Karen Krejcha
Bio
Karen serves as Executive Director and Co-Founder of Autism Empowerment and also as the Board President. She is Editor of Spectrum Life Magazine and the host of the Autism Empowerment Podcast.
Karen considers Autism Empowerment her calling and passion. She is an autistic self-advocate, parent advocate, and community advocate. It wasn’t long after her two children were diagnosed on the autism spectrum in 2008 that she learned she also was autistic but had grown up undiagnosed. Her original diagnosis of Asperger syndrome (now Autism) brought relief and understanding. Self-acceptance brought her peace.
In 2016, Karen was chosen to become a Peer Reviewer for the Department of Defense’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program for Autism and is one of the only autistic adults to ever serve in that role.
Previous Career Experience
Karen is a creative big-picture thinker with over 30 years of experience in operations, sales and start-up ventures. Prior to co-founding Autism Empowerment with John Krejcha, she founded an internationally award-winning online collectibles business, Count Your Beans, which she and John owned for 15 years. Other experience includes public speaking, advocacy, marketing, customer service, blogging, voiceover acting, and freelance writing.
Karen has served in a variety of sales, recruiting and management positions in the employment industry, including Regional Manager for a national technical job placement firm in Silicon Valley.
In the 1990s, she was a touring professional with the Professional Women’s Bowling Association, then the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour. She was nominated for both Rookie of the Year and the Robby Sportsmanship of the Year award. Other bowling highlights included representing the United States in international competitions and serving as bowling team captain for California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where Karen majored in Child and Family Development and was actively engaged in student leadership and advocacy.
Leadership and Disability Advocacy in Washington and Beyond
Karen is a 2014 graduate of the Clark County Leadership Development and Advocacy Training program for developmental disabilities advocates in Washington state. She belongs to various disability groups and coalitions and uses her lived experience in consulting and advocacy work nationwide.
Karen served as Master of Ceremonies for the 2014 and 2016 Clark County Legislative Candidates Forum on Disabilities. In celebration of National Disability Awareness Month, she was recognized by the Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board and Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce with the Dennis Campbell Outstanding Service Award in October 2014.
Jefferson Awards Winner
In 2013, Karen Krejcha was selected as one of five 2013 Washington State Jefferson Awards winners, only the 3rd time in 46 years that a Vancouver, WA resident was awarded this honor. Initiated in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Senator Robert Taft, Jr., this “Nobel Prize” for public service is a nationwide effort recognizing the highest ideals and achievements of volunteerism in the U.S.
Karen and Autism Empowerment were featured in a story on Evening Magazine:
Distinguished Spectrumite Medal Winner
Karen was honored in May 2012 with a Distinguished Spectrumite Medal from the Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership (GRASP) for her accomplishments as a woman, parent, and professional on the autism spectrum.
Other notable DSM winners included Dr. Stephen Shore (2009), scientist and author, John Elder Robison, inventor and speaker (2010), Temple Grandin (2011), Dr. Liane Holliday Willey (2012), Jennifer Cook O’Toole (2012) and Karla Fisher (2012).
Writing and Speaking
In addition to her regular writings in Spectrum Life Magazine, Karen has been published in Zoom Autism Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Raising Kids on the Spectrum, 101 Inspirational Stories for Parents of Children with Autism and Asperger’s (April 2013), The Little e-Book of Autimisms (2013), the Autism and Scouting Leadership Training Kit Manual (2013) and was published as an Aspie Mentor in Been There, Done, That Try This: An Aspie’s Guide to Planet Earth (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2014), An Aspie’s Guide to Disclosing A Diagnosis (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2014), An Aspie’s Guide to “Faking It” (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2014) and An Aspie’s Guide to Bullying (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2014).
In her spare time, Karen freelances as a disability consultant, freelance writer, and speaker at local and national webinars and conferences. She loves watching murder mysteries with her husband, working puzzles with her family, and learning about the intricacies of feline life from her feisty cat, Zula.
Ways to Connect
- Email: karen@autismempowerment.org
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ambassadorforae
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenkrejcha/
- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/karenkrejcha