Her Story
About Karin
I originally was a business management major in college, and earlier in my career, I worked both for for-profits and non-profit organizations, usually smaller ones. I was mostly focused on the finance aspect of things initially, but since I was working with a lot of smaller organizations, especially nonprofits, I also dived into HR because these organizations didn't have a dedicated HR department. I went on to get my SHRM SCP certification, and now as a consultant, I work with nonprofits giving them consulting services either in finance or HR, or a combination of both. I think having both that finance and HR perspective allows me to add value to an organization, whereas a lot of times the finance people only have a finance perspective, or the HR folks only have an HR perspective, and I can marry the two together. I recently registered my business as an LLC called Bantam Wise, LLC. Before that, I was enrolled as the Director of Finance, Chief Financial Officer, or Director of HR or Operations. Some of my key skill sets include being a great problem solver - I'm always problem-solving issues for organizations and thinking outside the box in coming up with viable solutions. I really try to bring operational efficiencies to my clients, always on the lookout for ways they can improve their systems and processes.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Karin
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say it's passion, because I think if I was just working for regular for-profit businesses, maybe I would not be as excited about doing my work, but because I know that I'm indirectly helping these organizations fulfill their missions by strengthening their administration and operational processes, I also feel like I'm contributing. I always try to do my best and have great attention to detail, and I'm somebody who likes to sometimes be creative in problem-solving issues. I think that's the key to my success - the combination of passion for the nonprofit missions I support, attention to detail, and creative problem-solving abilities.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I don't know if it was really advice, but something I learned the longer I was in my professional career - it's necessary sometimes to take risks in your career, or with anything in life. When I originally started consulting, I wasn't absolutely 100% sure if this is what I was going to do, but 4 years later, I'm still doing it and I'm doing it well. So I think that was kind of a risk for me, going from being a regular employee with a steady paycheck to now being an entrepreneur running my own consulting business. I've learned to be able to sit with that risk and not feel panicked about it. Looking back in my career, there were instances where I stayed at organizations where there was clearly no opportunities for growth for me, but I just stayed there out of security. Looking back, I wish I had been less risk-averse and been more willing to say, hey, if I want to grow, I gotta take a risk, I gotta make a change. Sometimes you just gotta take the risk. You can either stagnate and stay where you are just because you're afraid of the unknown, or you could take a risk and see where it takes you.
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