Introducing Karen Quiroz! Karen is an INTJ, a Cancer, and our fearless development manager, as of late March. Throughout her work, starting at the Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy and continuing at Nexus, Karen keeps seeing connections between the ways exploitative systems concentrate wealth in fewer and whiter hands, locally and globally. In development, Karen sees her role as an opportunity to push philanthropy to do better, and to create change at the intersection of wealth and racial justice.
As a musician and dancer, she knows how essential and energizing it is to develop a personal and collective vision for the world we want to be in. Naming and breaking down injustice is only one piece of the puzzle. Karen is drawn to art because of the ways it creates opportunities for us to reconnect deeply with culture and embody other worlds.
In her free time, Karen embraces and builds community and culture through Brazilian roots music. The recipient of three Artist Initiative grants (Minnesota State Arts Board), she leads her own band Samba Meu and plays percussion with Batucada Do Norte. Other than that, she is busy raising two boys, dancing Samba and swimming whenever she gets the chance.