Karen McCullough

“My 20 plus years of experience as a Houston retailer and owner of four local clothing stores years gave me a real peek into the complexities of women, the challenges we face … and how we dress for each occasion,” says McCullough. “My daughter Meredith and I initially thought we would be telling this story from behind the dressing room door, but we soon found that this is a much bigger story, and we are all a part of it.”

Keynote speaker and author, Karen McCullough opens conferences, meetings and minds. Her clients call her, "A Shot of Energy! - And she is the most fun you'll ever have learning! You will be entertained, inspired and prepared for the future.

For the past 25 years Karen McCullough has been developing creative solutions and implementing innovative methods for motivating people to get excited about their job, their career and their life. Karen knows that the key ingredient to any successful organization is the PEOPLE. It's the attitude of the people that makes or breaks a business. Karen focuses on showing all generations how to turn their talents into performance , increase their accountability, leadership capabilities, and enjoy their work in the process.

Karen began her career as the youngest employee at an upscale department store in Cleveland, Ohio, where her mother worked as the first female credit manager. As a tribute to her infectious spirit, Karen was dubbed the store mascot. She worked her way up in a number of roles for the company, eventually becoming a sales associate in women’s fashion and later in menswear.

Karen’s entrepreneurial spirit ignited and she began pursuing her passion by opening an Art Gallery in San Antonio, Texas while simultaneously raising her young family. She later worked for two of the world’s most powerful fashion brands, Ralph Lauren and The Limited where she first started analyzing the internal culture of large organizations — both what fuels them and what holds them back. She applied what she learned and launched her own retail business, which she grew from one store into a multimillion dollar chain of four stores.

It was in those retail stores where Karen got her inspiration for The Seven Women Project. As far back as the 80’s Karen began profiling women. What started as fashion personalities grew into female archetypes representing the strengths and talents of women.

Karen started the project Ten years ago,. She began writing about women, success, and what she had learned behind the dressing room doors and she thought it would be easy, until she started to collaborate with her Gen X daughter, Meredith, and that’s when the real adventure began.

In a rapidly changing world, women across the country are challenged to step-in their most empowered selves to make positive change in their own lives and the lives of those around them.

Karen is hired over and over by the nation's top brands to talk about and strengthen their brand, developing leadership, and uniting diverse teams. Clients include: Procter & Gamble, JPMorgan Chase, Symantec, Sun Microsystems, Shell Oil, Exxon, Fluor, The World Bank, MD Anderson Cancer Center, The US Department of Justice, State Farm, National Association of Homebuilders, Humana and McGraw-Hill.