COHORT 5 PARTICIPANT

Karen A. King is an award-winning producer, broadcaster, and senior executive recognized for her groundbreaking contributions to Canada’s screen industry. A member of Canada’s Who’s Who, she was the first Black woman in Canada to produce a feature film and the first to premiere at the Official Cannes Film Festival.

As Senior Production Executive at Global Television, Karen oversaw acclaimed scripted series including Da Kink in My Hair and Combat Hospital. At Quebecor, as Executive Director of Independent Production, she managed multimillion-dollar production funds, led the launch of Toronto 1, and advanced inclusive commissioning strategies across commercial, documentary, and scripted projects.

Earlier, at the National Film Board of Canada, Karen served on the Special Mandate Team for Cultural Diversity, where she produced award-winning documentaries and initiatives that broadened representation and proved that stories from diverse communities could achieve both critical and commercial success.

Recipient of the Excellence in Media Award and named a Woman of Honor, Karen remains the only two-time winner of the Canada Award for programming that best reflects the nation’s diversity on and off screen.

She is the founding Vice President of the Black Film and Video Network, a former director of Women in Film and Television, Canadian Women in Communications, the Advisory Panel of the Ryerson School of Media and the Broadcast Standards Council of Ontario.
Karen is a gifted speaker and trainer committed to making the industry more inclusive so it can better serve today's markets.