Executive, Entrepreneur, Educator, Artist

Karen Nguyen is a dynamic executive, entrepreneur and educator with a successful track record in corporate, start-up and non-profit environments. Using her 15 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.

As a multi-entrepreneur in the arts/entertainment and wine industry, Karen grew her first business, Inspired Art Wine, to 20,000+ customers worldwide and 250+ corporate clients since 2015. Her innovative approach 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. Over the years, she has taught 10,000+ students in her studio. She teaches art, but is also an artist herself! Her style is classic contemporary art. Each painting evokes different emotions and interpretations depending on the viewer as each piece can be hung portrait or landscape. In 2018, Karen launched Inspired Somm, where she brings an entertaining, informative and modern approach to wine education aimed at Millennials and Generation Z markets. To learn more about her various ventures, visit Inspired Enterprises

As an executive, Karen serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Xalles Holdings, a holding company that focuses on direct investments in disruptive fintech companies headquartered in Washington, DC. As CMO, Karen leverages her expertise in brand identity and strategic communications to help deliver financial growth across the company’s portfolio of subsidiaries. Prior to Xalles, 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 Strategic Alliances team at Experian Marketing Services that identified fintech acquisitions and performed due diligence. She received her Bachelors and MBA from University of California, Irvine, bilingual (fluent in Vietnamese) and traveled/worked in 50+ countries.