Resilience Expert, Inspiring Speaker, Fierce Leader, Bestselling Author, Mentor, Mom, Survivor, Advocate, Limit-Pusher
Karen is an incredible motivational speaker who brings audiences through her own personal stories of resilience and inspires with an amazing sense of positivity.
Recognized by the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards as a Nominee in 2014 and 2021, Karen has been a mentor to women in business throughout her career and was mentored herself by Arlene Dickinson of Venture Communications and CBC TV’s Dragon’s Den. Karen holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a certificate in Small Business Development Training. She is also a Certified Knowledge Broker and Mastermind.com Professional.
Karen shows her dedication to her community through extensive volunteering, including roles as a founding member of several community and business development organizations. She was one of only two women to ever be elected to the Board of Directors of Farmers Co-operative Dairy Limited, and she has also served as a board member for the Early Intervention Association of Nova Scotia and the National Holstein Convention. Karen believes in paying it forward and, since 2018, she has raised over $120,000 for families in need in Nova Scotia.
Karen is the proud mother to three amazing humans who she points to as not only a source of joy but as her greatest accomplishments. Karen is a survivor of domestic abuse by more than one abuser, and has faced challenges from toxic family relationships to helping her children through illness to protecting them from abuse. Her advice for other women springs from a mountain of lived experience, and she’s passionate about her mission to help other women find their resilience and live their best life, a purpose she lives in her own life every day.
Karen released her first book in November 2020. We Are Unbreakable: Raw, Real Stories of Resilience is a collection of authentic and inspiring stories about the unprecedented year of 2020 written by 22 incredible women who call Nova Scotia home. In these stories you will find examples of struggle, strength, togetherness and, mostly, of resilience as these remarkable women, from many different age groups and walks of life, share their experiences of living, working, running businesses and parenting through a global pandemic, along with a year of horrific tragedies that rocked the entire province of Nova Scotia in so many ways. A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to the Nova Scotia Remembers Legacy Society to establish a bursary program aimed at women in rural Nova Scotia who have overcome adversity and barriers to pursue their education and who demonstrate the qualities of resiliency and strength that are captured in the pages of this book.
Twenty-two contributors is of special significance because that is the number of innocent and beautiful souls who were taken from us so tragically in April 2020 in the worst mass shooting in Canadian history.
We will remember them.
We will honour them.
And we will build a legacy in their memory.
Contributors to this book include: Amy Hill, Amy VanderHeide, Angela Mercer-Penny, Carley Gloade, Colleen O'Dea, Diane Muise, Emily Kierstead, Ifeoma Esonwune, Josie Ryan, Karen Dean, Lisa Drader-Murphy, Margaret Miller, Michele Tessier, Miriah Kearney, Mounfiq Abu, Nancy Regan, Nikki Porter, Robin Legge, Sam Madore, Sarah Stewart-Clark, Tanya Priske, Tracy Stuart