Kari Bower
Head Of Content
Kari Bower is a social worker and culture change leader. She has always held a strong interest in the negotiation that takes place between the outer and inner identities as they interact in our shared world. This particular curiosity began while growing up in a town where her family was one of the only Jewish families. This resulted in Kari’s road to embracing assimilation as a vehicle for acceptance. During college she studied her ancestry and culture, soon realizing that the choice of assimilation had been costly for her psyche.
This realization and subsequent exploration sparked her 25-year career, focused on the intersection between the visible and invisible identity and how the two affect our level of comfort, style of communication, and ability to trust others.
Kari has developed and delivered many cultural competency seminars for K-12 school faculty and staff, non-profit agencies, medical practices and private businesses throughout the United States. Kari believes that success is found by enlisting learned strategies to find authentic connection, understanding, collaboration and engagement. In order to spread the message further, she co-authored the book “Walking Our Talk-A Journey Through the Maze of Cross Race Friendship” with her dear friend and colleague, La Fonda Riggins.
Kari holds a Masters in Jewish studies from Brandies University and a Masters degree in Clinical Social Work from UCLA.