Karen’s story
Sense maker, midlife shapeshifter & energy practitioner | Author & Business Book Awards’ Finalist | 35+ years of experience in commercial leadership & consulting
Karen knows what it’s like to juggle a growing business, family responsibilities, and the pressures of leadership, all while managing her own energy and health as she transitioned into menopause.
Now, in her mid-50s, she is stepping into her most powerful phase; her work is rooted in her Serotina philosophy, a belief in blooming later in life and that women in their 50s and beyond can lead with wisdom, power, and renewed purpose.
She started her first coaching business in 2004.
After an 11-year career with Hays Plc managing small teams and building strategic partnerships across brands, her children were approaching school age, and she realised how much she wanted a more flexible and fulfilling professional career.
She was still ambitious, but the expectations of working hours and demands of meeting sales targets wouldn’t work if she wanted to be at the school gates each day.
Within six months of starting up her first coaching business in 2004, she was awarded European Social Funds for her Women’s Enterprise Programme and Simply Marketing Workshops, which was instrumental in helping hundreds of women start up their own businesses across Surrey & Sussex.
She went on to set up a regional women’s networking group, CanDoCanBe, in 2005, created & ran a membership site teaching 100+ members digital marketing strategies, wrote her first book, Shiny Shiny, and launched dozens of online courses and group programmes over the next decade.
But in 2012, struggling with adrenal fatigue, stress and hormonal imbalances, Karen was burnt out from constantly launching new programmes and marketing campaigns, exasperated by dealing with grief from losing her father to cancer two years previously.
She closed down several of her programmes and switched business models to offer longer term consultancy work and deep business strategy work with clients.
After the launch of her second book, True Profit Business, which went on to become a Business Book Awards Finalist in 2020, Karen developed her Grow Strong® planning processes.
Momentum became her flagship programme, which she led alongside her team, Alexia, Melina and Ed, for more than 7 years.
Then in 2025, she switched again, stripping back and moving away from business coaching and consultancy, to being focusing on her sound and somatic work.
After several frustrating years of trying to ‘fix’ myself and ‘make myself better,’ I realised there were no shortcuts to my recovery. But being told to ‘rest more’ became a real challenge, even though I knew logically that I needed to reduce my body’s stress.
My brain was constantly whirling away, and my nervous system was on high alert so I found it incredibly difficult to relax and do nothing.
During my recovery journey, I was introduced to sound healing and embodiment work, and these practices became a game-changer for me.
I was drawn to go on and study sound, movement and energy, and after many years of deep practice, I am now a qualified Level II Sound Practitioner, Embodiment Facilitator and Reiki Level II.
It’s been an incredible past few years, and the time came to switch my work once again to start sharing my wisdom and energy practices with business leaders like you.
You’ll find all the details of this work over at my Serotina Sound & Somatic website.
Interested in booking Karen to speak at your next event?
To find out more about Karen’s speaking rates and availability, please contact Karen’s assistant, Alexia Padgham, at Alexia@KarenSkidmore.com
Or connect with her on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/karenskidmore
Bridging the gap between doing and being
