Karen Bartlett
Partner Consultant
Karen Bartlett was put on this planet to help others, to inspire authenticity and liberation in everyone she meets. An entrepreneur, educator, coach, and force for social change, Karen brings over 25 years of experience as a social activist to bear as a partner at the Kite+Dart Group, the founder of Ascension Energetics, and the podcast host of Now & Center: Entrepreneurial Voices from the Margin.
Activism is at the heart of everything Karen does. At every stage of her life, she has followed this hunger for social change by helping others reframe old ways of thinking to find new angles of attack in the fight against systemic oppression.
At Kite+Dart Group, she coaches entrepreneurial activists through the ups-and-downs of running a small business, giving them the tools and guidance to build impact-driven enterprises that are aligned with their commitments and their authentic self. The result is a tribe of radically empowered business owners ready to live out their passions and create a better future in the process.
Karen also founded Ascension Energetics, where she works with education and social impact leaders to decrease occupational stress and reconnect with their passion and purpose so they can lead with intention and clarity. She extends her reach by supporting her clients’ organizations with professional development and strategic planning facilitation.
Through these two ventures, Karen consistently brings empowerment, direction, and inspiration to the movers-and-shakers of our communities. She knows from experience how rewarding it is to see understanding bloom behind the eyes of a student or the thrill of a small-business owner inking a new deal, and more importantly, how those positive experiences ripple out to create change in big ways.
Karen set out on a mission to inspire like-minded souls to reassess their relationship with their work and to guide them on their journey to rediscover joy and fulfillment, and now she has helped hundreds of people become stronger leaders, smarter educators, and unstoppable social activists. Through Kite+Dart and Ascension Energetics, Karen is helping inspire a new generation of socially-minded visionaries.
Karen Bartlett is a Certified Professional Coach and holds her ELI-MP (Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner). She holds a BA in International Affairs from the University of Colorado Boulder, a certificate in INVST Community Studies, a leadership development program for social change-makers at CU, as well as a teaching credential from California State University Dominguez HIlls. In 2014 Karen was awarded Outstanding Mentor, and in 2015 she was named a Distinguished Teacher. She also co-authored a large grant that was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the strategic redesign of an elementary school focused on personalized learning.
Favorite Quotes-
"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” ~audre lorde
"Your no makes the way for your yes. Boundaries create the container within which your yes is authentic. Being able to say no makes yes a choice.” ~adrienne maree brown