Driven 2 Educate

In this episode Kari Keefe, Co-Founder and CEO of the KC Social Innovation Center, shares her background and inspiration for seeking out avenues, collaborators, investors and opportunities to create long-term impactful education changes in Kansas City. Kari is rather unique in that she is not an educator by profession. Her formal education and experience relates to marketing and consulting for retail marketing. Over time she became bored helping others "with marketing widgets that didn't have a lot of purpose or value." After becoming a mother she realized the deficiencies and non-existent availability of next generation schooling paths and diverse education opportunities within the urban environment of Kansas City. Despite living in an urban middle class neighborhood, the only opportunities for innovative education were in surrounding suburban communities. Kari was able to place her children in private schools but knew this was not an avenue available for all. This prompted her to dive deeper and educate her