W inner of the 2017 ACES Robinson Prize for furthering the craft of professional editing, Karen Yin is the creator of Conscious Style Guide, the first website devoted to conscious language, Editors of Color, tools for diversifying your staff and sources, and AP vs. Chicago, a guide for anyone who gives “a dollar sign, ampersand, exclamation point, and pound sign about style.” Conscious Style Guide was named by Poynter as one of the top tools for journalists in 2018.
A copywriter and editor for over two decades, Karen ran the editorial department at advertising agencies, where she performed quality control on campaigns for Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, Pixar, Universal, and Warner Bros., and now serves clients in mass media, education, and energy. She was the style columnist for Copyediting and has given presentations on compassionate, empowering, and inclusive language.
Karen received the 2018 Magnificent Seven Star Award from Toastmasters for excellence in public relations and social media marketing and was awarded fellowships in the 2018 AAJA Catalyst: Elevating Media Founders of Color entrepreneurship program and the 2019 StartingBloc Los Angeles Institute for cultivating leadership.
An award-winning fiction writer, Karen is a proud member of the Authors Guild, the Dramatists Guild, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Acclaim for her writing includes a Lambda Literary Fellowship (which promotes LGBTQ+ voices), a Tending Space Fellowship, and a grant from Table 4 Writers Foundation. In 2019, she graduated from The Children’s Book Academy with the highest number of Golden Tickets ever (eight).
In 2020, Karen won a Diversity Scholarship from 12 x 12 and signed with Jennie Kendrick of Red Fox Literary. Her first picture book, Whole Whale, a story about making space for all, was announced in September and will be out in May 2021 from Barefoot Books, with award-winning illustrator Nelleke Verhoeff on board.
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- To learn more about conscious language, subscribe to Karen’s Conscious Language Newsletter.
