Karen has lived in Leicester since 1975 when she studied Philosophy at the University of Leicester. She is a currently a Leicester Organiser for the Workers Educational Association at the 101 Hinckley Road Centre http://wea101.org  and the Chair of Healthwatch Leicester http://www.healthwatchleicester.co.uk.

Previously she worked for 30+ years in equality campaigning organisations nationally and locally and in Higher, Further and Community Education. She is a qualified teacher and a specialist in teaching English as a second language. Her passion for justice and education has led to several awards - one of which was from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust –with the accolade ‘Visionary for a just and peaceful world’ in 2005. She and her children also won the Nintendo Wii competition in 2007 for Britain’s Brainiest family!

• Founder member and chair of Belgrave Baheno which became the Peepul Centre for 25 years.
• Senior lecturer at De Montfort University, 1988 - 2000, programme leader for the MA in Community Education.
• She founded Equanomics UK, which is based on the premise that economic justice is the route to social justice. Through Equanomics UK Karen organised two UK tours with the Reverend Jesse Jackson to highlight economic injustice.