A strategic communicator with 20 years of experience, Kara is a senior director in the public affairs practice at PLUS Communications, where she leverages her expertise as a former journalist to help clients advance critical objectives in the public square.

Kara previously served as vice president of communications for Mental Health America (MHA), a national nonprofit devoted to mental health awareness, education and illness prevention. During her time at MHA, Kara was able to secure positive press coverage and op-ed placement in outlets such as the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and STAT News, among others.

Prior to joining MHA, Kara was a vice president at Spectrum Science Communications, where she executed successful earned media campaigns on behalf of global pharmaceutical clients. Before that, she was public and government affairs director for Colorado’s fourth-largest county, overseeing communications and legislative strategy for a department that administers elections for 450,000 voters and runs the DMV for 500,000 customers.

Kara spent the first half of her career as a reporter, covering business news before moving on to politics. As a former member of both the White House and Capitol Hill Press Corps, she covered everything from the Affordable Care Act and federal spending showdowns to the Arab Spring and U.S. foreign policy.

Kara graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelor’s degree in American government and earned her master’s degree from the London School of Economics.

What you may not know about Kara…

As managing editor of the Cavalier Daily, Kara spent more than 60 hours a week on top of a full course load (with no academic credit or pay!) running UVA’s independent student newspaper.