Karen Carlson is a successful entrepreneur and award-winning journalist. Her company, Pet Bird Entertainment, LLC, (www.petbirdent.com ) is in the business of producing high-quality original content for television networks. In addition to being a past judge and presenter at the Suncoast Regional Emmy Awards, she currently sits on the Content Advisory Board for the Consumer Electronics Show, helping to bring content to an evolving mobile audience.

She has given many speeches, emceed many events and even guest taught a class or two at schools such as the UCLA Extension and the University of LaVerne.

In addition to having an avid love of New Orleans and being dedicated to its revival, Karen has also been recognized as a hero for her life-saving efforts by the Red Cross.

Emmy Award aside, her most important assignment as a reporter was covering Hurricane Katrina. She asks everyone working with her in her new venture to, in some way, donate to the hurricane zone and help save a city that has contributed so greatly to our country's history, culture, music and food.

In short, she is a businesswoman and producer first, though every now and then, she still ends up in front of the camera.