[Beyond: border-free]

Karen's interest in languages and other cultures goes back decades. The intrigue of another land and its people led her to participate in national and international academic and cultural exchanges. Karen has since turned this curiosity into a professional pursuit. Thriving on first-hand interaction with the locals, she is credible and comfortable in non-English arenas.

Karen has spent most of her career in multi-lingual, multi-cultural environments. In addition to putting many of her languages to work in the business world, she also lectures college-level Spanish.

As the third major world language in terms of native speakers, Spanish is fast becoming more prevalent throughout the United States. In 2002, there were 37.4 million Latinos in the civilian non-institutional population of the United States, representing 13.3% of the total*. 34.4% of Hispanics were under 18, and a majority over the age of 5 spoke Spanish at home.

According to the Census 2000, there were 7.4 million Hispanic or Latino families with a real median income of $33,455 per household, the highest ever recorded. Within our own nation's borders, the rising disposable income and purchasing power of this lingua franca cannot be overlooked. In reality, this one language represents many