Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 07/03/2024.
Reflecting on the cover story and the controversial image Kasmauski shot that raised as much furor as praise, Kasmauski discusses obesity around the world: what it indicates, what it enables, and what it often predetermines in societies as disparate as rural Japan, Northern Alaska, Sub-Saharan Africa and Appalachia.
Kasmauski champions the value of what is for many, their first filter on experience. In her line of work, for instance, who shoots the story often factors into what story will be told. A Japanese American woman, as in Kasmauski’s case, will likely have a different cultural filter than a man from another part of the world. Both would arrive at the same scene, but each would interpret the surroundings, the narrative, the relationships, according to his or her baseline beliefs and experiences. Kasmauski argues that this distinction is what feeds the rich human experience, and without it, we are little more empty vessels.
No matter how hard she searched the faces and communities of Japan, Kasmauski could not find the mythologized Japanese women she had always read about: the fragile flowers. It wasn’t until she traveled the world as a photographer for National Geographic that she rediscovered half of her heritage and grew acquainted with a modern Japanese culture.
For the last ten years Kasmauski has given us the personal side of numerous global health crises: AIDS, malnutrition, immunization, reproductive health, and overpopulation. In this sweeping view of the human condition, Kasmauski shares the stories that have and will continue to shape our joint destiny in this ever-shrinking world.
Kasmauski focuses her lens on the inspiring and compelling story of nurses around the globe, from midwives working on the Texas/Mexico border to nurses fighting AIDS in Kenyan slums. In this presentation, she illustrates why nurses hold the power to make a difference and are the true leaders in many communities, serving on the front lines of social, economic and environmental crises.
Over the past 20 years Kasmauski has traveled the world for National Geographic, photographing stories of a wide range of women, from health workers in Bangladesh, prostitutes in India, and women Marines training for combat to teenage mothers in Nebraska and office workers in Japan. Kasmauski weaves together the common threads that run through their experiences—stories of courage, love, family, and honor.
Karen Kasmauski is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as The Culture of Obesity, The Value of Cultural Differences, An American Journalist Explores Her Japanese Roots, The World’s Other War: A Decade on the Front Lines of Global Health, Nurse: A World of Care and Holding Up Half the Sky: How Women Make a Difference Worldwide. The estimated speaking fee range to book Karen Kasmauski for your event is $10,000 - $20,000. Karen Kasmauski generally travels from Washington, DC, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Doug Allan, Alice Waddington, Nancy Goldin, Lisa Kristine and Jimmy Chin. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Karen Kasmauski for an upcoming live or virtual event.
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