Karen was born in the United Kingdom, but completed her schooling in South Africa. She started her career in the marketing services department of Nasionale (now Media 24) in 1986, and then went on to having a successful media career at Lindsay Smithers (now Draft FCB), Young & Rubicam and SMLB (now Leo Burnett) where she rose to the position of Associate Media Director.Karen worked on blue chip accounts, most notably SAA where at a young age she was responsible for the global media strategy. In media Karen achieved many of her corporate career highlights including being integral to the 1995 Rugby World Cup SAA-flyover, winning the International Advertising Association’s Tommy Young Award for the most promising person in advertising under the age of 30, and being voted one of the top 3 media planners in S.A. at the time.In October 1997, Karen and her business partner, Marisa Torrani started Cinevation. In the beginning the focus was on cinema advertising as well as innovative and unique uses of the medium. As a result, this innovation has won Cinevation numerous local and international awards. In 2006, Cinevation started Popcorn Cinema Advertising which is the sales arm for Nu Metro and key Independent Cinema Operators. The Popcorn business enjoys ongoing sales growth and industry recognition and has been voted into one of the top 10 positions at the MOST Awards nearly every year since inception.Cinevation now consists of two divisions, a Media Sales division that delivers premium audiences across cinema, open-air cinema, theatre, gyms and nightclubs, and an Agency Services division with clients in the Leisure, Lifestyle, Entertainment and youth sector.Karen was Chairperson of the Advertising and Media Association of South Africa (AMASA) Committee in 2002 to 2005. She has since been an AMASA Board Director responsible for the Finance portfolio and is currently Chairperson of the Board.