Karen Johnston

Karen’s relationship with the communication profession has been part planned, part wished for and part luck. As a journalist with a loved but untapped talent for the creative, she fell into corporate communications working on employee storytelling. She then shifted to non-profit stakeholder communications before joining the team that convinced (and showed!) the world that South Africa could hold an epic FIFA World Cup in 2010. A year traveling around Africa and two kids later, a love for podcasting helped her shift an international bank’s approach to delivering content and ramped up internal communication efforts using live radio. Relatively new to British Columbian soil, she now develops services and software as the Communications Director at IC Thrive, making the lives of internal communicators infinitely easier.

Karen identifies with the journey of professional communicators and brings empathy and encouragement to her role as Director of Career Development. She looks forward to connecting with – and helping to connect – BC communicators no matter where they are on their communications journey.

She is also the SIG Manager and SIG Internal Communications Chair at IABC/BC, and while very new at skiing, a volunteer Ski instructor with VASS (Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports).