At age 18, after years of classical guitar study that culminated in the recording of an album, Karen was at a crossroads – would she go to school for music or pharmacy? She chose the latter, much to her musical mentor’s dismay. She vowed to one day return to her craft . . . but not before spending over 30 years gaining her Doctor of Pharmacy and Masters of Science, building an accomplished career in both the pharmacy and pharmaceutical industries and speaking on stages across the country.

Then, in March 2018, while in San Francisco, she fell 15 feet off of a rock climbing wall. Karen was rushed to San Francisco General and, after critical care assessment, learned that she had smashed her elbow and would need reconstructive surgery.

Faced with the threat that she may never be able to play guitar again, Karen had her wake up call. She was determined to find a way to make both health and music a part of her life.

It was a few years later, when her father was in the end stages of dementia and eventually receiving palliative care, that she realized the potency of music and its link to health. She would visit him in hospital, with her guitar, to play at his bedside. Karen would watch in amazement as her father, generally unresponsive and near the end of his life, responded to her music by perking up and even uttering the name of the piece she was playing. For some reason, music tapped into a part of his brain that was still very much alive.

To this day, Karen shares her single-minded passion about creating shifts through the power of music. Having spent most of her life in the corporate world and seeing how work can take a toll on employees, the shift she focuses on is transforming stressed out workers into resilient ones.