Karen is the driving force behind Engaging Education and is passionate about giving young people and educators the opportunity to connect with real businesses to engage in learning and build the confidence and capacity to build future skills and make a difference.

Karen’s story

Karen was not a top student, but always knew that she wanted to make a difference.  Her first real experience of achievement was when, at 16, she took it upon herself to organise her school leavers party because the teachers had called it off.  “Everyone was outraged and complaining and I decided to just get on with organising it myself”.  She secured the venue, created and sold all 180 tickets, arranged for teacher supervisors, booked a disco and even created awards.  The party was a huge success and for the first time, Karen felt that she was actually good at something.

Inspired to achieve

This experience inspired Karen to apply for college, and despite a shaky start she achieved the grades to go to University, had met life long friends and was excited about the future.

Karen graduated university with a marketing degree and more lifelong friends, and after 10 years of professional roles, creating and selling her own business, and starting her own family, her priorities changed and making a difference became more important.  Something more meaningful, and Karen re-trained as a Business and Enterprise teacher.

Business and Enterprise educator

Across Karen’s 15 years of teaching, Karen had her third child, emigrated to Australia and Founded Engaging Education, while still teaching full-time high school business and enterprise.  During this time, Karen has planned, delivered and assessed business, management, finance and enterprise courses at different levels;  she ran a range of enterprise programmes including an Apprentice themed challenge, Youth Enterprise, and many other entrepreneurial activities.  In addition, Karen planned and supported camps, excursions and engagement with local businesses and organisations to extend learning and to connect the theory to real contexts.

Network of incredible professionals

Since the creation of Engaging Education in 2017, Karen has created and facilitated popular and engaging workshops and events for both teachers and students from schools across Western Australia.  This could not have been achieved without her growing network of amazing professionals who have shared their expertise and engaged to create meaningful learning experiences.  Despite knowing no-one in Perth when she started, she put herself out there and with the same determination and drive, found incredible people who shared her vision and passion.  Many of these wonderful people have become friends and continue to work and collaborate with Karen today.

Lifelong learner and author

Karen is a lifelong learner and believes in the importance of her own personal and professional development.  This has involved participating in Curtin Ignition, learning and networking with Perth Learning Professionals, participating in research, supporting under-graduate teachers and most recently learning the digital skills necessary to pivot and bring professional currency online with Industry Engaged.

In 2019, Karen published a Children’s picture book, to create a legacy for her own children by including everything they loved about stories; treasure, pirates and adventure and memories of the coast.  The book is a rhyming tale about friendship and finding yourself.

Mission to inspire

Karen continues on her mission to connect industry with educators, to inspire young people to recognise their value and build capacity and confidence with skill building and role models and to foster a culture of enterprise and innovation in schools across Australia and beyond.