and Facebook, sign up for her email newsletter and do some shopping in her store. Creative women like Mary Claire need our support so she can continue her unique God given mission in this world. Thank you Mary Claire for your hard work, giving spirit, and prayerful life!
#5 Catholic Pro-life Organizations
Abortion advocates claim the Pro-life movement is pro-birth, meaning, those who are pro-life want you to not have abortions, but then do nothing to help mothers parent once their child is born.
This could be the biggest lie being spread in America. Pro-life organizations go above and beyond serving mothers and couples who choose life. One such organization is the Saint Margaret of Castello Maternity Home.
Saint Margaret of Castello Maternity Home
The staff members at SMOC go above and beyond to love and support mothers during pregnancy and in the months following the birth of their babies. They provide the training and compassion that the mommas need to feel confident in raising their little ones. The outreach they provide goes beyond clothing, diapers and food. Staff has organized things such as newborn photo shoots, holiday events like an Easter Egg hunt and provided moral support for mothers through legal situations. The directors are very conscious of being good stewards of donations and always find a way to make the most of every item and penny given to the home.
Eileen Artysh , the director, gave us the following up to date information about the Saint Margaret Castello Home:
“Currently we have one mom with a three month old baby boy and two expectant mothers in the Home.
We are also working with 119 parents in the community monthly. Our goals are simple. We want every mother and baby to know that no child is unwanted and no mother is rejected here. We strive to help expectant mothers and parents to be the best version of themselves which then creates a better life for their child(ren). While pregnancy and parenting education is always a major part of our interactions, we also help with resources for employment, medical/mental health, childcare and more.
We are working hard to close the funding gap from when the Governor terminated the Pregnancy and Parenting Program in the state budget. That funding was almost 50% of our budget and was in place for over 25 years. Since 1/1/24, we have been completely privately funded and are working hard to make sure SMOC is around for years to come. Our website is https://smocmaternityhome.org Supporters can send us a message on there or through our email smoc@smocmaternityhome.org if they would like to sign up for our newsletter (snail mail or email) or if they have any additional questions about our organization.”
#6 Catholic Authors
Many Catholic influencers started out as bloggers or social media moms. Once they started writing online this opened doors and created connections that made becoming a published author a possibility and reality.
I would not be an author if I had not started blogging! Allison Gingras started the Stay Connected Journals after connecting with Jerry Windley-Doust who owned a small publishing house about a decade ago. Currently Allison is working on her 7th and 8th books!
Allison Gingras
Allison follows the Holy Spirit in getting out there to inspire women to love Jesus, even though public appearances aren’t the easiest thing for her. She’s a model of perseverance, trust, courage, and humility. On a personal level, she has always been kind and generous to me, which is especially touching because — how can I say this? — there was nothing in it for her but the joy of imitating Christ.
Allison Gingras has been a social media evangelizer for over fifteen years.
She has worked for the Diocese of Fall River (helping launch the Bishop’s Blog), WINE (Women in the New Evangelization), and the Catholic Marketing Network. She is currently the Director of Digital Evangelization for Family Rosary USA, which includes oversight of CatholicMom.com.
Allison has been blessed to be the author of six books, including her latest,
Jesus Heals: Finding Hope, Wholeness, and Peace (Stay Connected Journals for Catholic Women) from OSV,
and has co-authored five others. She’s already busy penning numbers 7 and 8!!
Support our authors and creators, shop here for Catholic gifts!
#7 Catholic Community Builders
When I started my blog, I had no idea I would soon be starting two communities. Catholic friendships are incredible gift, and sharing time together to pray and socialize seems to be done really well but non-Catholic Christian groups . . . until recently. Building the Prayer Wine Chocolate and Catholics Online communities have been an incredible joy and gift.
This past year I had the honor and privilege to participate in Zoom meeting with other American influencers and two different priests (one Monsignor and one Cardinal) that head Dicasteries at the Vatican. In those meetings we discussed how the Church sees the internet as the new missionary frontier, but also stresses how important it is to use our platforms and our influence to encourage in person connections and gatherings.
Quite a few members of our community do this in some capacity and the support it provides Catholics is spectacular.
Ginny Kochis has created a space for Catholic parents of neurodivergent children (Raising Quirky Catholic Kids); Kristin Reilly (Many Hail Marys at a Time) has made it possible for hundreds, in fact thousands, of women to pray the Rosary together daily.
Amy Brooks
“Amy works tirelessly to support small Catholic businesses! I can routinely count on her for inspirational emails, ideas and projects for increasing our visibility, engaging posts in our Facebook group, and more. I appreciate all she does so much!“
Jen Frost, Faith and Fabric
If you would like to learn more about starting a Prayer Wine Chocolate group in your parish, start here!
If you are interested in joining the Catholics Online community, go here 🙂
Catholic Influencers who put collaboration over competition
Posts like this are not written by one mind.
Our community responded to the call to simply write a paragraph about someone in the group who has inspired them. Quite a few responded giving their time and thoughts about someone without expecting anything in return.
Some of those members are Jen Frost (Faith and Fabric), Rose Folsom (The Virtue Connection), Steffani Aquila (His Girl Sunday), Tasha Gordon (Pax Rosa), Jennifer Sinclair (The Novena Rose Company), Nelly Sosa (el Arbor Menta) and Betsy Scafidi (Vacation Learning Blog), and so many more members of our Catholics Online community.
You!
Are you overlooking how much influence you have on others?
Do you happen to text friends funny memes or dm funny reels to people? Maybe you have a website, Instagram account or podcast where you share your views or knowledge. Maybe you are not on social media at all . . . but your example is seen by family members, neighbors, co-workers, students or athletes.
We all have influence. Saint John Neumann once stated, “God sees every one of us, He creates every soul for a purpose”
(Stump of Jesse has a sticker with this quote).
In fact, this blog post talks more about how important your influence is in the year 2025.
God desires all souls.
As Christians, we called to share the Gospel.
The way you share it will be different than any one else in the world. This is a beautiful truth! If you are looking for a community to accompany you on this journey – especially this newer stage of digital evangelization, I invite you to learn about becoming a member of Catholics Online here.
We hope this snapshot of Catholic Influencers making a difference in the world and working tirelessly for the love of Our Lord God has helped you in some way. Keep praying. Keep loving the Lord above all. Keep serving and continue to rest in Our Lord Jesus.
