Veteran photographer Karen Kasmauski focuses her lens on the personal stories of the people she photographs. Very often these stories center on health, community, family, and activism. She has a gift for distilling sweeping change and global issues into a single image, relying on her training in social science to blend a therapist's sensitivity with a photographer's eye for detail.

Born on a U.S. Naval base in Japan, Kasmauski developed her wanderlust early in life. Her job with National Geographic has kept her on the road for most of the past 20 years. Now the mother of two teenagers, she looks back and can more certainly answer the question: Can we have it all?

Holding Up Half the Sky: How Women Make a Difference Worldwide
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, women Marines training for combat, 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.

The World's Other War: A Decade on the Front Lines of Global Health
For the past ten years Kasmauski has given us the personal side of numerous global health crises: AIDS, malnutrition, immunization, female reproductive health, and overpopulation. (Lecture can be customized to fit a particular concern.)

Culture Is Who You Are
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. Before these trips, she felt far removed from one-half of her heritage. Her personal journey is one of humor, sorrow, and insight.

Can We Have It All? Finding Your Own Narrative
As we all have discovered, life is a balancing act. But before we can learn to balance, we must take the time to consider what we value most. What are our gifts? What are our aspirations? Where can we make a difference? Karen explores these questions and shares insights from her own life as a mom and globe-trotting photographer.

"Karen has a unique eye for human events, human suffering, human triumphs. During her presentation at The Carter Center, she inspired the audience to think about the big picture of our interwoven lives on this planet."
- World Health Organization