Podcast appearances and mentions of Karen A Clark

Karen A. Clark is an award-winning leader currently serving as the multicultural strategy manager at City National Bank where she specializes in developing marketing and advertising strategies to serve clients from diverse communities while also building partnerships that are beneficial to multicultural business development. Under Karen's leadership, City National ranked among Forbes' “Best Employers for Diversity” from 2018 to 2020. Active in the community, Karen also serves on five nonprofit boards in addition to coaching and speaking on financial fitness, personal branding, and inclusive allyship and leadership. Karen earned her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from California State University and attended marketing programs at Columbia Business School and Harvard Business School.Elevate Your Brand is the #1 marketing podcast for entrepreneurs and “wantrepreneurs” looking for insider tips and secrets from the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, entrepreneurial special guests join Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, to discuss the marketing failures and successes that have brought their brands to the next level. Learn from real-life experiences and be inspired by leaders in your industry about how smart digital and experiential marketing can elevate your brand.

Do you want to be a writer but suffer from writer's block? I know I often do! Well, my guest today may have the perfect solution for us — the world's first AI-powered writing and publishing platform — that she says will help you put words 3x faster on the page, and transform the future of writing, publishing, and connecting. The AI platform is the brainchild of tech entrepreneur, startup founder, and former beauty queen, Iman Oubou. Oubou is the author of a new book just released called, “The Glass Ledge: How To Break Through Self-Sabotage, Embrace Your Power, And Create Your Success.” A Moroccan-American, Oubou is the Founder and CEO of SWAAY, a digital women's content and empowerment platform. But as her candid book indicates, this journey from pageant winner to startup founder and now author has not been an easy one.  If you liked this episode, check out these other episodes from my podcast, When It Mattered (

Television writer Philip Rosenthal is quoted as saying “A good restaurant is like a vacation – it transports you, and it becomes a lot more than just about the food.” Are you ready to be transported?  Join CivitasLA for this mini-episode as we hear from previous guests (including Marqueece Harris-Dawson; Karen A. Clark; Jasmin Willis; David Carlisle; Lindsey Horvath; Lorna Little, Nora Houndalas; Craig Greiwe; Alex Valente; Alexander Kim; Alia J. Daniels; and Lorri Jean) as they remind us of some of “their” favorite restaurants across our region.  To learn more about CivitasLA, we invite you to visit www.CivitasLA.com. And we hope you'll rate and review our show; and connect with us on Facebook (@CivitasLA), Instagram (@Civitas_LA) and Twitter (@Civitas_LA). 

Created in 1977 in the aftermath of the Civil Rights movement, with an aim to address the historical disinvestment in urban communities, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has sought to encourage financial institutions to better meet the credit needs of the communities in which they do business, including those considered low- and moderate-income and communities of color. As CivitasLA celebrates Black History Month, we are joined by Karen A. Clark (SVP, Multicultural Strategies & Business Development) and Jasmine Willis (Branch Manager, VP) of City National Bank, our region's leading home-grown financial institution, to discuss the role banks have played in disinvesting in our urban communities; the imperative for greater financial inclusion, defined by the World Bank to be when “individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs….delivered in a responsible and sustainable way”; and City National's approach to investing in diverse communities. To learn more, please visit www.CNB.com. And for more information about CivitasLA, please visit www.CivitasLA.com and we hope you'll rate and review our show; and connect with us on Facebook (@CivitasLA), Instagram (@Civitas_LA) and Twitter (@Civitas_LA).

SPECIAL EPISODE: Diversity Matters in the Middle Market, brought to you by the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and Connection Builders.Being financially literate does more than help your bottom line: it also improves your mental health. Today's guest has experienced this firsthand… Join us to hear from Karen A. Clark, SVP Multicultural Strategies with City Nation Bank, a community activist and financial literacy volunteer. Karen talks us through how the positive attitude at the bank that she works at inspired her to make a difference in those around her and what her first experience educating kids about savings was like. Find out about the obstacles throughout history that black and brown Americans have had to overcome to gain wealth and how financial literacy is linked to societal turmoil. Tune in to learn how, where, and why you should be volunteering your financial expertise and so much more in this inspirational episode. Key Points From This Episode: How Karen got to where she is now.How black and brown Americans have historically been left out of financial education and savings and investment opportunities. Redlining and the collapse of the Freedman's Bank: how the wealth gap has widened throughout history. How financial literacy improves emotional wellness and subsequently reduces turmoil in the world. The link between mental health and sound financial decisions.How Karen's experience of bankruptcy showed her the impact of financial stress on her mental health.How you can contribute to improving financial literacy: who to volunteer with, and what makes you qualified. Karen's experience with kindergartners and how she started her volunteering journey. Karen A. Clark on LinkedInOperation HopeACG DEI Committee Mission and ResourcesConnection BuildersAlex Drost on LinkedIn

