[@Zelosse]

Since I left Catherine's backstory pretty empty and vague, I was wondering if it's OK that she was an elementalist terrorist that broke out of her organization and became a crime lord? A young wind elementalist who was convinced of Elementalist Superiority, enlisted, and used as a weapon against non-elementalists. However disagreements with the leadership would cause her to leave the militant group only to then use her natural talent, cunning, and charm to build her own little criminal empire until she was finally taken down by Kano and other teachers. She sold Kano intel on elementalist terrorist groups for amnesty. She's more-or-less reformed and plays along quite nicely, but she has a strong desire to nurture independence in her students rather than discipline, believing that everyone has a right to be selfish, within reason. It also explains her calm confidence and potentially snobby nature (which has yet to be shown). Maybe some of the other teachers still fear and/or hate her, since she gives elementalists a bad name.