Karen Elgersma

Karen loves stories. She always has. Even as a little girl, she loved to interview people—"I would pretend I had my own show, and I would use my hairbrush as a microphone and badger friends, relatives and strangers, to participate in my make-believe TV show", she recalls.  ​

She went on to study storytelling at UBC, graduating with an honour’s degree in Creative Writing and Journalism. She then pursued a career in journalism, telling people’s stories through radio, magazines and television. She was a multi-award-winning TV journalist, who spent over 20 years in front of the camera, telling the stories of the people, places, events and ideas of Vancouver Island. In 2014 she then went back to school to study the art of storytelling in the digital age and graduated with Distinction with a Master’s degree in communications from Royal Roads University.  Her thesis was an award-winning documentary on the power of storytelling.

After completing her Masters, she worked with travel writers telling the stories of Victoria and Vancouver Island as the Manager of Media Relations at Destination Greater Victoria and as the Executive Director of Tourism Cowichan.

Today, she is the Founder of Karen Elgersma Media and Publisher of Edible Vancouver Island.