Karen was born in East London, moved to Pretoria and then to Pietersburg (now Polokwane). She moved back to Pretoria in 2008 where she attended Pro Arte Alphen Park and began studying Art.
In 2001, Karen moved to Port Elizabeth after school and studied graphic design at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (Originally PE Tech), completing a BTech in Graphic Design in 2005. She began lecturing in graphic design at Edu-City College and also began studing a BA HSS (psychology) in 2006.

In 2007 Karen moved back to Gauteng where she worked as a flash developer for a year in the IT industry, designing animations for slot machine tickers. In 2008 she started lecturing in graphic design again at the Midrand Graduate Institute. She left MGI at the end of 2010 and went to work on the cruise ships for six months doing temporary tattoos. She did a tattoo course in December 2010 and now does tattoos occasionally in her spare time.

Karen is currently working for Hartwood Digital Print Shop in Midrand as a graphic designer. Throughout her career she has continued to draw and paint, specialising in commissioned portraiture. She plans to return to MGI to lecture and further her studies.

She also works in InDesign/Freehand/Quark and Flash as well as gouache, acrylic, pencil, pen and ink, watercolour, oil, charcoal and pastel.