Karen Steinbock

After graduating from nursing school on a Navy scholarship, Karen worked primarily in emergency rooms at naval hospitals in Southern California as well as a bit overseas. Although she didn’t think of herself as particularly creative at the time, she had always enjoyed solving problems and improving systems and workflows. For example, a pocketbook guide she initially created simply for herself ended up being formally adopted by her department to train other nurses.

Eventually, it became clear to her that the improvisations she was coming up with to make life easier might benefit others, too. “Things you do every day, that you don’t even think about… they’re really opportunities.” When she decided to focus on reconnecting with her imagination, that’s when things really got fun, she said.

Now, she appreciates the freedom and wonder being an inventor affords. Fundamentally, creative risk taking — which is how she thinks of inventing — energizes and inspires her. “Inventors get to wander outside the lines, to ignore the word “impossible”! How cool is that?” In addition to flexing her creative muscle, Karen earned an MBA in 2015.

In her free time, she enjoys hiking, mountain biking, snowshoeing, photography, reading, and listening to podcasts.