EXPERT ON:
◉ Motivation & Mindset
◉ Work-Life Balance & Focus
◉ Team Building & Collaboration
◉ Effective Communication
EXPERIENCE:
◉ Veteran international performer and comedian with decades of experience headlining theaters, comedy festivals like Just For Laughs, and over 200 global cruise and resort shows, praised for masterful timing and transformative, humor-driven storytelling.
◉ Experienced educator, facilitator, and humor expert who has taught stand-up comedy and improv at Cleveland State University and Second City, founded the International Institute of Humor and Healing Arts, and delivers workshops and seminars rooted in her “healing with humor” methodology.
◉ Seasoned writer, actor, and media personality with experience as a Columbia Pictures ghostwriter, former TV host of In The Life, and contributor to multiple published humor anthologies, backed by advanced academic training including a PhD in social gerontology.
DR. KAREN WILLIAMS COMIC, ACTOR, WRITER, HUMOR EDUCATOR & GERONTOLOGIST “JOYFUL AGING” INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKER
The Sydney Morning Herald proclaims that Karen Williams is “ferociously funny, with perfect pace, timing and structure.” Karen Williams is a comic craft master, a gifted actor, a multitalented writer, and an inspirational lecturer whose HaHA Institute attracts clients from public and private sectors. Armed with her “healing with humor” philosophy, Karen is a modern-day alchemist whose audiences revel in her insightful and cathartic humor!
As a solo entertainer, Karen Williams delights fan-filled audiences from San Francisco to Cincinnati to Sydney — where she performed twenty shows at the Belvoir Street Theatre in Australia. An international comic favorite ~ who has showcased her talents at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal several times ~ Karen Williams is a featured star entertainer with Olivia Travel, with over 200 laugh-filled cruise and resort trips around the globe! Comedy writer and former television host of the New York variety show, “In The Life,” Karen Williams sharpened her comedy teeth as a ghostwriter at Columbia Pictures.
Williams’ humor writings appear in numerous anthologies, including “Joke Stew” (Andrews McMeel Publishing); Revolutionary Laughter” (Crossing Press); Out in All Directions”(Warner Books); and “Out, Loud & Laughing”(Random House). Karen was a nominee for the 1999 GLAMA Award for her irreverent comedy CD, “human beings: what a concept” (Uproar Records), still available today as part of her vintage collection.
Karen Williams graduated summa cum laude from Cleveland State University with a personally-designed major in “Humor and Healing.” She earned a Master of Education degree from CSU’s Adult Learning & Development program and a PhD in social gerontology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Karen Williams taught Stand-Up Comedy in the Dramatic Arts department of Cleveland State University; studied improv at Second City Chicago; and directed inaugural comedy classes at Second City in Cleveland.
As Founder and CEO of the International Institute of Humor and Healing Arts, Dr. Karen Williams successfully operates HaHA Institute as the go-to virtual resource network for educational programs, workshops, and seminars focused on the healing power of humor. Karen continues to perform comedy worldwide while combatting ageism with her Joyful Aging seminars!
