Karen Gunther has been a member of WIF since 2019 after moving to Charlotte and looking for ways to contribute to her newly adopted community. Since joining she has served on the grants team for three years – Human Services and Arts & Culture; as well as Community Impact. For Karen, WIF provides an opportunity to collaborate with like-minded women and prioritizes attending as many events as she can to learn how to contribute more and get to know others.

After living in upstate New York for 17 years, Karen relocated to Charlotte to be closer to her parents. Most of her career was spent working for Corning Incorporated in various roles within marketing, commercial, and corporate development. Karen is an extensive traveler both internally and domestically. With her children, ages 25 and 26, they enjoy a family camping trip every summer to the National Parks across the US. To date, she has been to all 50 states and her children to 48! Her thrill for traveling and nature has extended to completing items from her international bucket list including hiking the Incan Trail to Machu Picchu and plans to hike to Mount Everest base camp later this year. She has fully embraced her new home in Charlotte and all the activities it has to offer shows, museums, art festivals, and breweries. Her advice for WIF members is to get involved!  There is so much great work being done and so many great organizations. She firmly believes that before serving on a board you should first volunteer for the organization. Based on this belief, she is always looking for ways she can contribute – time, money, and goods.  Getting involved also provides a broader perspective of the many different paths someone’s life can take