Karen Quiroz

• Director of Philanthropic Partnerships
• Pronouns: she/her
• Year Hired: 2021

I joined Nexus in 2021 and serve as the Director of Philanthropic Partnerships. In development, I see my role as an opportunity to push philanthropy to do better, and to create change at the intersection of wealth and racial justice.

About Karen

Prior to Nexus, Karen worked at the Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy. There, she dove deep into the connections between the ways exploitative systems concentrate wealth in fewer and whiter hands, locally and globally. Outside of work, Karen is a musician and a dancer who 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. Karen is drawn to art because of the ways it creates opportunities for us to reconnect deeply with culture and embody other worlds. Other than that, she is busy raising two boys, dancing Samba and swimming whenever she gets the chance.