Background

  • Karen was born in Buffalo, New York
  • She attended Mayfield High School in Western Kentucky
  • Her first job was removing hot hockey pucks that were just silk screened off a conveyer belt
  • In 1979 she left college early to start her first business as a freelance visual merchandiser
  • At the age of 22, she founded a public relations and advertising agency that she led for twenty years
  • Throughout her career she has held many leadership positions with nonprofit boards and has supported many worthy causes
  • In 2000, she moved to Tampa, Florida to pursue her next chapter as a professional speaker, branding consultant and author of branding, marketing and business books
  • Her creativity, business smarts, entrepreneurial spirit and branding expertise have earned her clients and opportunities to help organizations and individuals from around the world

Her core beliefs include:

  • As individuals and businesses we are responsible for our actions and control 98% of our destinies and outcomes.
  • Success is a journey. Happiness is a choice. If these two outcomes are not what you want, take action and make changes.
Playing tennis, enjoying comedy, live music and music videos, reading, watching great movies, contributing to local economies via shopping and vegging out at the spa.
Abe Lincoln, who shares her birthday; Norm Post, her late dad; Diana Marshall, her mentor; Steve Jobs, Mark Cuban, Seth Godin and Madonna.
  • Being on hold with tech support
  • Buying fruit at the store, and getting home to find it’s awful
  • Encountering containers you can’t open
  • People or animals that whine
  • Screaming kids that are not related to her
  • Bad design
Good Will Hunting, A Beautiful Mind, Seabiscuit, Garden State, Finding Neverland, Elizabethtown, Big Fish, Slumdog Millionaire, Easy A, Argo, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Boyhood.
  • Performing stand up for the first time at the Improv Comedy Theater in Tampa, FL.
  • Taking her car out on the Sebring racetrack with 200 other Porsches.
Due to the 2-bag limit, wore her cow costume to board a Southwest plane to avoid missing her flight.
  • Raising money for a start up.
  • Getting my first book deal with an international publisher.
  • Sharing the stage with Magic Johnson, Marlo Thomas and Apprentice producer, Mark Burnett.
  • Appearing on the Reuters Jumbotron in Time Square
  • Being in the Wall Street Journal
  • Speaking in Saudi Arabia as the first woman presenter to the national airlines

Making news.

Karen is a regular guest in international news outlets. See what she’s saying.
Latest media appearance