Karen graduated summa cum laude from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and was co-valedictorian of her class. She began her career with internships at two Broadway publicity firms in New York City. Karen went on to work at two of the world’s largest advertising agencies, J. Walter Thompson (JWT) and Saatchi & Saatchi, in their New York offices. At JWT, her clients included Pfizer’s Lubriderm and e.p.t and Reckitt Benckiser’s Lysol, and she helped develop and execute the strategy behind print, radio and television campaigns. At Saatchi & Saatchi, Karen worked in their Collaborative Marketing division across all Procter & Gamble (P&G) products, focusing on their in-store branding efforts.

Moving to Charlotte, Karen worked at one of the city’s leading advertising agencies, Luquire George Andrews (LGA), as a supervisor on accounts like national home builder Shea Homes and local healthcare organizations OrthoCarolina and Stanly Regional Medical Center. Married to an illustrator/designer, Karen can be found out running, singing in the car with her three young children or keeping up on celebrity gossip.