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Name: Karin Hagstrom
Lives in: I have been living in San Diego, California for the last 9 years.
From: I was born in Gothenburg, Sweden. I moved with my parents and three siblings to Menlo Park California, about 45 minutes south of San Francisco when I was 9 years old. My dad was recruited by a think tank called Xerox PARC. It was both scary and exciting for me to be moving to a new country where I didn’t know anyone nor the language. The best part was that the house my parents bought came with a dog and a cat. The dog, a beautiful Afghan hound, named Raissa, became my best friend and help me learn English since she was an American dog, she of course didn’t understand Swedish.
What is your job/occupation? I work for EDF Renewables, the French energy producer Électricité de France. We do very large-scale wind and solar energy production. I am in an administrative support role supporting the VP of Operations and the Operations team…. I have been a jack of many trades. I have been a translator for Zazzle, Reiki Master at a wellness center, HR Manager at a networking start-up (where I met Lynn), but most importantly, I was home raising two boys for many years.
Tell us your first three jobs (ever!): I was an ice cream scooper at Baskin-Robbins when I was 16 (luckily I did not get sick of eating ice cream… a gift from the gods)! My second job in high school was as a gift wrapper at a fine china and gift store where I learned the basic importance of folding edges and aligning the gift wrapping paper for the perfect look. My third job was at the end of summer vacation in college, before heading back to college at the University of Oregon where my best friend and I worked at Stanford University serving food to the Stanford American Football team, who had to start early in the summer for practice…we got a few fun dates out of that job!
Zodiac sign: Sagittarius
Enneagram type: Peacemaker, Type 9
What do you love about Greece? I have only been to Greece once in 1989… when I was 22, my friend Anisha and I went on a Dutch bus tour for youth through Italy, Greece, and Yugoslavia. We spent one week in Greece mostly in the town of Parga on the west coast…. Greece has always stuck with me as a beautiful and peaceful place and that was mostly due to the people in the village. Most could not speak English but it didn’t matter, there was just an automatic human connection. I remember sitting with Anisha at a café overlooking the small harbor and feeling “this is perfection and if I ever get married, this is where I want to come for my honeymoon.” I did get married but went to Borneo for my honeymoon… The feelings of Greece never left my heart and now I’m in a very different place. My 20-year marriage has ended, and my dear old friend Lynn is in Greece… I am coming!
Tell us something most people don’t know about you: My second son, was a planned home birth in 2004. He was born in the caul, which means the amniotic sack was whole and didn’t break when he was born. As he used to say in his elementary school essays about himself…” I was born in a bag on an IKEA sofa”
Where we are most likely to find you in Lynn’s Kundalini Yoga? In Paros at the 2021 yoga retreat!
The first time you tried Kundalini Yoga? I have tried Kundalini Yoga just once, in San Francisco in the 1990s it was with Lynn who was there as a student and was just starting to discover it herself!
Tell us your top tip to combat climate change: Work for a renewable energy company, off-set flying to Greece to be able to check off the one thing on your bucket list… or be conscious of your small everyday decisions, it all adds up!
Anything else you’d like us to know?: I am just coming out of a 20-year long marriage, and this is my first solo trip. I could not be more excited to be rediscovering myself and making connections with my future friends from around the globe!
