Hi, I'm Karen.
"I knew right then that my life was going to be all about helping people find hope. All about connecting with love and compassion, and all about changing those systems that let hope die."
From Nairobi to the world stage
Karen grew up in Nairobi in a mixed-race family that looked polished from the outside and held quiet pain within. With an Indian mother, a white colonial father, and a Black half-brother, she grew up navigating the realities of identity, power, and privilege, and how they shape belonging. Racial slurs were hurled at her family on the street while love held them together inside the home. She witnessed inequality up close, long before she had the language for it.
"Your struggle can be somebody else's survival guide. Your story, no matter how broken and painful, can be somebody else's hope."
At 16, she stood in a children's cancer ward in Nairobi and saw firsthand the impacts of systemic inequality, discrimination and marginalization. Children were suffering not because of their illness alone, but because of the broken systems around them. A four-year-old girl with a tumour ran toward her with her arms outstretched, as though Karen were the safest place in the room. That moment gave her a decision that shaped everything after: she would spend her life helping people find hope, and changing the systems that let it die.
25 years of building what others only talk about
Awards & Honours
Certifications
- Certified Expert Speaker
- Certified Diversity Professional
- Certified Gender Based Analysis Plus Practitioner
- Certified Sustainable Development & ESG Professional
- Certified Integral Associate Coach
- Certified Conscious Business Leader
- Certified Social Purpose Practitioner
What Karen believes
"Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of people who are in our charge."
"Your struggle can be somebody else's survival guide."
"I am a category of one."
"If you want to work with me and you want real change, I want to see the leaders in the room with me, too."
Official bio
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Karen Craggs is a Workplace Culture, Change and Performance Expert and International Keynote Speaker, and the go-to expert for organizations that want to be BEST IN CLASS™ in their sector.
Recognized as a Gender Equality Changemaker by the Obama White House and one of Business Insider's Top 25 HR Innovators, Karen brings 25+ years of experience with 150+ organizations across 70+ countries. In 2026 she was named a Leader to Watch by Speaker Slam and received the Global Impact & Leadership Excellence Award from Remarkable Mothers. A Kenyan-born Canadian, former technology executive and founder of Conscious Equality™ Inc., she helps leaders bring out the best in their people, processes and systems, with inclusion built into how the organization performs.
Karen Craggs is a leading Workplace Culture, Change & Performance Expert, DEI & Inclusive Leadership Strategist, and International Keynote Speaker. She is the go-to expert for organizations that want to be BEST IN CLASS™ in their sector, helping leaders turn inclusion into a strategic advantage that strengthens culture, guides change and improves how organizations work.
Named a 2026 Leader to Watch by Speaker Slam, Karen brings 25+ years of global experience working with 150+ organizations across 70+ countries. A proud Kenyan-born Canadian of mixed heritage, former technology executive and founder of Conscious Equality™ Inc., she combines executive perspective, deep expertise and a genuine commitment to bringing out the best in people, processes and systems.
Her career includes senior roles with Plan International Canada, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences and ThoughtExchange, where she served as Vice President of ESG and Head of Anti-Racism and DEI. Her experience spans business, international development, education and public service, connecting organizational priorities with the realities of employees, customers, communities and partners.
Karen’s expertise encompasses anti-racism and DEI, inclusive leadership, gender equality, disability inclusion, decolonization, Indigenization and reconciliation, social purpose, social impact and ESG. She helps organizations embed these priorities into strategy, workplace culture and everyday decisions across departments.
Her work extends from listening, assessment and strategy development through implementation, capacity development, measurement and reporting. Whether advising a board, supporting an executive team or working alongside staff, Karen translates complex issues into practical actions aligned with the organization’s mission and values.
Through international keynotes, workshops, consulting and leadership assignments, Karen helps organizations close the gap between what they stand for and what people experience. Her BEST IN CLASS™ approach connects strategy, people and practice so that inclusion informs how organizations lead, innovate and deliver meaningful impact.
Karen’s recognition includes being named a Gender Equality Changemaker by the Obama White House and one of Business Insider’s Top 25 HR Innovators, and receiving the 2026 Global Impact & Leadership Excellence Award from Remarkable Mothers.
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The full picture
Karen lives in Toronto with her husband, three hockey-playing children, and five pets. She practices Reiki healing and organizes full moon healing circles. The same belief runs through all of it: that transformation begins from the inside.
The hibiscus flower she wears in her hair connects her to Kenya, to her roots, and to the reminder that beauty and resilience grow in the same soil.
Whether under a tree in rural Ghana or in a boardroom filled with C-suite executives, Karen is at home in front of any audience.
She describes herself as the underdog who fights for all underdogs. The cancer ward at 16. The racism aimed at her family. The grief and the healing. She brings all of it into every room she enters, and she believes that is what makes the work land.