Author, Speaker, Brand Designer.

I’m always eager to share great stories. Branding, travel, photography, writing, entrepreneurship, and historical research… my creative experiences combine to help me examine what existed then, and convey why it is STILL applicable to each and every one of us now. This enables you—readers, audiences, and clients—to joyfully ask, “How can I ALSO contribute?”

Let’s start by banishing the boring facts! I’m not here to regurgitate mundane dates and facts. (Didn’t we get enough of that in school?!) Regardless of whether I’m your keynote speaker, or building brands or books, I’m here make it fun to learn about the remarkable places, oddities, lesser-known events, and people who made—and are making—history happen! Let’s go #ChasingHistories!

Contact me to schedule a presentation

Official bios for an event or publication are below:

Brief Bio:

Karen A. Chase is an author, speaker, and brand designer. For nearly three decades Karen has worked as a professional designer creating brands for national and international organizations, non-profits, and authors. She has spoken with nearly one hundred historical, corporate, and book club audiences in the US and Canada. She is a part-time onboard history lecturer with American Cruise Lines, sailing on the East Coast and the Chesapeake.

Her first book, Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel Log, garnered seven independent publishing awards, and her first novel, Carrying Independence, was a nominee for the 2020 Library of Virginia Literary Awards. Historical fiction focusing on  the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the novel was awarded #12 of the 100 Best Indie Books of 2019. In 2024, she published The Travel Journal of Eliza House Trist, 1783-84—a new transcription of a journal kept by the woman who went west and kept a journal for Thomas Jefferson.

She is a member of the Albemarle Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Born in Canada, Karen now lives in Richmond, with her spouse Ted, and 3 scrappy cats. She bikes, gardens, fosters kittens, and travels for research.

Longer Author Bio:

Karen A. Chase is an author, speaker, and brand designer. For nearly three decades Karen has worked as a professional designer creating brands for national and international organizations, non-profits, and authors. She launched 224Pages, her own publishing house in 2011. She has spoken with nearly one hundred historical, corporate, and trade audiences in the US and Canada—both virtually and in-person—about history, branding, and business.

Her first book, Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel Log, garnered seven independent publishing awards, and her first novel, Carrying Independence, book one of the 3-part Founding-Documents Series was a nominee for the 2020 Library of Virginia Literary Awards. Historical fiction focusing on the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the novel was awarded #12 of the 100 Best Indie Books of 2019. It also secured two medals in the 2020 Eric Hoffer Indie Publishing Awards and was a semi-finalist in the 2018 Screencraft Cinematic Book competition. In 2021 she released a new short food-themed story (with recipes), Mary Angela’s Kitchen. In 2022, she published a workbook for authors, Brand the Author (Not the Book), which combines her knowledge of marketing and publishing. In 2024, she published The Travel Journal of Eliza House Trist, 1783-84—a new transcription of a journal kept by the woman who went west and kept a journal for Thomas Jefferson.

Karen was a visiting scholar at the American Antiquarian Society through funding from the Fellowships for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers. She was a Virginia Foundation for the Humanities fellow for the 2019-2020 academic year, with full residency at the Library of Virginia to continue her studies for a nonfiction work on Eliza House Trist.

She was born and grew up in Calgary, Alberta, however, throughout her childhood Karen traveled through the United States in an R.V. with her family. Those journeys instilled a lifelong love of history, travel, and learning. She has lived in the United States since 1990 when she enrolled as a foreign-exchange student, studying advertising art in San Antonio, Texas. After more than ten years working for advertising agencies and design studios a professional graphic designer—a career that took her to Virginia—she launched her own branding and design studio in 2004.

A long-standing member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and James River Writers, she resides with her partner, Ted, and three scrappy cats in Richmond, Virginia.