Karen Nguyen is a dynamic executive, entrepreneur and educator with a successful track record in corporate, start-up and non-profit environments. Using her 18+ years of experience as a marketing leader and business owner, Karen is passionate about implementing practical strategies that drive incremental tangible (revenue) and intangible (branding) growth through her business ventures and corporations as a corporate consultant.
As a serial entrepreneur in the arts/entertainment and wine industry, Karen grew her first business, Inspired Art Wine, to 35,000+ customers worldwide and 250+ corporate clients since 2016. In 2018, Karen founded Inspired Somm, where she brings an entertaining, informative and modern approach to wine education aimed at Millennials and Generation Z markets. In the same year, Pour Fine Art launched featuring Karen's classic contemporary art. Her work can be seen publicly at her gallery in Costa Mesa, City Hall, John Wayne Airport, Segerstrom Center for the Arts and exhibitions internationally. In 2021, Inspired Vineyards launched featuring a collection of art-inspired wine produced in Napa Valley. Each label is a varnished print from one of Karen's original paintings (ranging from 4-6 feet) and tells a story of her motherland, Vietnam.
As corporate consultant, Karen leverages her expertise in brand identity and strategic communications to help deliver financial growth to organizations across hi-tech, retail/CPG, manufacturing, education and hospitality sectors. Prior to entrepreneurship, she was head of Worldwide Partner Marketing for Western Digital. In this dual role, she was instrumental in launching channel marketing programs across 90 countries and managed teams in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Prior to Western Digital, Karen was part of the Global Infrastructure Services Division at HCL Technologies and Global Strategic Alliances team at Experian Marketing Services focused on fintech partnerships, respectively. She received her Bachelors and MBA from University of California, Irvine, bilingual (fluent in Vietnamese) and traveled/worked in 60+ countries.
Her innovative approach in marketing has earned her recognition as "Innovator of the Year" by the Orange County Business Journal and the “Emerging Small Business" award by the Connected Women of Influence. She frequently speaks at universities on entrepreneurship and modern marketing strategies.
To learn more, visit @ iredenterprises.com
