About Karen Porter  

Professional Marketing Bio

Karen has enjoyed a professional career that has coupled over 20 years of extensive marketing experience with a creative bent and entrepreneurial spirit that has always flourished within. Her career has taken her from teaching marketing and advertising at the university level, to coaching hundreds of small business owners on marketing effectiveness, to owning her own advertising agency, and heading multi-million dollar marketing departments at Fortune 500 companies. She has also created and marketed her own products which are retailed and wholesaled across the United States and abroad.

During her years in academia, Karen taught advertising and marketing at The University of Montana. Among the numerous courses she taught were Principles of Marketing, Marketing Communications, Copywriting, Campaign Strategy, and Marketing Research. Her greatest accomplishment during that time was leading her team of advertising and marketing students to a first place win over 162 competing teams in a national advertising competition in which they pitched a multi-million dollar campaign to VISA. (Second place went to the University of California at Berkeley.)  She was also appointed to the American Advertising Federation’s national academic advisory board and was honored with an AAF Outstanding Advertising Educator Award.

During all of her teaching years, Karen provided consulting services for a variety of local and regional clients. During 1992 and 1993 she owned an advertising agency and expanded her marketing services. Although she worked with clients large and small, she has a particular interest in helping small businesses and non-profit organizations achieve their marketing goals with less than optimal budgets.

In late 1993 she was offered the top marketing position at the Texas Lottery and she found herself transplanted to Austin, Texas.  In that position she oversaw all aspects of marketing the country's #1 lottery where she and her team were responsible for increasing sales by 62% in a three year period to a total annual sales level of nearly $4 Billion.  In 1997, Karen moved back to her roots in education when she assumed the Director of National Marketing position for a Fortune 500 company that owned 1400 child care centers and before- and after-school programs located throughout the U.S.

After exiting corporate America in 2003 following a corporate acquisition, Karen spread her entrepreneurial wings once again. Parleying a lifelong interest in arts, crafts and personal expression, she co-created a line a specialty candles that launched a new category in the candle industry, a type of candle now known as massage candles or body candles. This unique line of candles is made of cosmetic-grade ingredients that melt at just 102 degrees to become a warm moisturizing lotion or massage oil . The trademarked line is wholesaled to retailers, salons, and spas across the U.S. Skinny Dip lotion and massage candles are also sold at retail online at the website www.SkinnyDipCandle.com.

Karen recently relocated back to her hometown of Missoula, Montana and has rejoined the marketing faculty at The University of Montana. She also continues to offer marketing services and as a consultant, facilitator, and marketing coach. Her passion is helping businesses and organizations grow and prosper by improving marketing results and bottom line ROI.