Karen Arthur
Karen is a mother of two and grandmother in her early sixties. A former teacher, she is a fashion creative, menopause diversity campaigner, model, content creator and speaker who has been honing her craft for over 40 years.
Karen, who studied Performing Arts in Leicester, spent almost three decades working in secondary education in London. She started as a dance teacher then moved on to being a textiles specialist before moving on to become a pastoral leader in a Boys secondary school. She left her teaching career in 2015.
Since then, Karen created a successful fashion business designing and making clothes for private clients. She is a strong advocate of the positive links between fashion and positive mental wellbeing, and this led to her championing her movement “Wear Your Happy”. She has been a fashion stylist and taught budding creatives to fall in love with their sewing machines from her studio in Southeast London where she lived for over thirty years. Karen has created textiles art for the award-winning documentary ‘Statues Redressed’ which aired on Sky Arts in 2021. She also created the focal exhibit for ‘Taking’ Care Of Business' which is currently showing at the Migration Museum in Lewisham, London.
Karen is founder and host of ground-breaking podcast Menopause Whilst Black, the first podcast committed to sharing the menopausal stories of Black people primarily based in the UK. Now in its fourth season Menopause Whilst Black was recently named one of the top five midlife podcasts by The Guardian.
Karen is also the founder of The Joy Retreat Barbados, the world’s first retreat created for Black women experiencing any stage of menopause, which is due to take place in May.
Karen can be seen on screen in Davina MaCalls documentary ’Sex, Myths and the Menopause’ which aired in 2021. Her Style Like U story ‘How Depression and Menopause Freed Karen Arthur’ has reached over 465k views on YouTube. She has featured in menopause talks by Boots, Estee Lauder and has been featured in Vogue, The Guardian and the Telegraph as well as modelling for Specsavers and E45 skincare. Karen is a welcome and passionate guest on a variety of platforms speaking on menopause, fashion and mental wellbeing as well as the multiple joys of ageing.
After residing in The Capital for almost four decades Karen has recently relocated to the south coast. She is currently living her best, easeful life and trusting the universe to take her to where she’s needed most.
Karen has an interest in diversity campaigning and smashing the patriarchy. She speaks on ageing (dis)gracefully, menopause, fashion, creativity and taking up space as an older, Black woman. She encourages Black women in particular to rest and practice boundary setting on a regular basis. She is proud to be spreading the positive ageing message and relishes chat on mental wellbeing, bucking the trend, doing what you love, going against the grain and much much more. Expect solo rambles, chatty interviews, and things to ponder on her bi-weekly “Can We Talk”? show 11:00 GMT Saturday mornings on Gold Dust Radio.
Links:
The Karen Arthur Website
https://www.thekarenarthur.com/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thekarenarthur/?hl=en
Also:
https://www.instagram.com/menopausewhilstblack/?hl=en
YouTube: