Karen began working at Creative Action as a volunteer in 2003 and has helped the organization grow from serving 800 young people to more than 16,000 each year. She regularly leads creative workshops and participates in arts projects as a designer, dramaturg and collaborator. She was a member of the Create Austin Cultural Planning Task Force, sits on the Kennedy Center Any Given Child steering committee, is a member of the Leadership Austin Essential Class of 2010, won the “Austin Under 40” Arts and Culture award in 2011, and was a 2012 finalist for the Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year. Previous positions: Assistant to the Artistic Director and Outreach Associate at Northlight Theatre (Chicago), Co-director of Redmoon Theatre's award winning program Dramagirls (Chicago), Arts Specialist for Interfaith Neighbors Girlspace (New York City). Additional community-arts projects: collaboration with Northwestern University, Steppenwolf Theatre Crosstown Exchange, co-creating The Owl's Nest Women’s Retreat with Creative Action founder Lynn Hoare. Karen holds a BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University and an MA in Community Based Arts from NYU.