This is a great conversation about the financial strategies that will keep you free. Moderated by Karen Clark of City National Bank, this panel consists of Eric Clay from Operation HOPE, Colette Moore of the Small Business of Pacific Coast Regional, Toni Jackson of City National Bank, Mark Morales of City National Bank, Yolandra McClinton of the Neighborhood Housing Service. This will help you!!!

Ep. 44 — A mentee takes up her mentor's mantle and devotes her career to diversity and inclusion in banking / Karen A. Clark, Senior VP and Multicultural Strategies Manager, City National Bank. When Karen A. Clark got her first management assignment as a young banker at Bank of America in Los Angeles, she was blown away when a senior executive and Chinese immigrant named Regina “Reggie” Chun flew in from San Francisco to take her to lunch. Chun told Clark that she had a unique opportunity to help other minorities rise in corporate America and she reminded Clark that if a person in her position didn't help them, then who would? Clark took Chun's rhetorical question to heart and devoted her career to fostering diversity and inclusion in the traditionally white and male-dominated banking industry and financial services sectors. Today Clark is a Senior Vice-President and Multicultural Strategies Manager at City National Bank in Los Angeles. She and her team are working in overdrive to help minority-owned small businesses get fair access to the federal COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Clark says the government's flawed rollout of the program has failed to help businesses. [Hear Excerpt Below] Clark finds her work both rewarding and exhausting but also vital given the rising anti-immigrant sentiment and coronavirus-fueled racism against minorities particularly in the Asian communities and the unequal access to banking services and federal stimulus funds. "The lack of access for small businesses, through this PPP process, has been horrendous. It's been horrendous. Every day, you can read... We have two people at City National Bank, who capture all of the media stories around PPP and put them out there for us, every day. And there are very, very few good stories,” Clark says. "I think it could have been a little better thought out by the federal government to ensure that there was a tranche and an opportunity and a procedure for these small businesses, those who needed funds. Even under a $100,000, $50,000, $40,000, it should have been a process to ensure that those people have the opportunity to apply. And there wasn’t." Clark says she owes her success to her parents, especially her father who she says, taught her and trained her to “swim with sharks” from an early age, which positioned her for success both in banking and corporate boardrooms and in the highly male-dominated commercial lending division for the construction industry. Throughout her banking career, Clark has made time for her other passion, singing, writing, and producing through her entertainment company, The Karen A. Clark Project. Read the Transcript Download the PDF Chitra Ragavan: When Karen A. Clark got her first management assignment as a young banker at Bank of America in Los Angeles, she was blown away when a senior executive and Chinese immigrant named Regina Chun flew in from San Francisco just to take her to lunch. Clark never forgot Chun's advice. Indeed, she has devoted her entire career to fostering inclusion and diversity in the banking industry. Hello everyone, I'm Chitra Ragavan, and this is When It Mattered. This episode is brought to you by Goodstory, an advisory firm helping technology startups find their narrative. Joining me now is Karen A. Clark. She's senior vice president and multicultural strategies manager at City National Bank in Los Angeles. Clark is currently working to ensure that minority owned companies in and around Los Angeles get fair access to COVID-19 federal stimulus funds. In her free time, Clark also is a singer, songwriter and producer of her entertainment company, The Karen A. Clark Project. Karen, welcome to the podcast. Karen A. Clark: Chitra, thank you so much for having me. Chitra Ragavan: You were an Air Force brat. You traveled all over the world with your parents and it was quite a formative experience for you. Tell us about your parents and what that childhoo...