Karen grew up between Israel and the US, which brought her early on to an interest in peacebuilding and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For over 25 years she has been involved in education-, dialogue-, and peacebuilding-focused initiatives aimed at societal transformation, both in the US and in Israel-Palestine, and is a firm believer in the power of the grassroots, especially education, to make change. She makes her living by teaching and researching about these same issues at a university in the Boston area.