Event resources
Handy resources for your event, and the promotion of it.
Karen’s One Sheet
Download Karen’s Speaker One sheet, with key takeaways.
Requests and Requirements
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Travel Arrangements
Karen takes off out of Brisbane and is happy to fly economy on journeys under 4 hours. Anything over that, she flies business class to ensure she’s well rested and ready to go.
Most states frown upon Karen driving herself (!?) so home and destination transfers are essential.
And finally, so you can be assured Karen is fresh, stress free and ready to give her best, accommodation the night before is required. If she is presenting after 2pm, accommodation that evening would also be appreciated.
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AV Requirements
Karen uses a lapel or headset mic and can bring her own ‘clicker’ if one is not provided.
She is happy to send a copy of her presentation for loading prior to the event. If needed she can bring her own PC Laptop to run her slides. She will keep this with her out the front/on stage.
Karen’s preferred walk on music is “Window to the Sky” by Kim Churchill.
Karen’s Speaking Intro
Our next speaker is a resilience expert with an extraordinary life story.
She will change how you think about adversity and your capacity to advance towards your goals when life gets tricky.
Armed with a fresh understanding of what it means to be resilient and inspired to prove the doubters wrong, she is going to share her strategy for success.
She’ll teach you to survive change that is fast and fundamental – and to keep the momentum going once you have it.
Please welcome to the stage, Karen McCarthy.
Downloadable images of Karen
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Head Shot
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Download black and white photo -
Karen with Cane
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Karen with Clear Space
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Karen’s bio for marketing
Read below or download the PDF.
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Karen McCarthy is a resilience expert with a background worthy of a melodrama. 15 years into a career as a lawyer, and 10 years into motherhood, she suffered complications from surgery to remove a tumour from her brain. She was left legally blind, and her family was told she would never be able to care for herself – if she even lived.
Determined to fight her way back to live a life she recognised, Karen proved the doubters wrong. In losing her sight, Karen gained a vision – an actionable blueprint for building resilience through adaption and growth in the face of change that has inspired people all over the country.
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Karen McCarthy established herself as an outlier early in life - having achieved Dux of her high school, earning two degrees with honours, and being admitted as a barrister at the age of 23. She then spent 14 years prosecuting offences, advising on action against corruption and working to confiscate the proceeds of crime. Not to mention marrying a good man and mothering two great kids.
Then life threw a curveball.
In 2016, Karen was told she needed surgery to reduce the size of a tumour growing in her brain. Having been down this road once before, with no more repercussions than a bad hangover, she went into the operation with confidence. Only this time, the outcome couldn’t have been more different.
A cavalcade of complications ensued from bleeding and fluid build-up to sky-high intra-cranial pressure. Doctors told her family the devastating news that the woman they loved was unlikely to make it. And if she did, she’d be profoundly disabled.
Karen had other ideas. She was determined to prove them wrong and get back to a life she recognised.
Through six emergency operations, over a month in ICU, and in and out of a rehabilitation unit for the balance of six months, her family stood by her as Karen fought to overcome the odds.
The operation left Karen legally blind – but she didn’t let that stop her. Before long, Karen achieved her highest level of physical fitness ever. She learnt to walk independently to collect her kids from school. She travelled interstate solo. She learnt to read braille. And she learnt the adaptive skills that she needed to return to her job as a lawyer with the state’s top corruption watchdog.
In losing her sight, Karen gained a vision – an actionable blueprint for building resilience through adaption and growth in the face of change. Her five pillars of “Centred, Spacious, Strong, Smart and Supported” can be applied to anyone, in any organisation facing up to a daunting level of change. With it, Karen inspires people across the country to build limitless resilience.