Welcome to a Journey of Transformation

Ever felt the urge to break through barriers but found yourself anchored by limitations? Karen Caplan, your growth catalyst, is here to spark the change you seek.

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With more than three decades of leadership experience, Karen Caplan can help guide you to grow professionally in your company role, in your industry and in your personal life. She has seen obstacles and can help you navigate as you move through life. There is no single roadmap for successful executive coaching; Karen says experience is the best teacher.

Years of
experience

Why Karen?

Experience, Expertise, and a Personal Touch

Individualized Coaching Programs

Karen’s approach is not a cookie-cutter program. Your first session together will be spent uncovering what your goals are (both professional and personal) and what you see as your biggest obstacles. Then your executive coaching journey will begin customized to your needs.

Deep-rooted Expertise

Karen has a track record of creating growth in sales, profits and people development.

She has dealt with family members (and others who want to be treated like family), made difficult diversions, had fierce conversations, and pivoted the company direction away from it’s founder’s mandate. Karen can guide you through first hand experience.

Track Record of Leadership

In addition to leading her family produce business as CEO, Karen was elected as a Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of SF, LA Branch, was selected to Chair several industry trade associations and served as an advisor to USDA. She is a respected leader in all aspects of her life.

Meet Karen

Karen Caplan knows a lot about exotic produce and running a profitable, thriving business. After all, produce is in her blood. She started working at the age of 10, working summers for her mother, Frieda Rapoport Caplan, who founded Frieda’s Specialty Produce on the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market. Frieda was the first woman to own and operate a wholesale produce company in the USA.

After graduating with a degree in Agricultural Economics and Business Management from the University of California- Davis, Karen joined the company full time. By the age of 30, she convinced her mother to make her the company President and CEO. Karen grew the company from a fledgling local wholesaler into a national powerhouse. Under Karen’s leadership, the company grew into the best known and most respected produce company in the US produce industry. By rebranding the look and feel of the company’s packaging, she created the best-selling brand in the category, with 30% higher velocity than the next leading competitor.

Karen is strategic, direct and charismatic. As a prior CEO and business leader, Karen’s first hand experience coupled with her natural coaching ability, skilled mentorship and warm demeanor, makes her a unique and effective coach..

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Work with Karen

Karen loves working with successful executives who recognize they will benefit from having a coach who will tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. Karen’s mantra is: How you do anything is how you do everything.

If you want to see if you are a match for Karen’s style and process, schedule a 60-minute phone call here.

Executive Coaching

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Speaking

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Here’s what our clients have said about Karen

I have always respected Karen’s direct approach, ever since we found ourselves sitting next to each other at an industry conference a few years ago. We both share a keen sense of cultivating relationships to grow business. We have since worked together on a couple projects, which brought great results. Recently, though, I hit a few low points, which began to affect my mindset as a business owner. In one very direct conversation, Karen helped me snap out of it and tap back into my mojo. I am now beginning to grow a new channel with my company. I am so thankful for Karen’s honesty.

C.B.

Business Owner and Brand and Marketing Expert

Karen and I have been produce colleagues for more than 8 years. I met her at a marketing conference and that conversation turned into a friendship. She has referred business to me (she has an amazing network) and I have turned to Karen for business advice over the years. I appreciate the care she takes in every conversation and the direct feedback she has given me. She has helped me to be a better CEO.”

K.N.

Business Owner, Marketing Agency

Karen began coaching me during a pivotal juncture in my professional and personal journey. At that time, I was transitioning jobs and seeking a better work-life balance, all while striving to continue growing and making a significant impact without losing sight of my true self. Karen not only provided invaluable guidance in aligning my personal life but also empowered me to strategically position myself in a male-dominated industry, allowing me to communicate with more influence and impact.

Today, I am thriving in my current role, and I attribute much of my success to Karen's insightful advice and coaching. She has significantly enhanced my relationships and helped me achieve a healthier work-life balance. I am profoundly thankful and will forever appreciate her unwavering passion, determination, and transparent input, which have been instrumental in my growth and development.

S.R.

Director of Business Development

I asked Karen to mentor me to better understand and learn more about leadership and how to navigate working relationships with team members. In each session, Karen was able to identify and coach me on how to approach different situations and truly helped changed my professional outlook & influenced my approach on leadership. Her coaching literally changed my life and my professional trajectory.

L.N.

Creative Director

I invited Karen to be our Keynote speaker for our regional Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Summit. Her words resonated with the CEOs, as she shared her experiences as a CEO of her company and leader in her industry. She was so well received that we invited her to teach a follow up Master Class, and to this day people have let me know the impact she had on the growth of their businesses and leadership in their communities.

Karen is a pro and very engaging! She takes the time to know her audience and every class member walks away with action items they can implement in their businesses.

Vivian Shimoyama

CEO, Shimoyama Enterprises, LLC

Karen has a wealth of life experiences and a mind akin to an encyclopedia. When we chatted on my broadcast, I was truly impressed by her willingness to candidly share from the depths of her heart, recounting her transformative journey within the industry. This conversation quickly became one of my favorite episodes.

Great leaders, like Karen, are not solely defined by their knowledge; they are the culmination of their diverse experiences. It also helps when you're working with exceptional individuals from the get-go. Karen personifies a unique skill set, drawing from profound insights, a trove of experiences, boundless generosity, and an enduring commitment to lifelong learning. It was an absolute honor to engage in such a warm and open conversation, sharing her wisdom with our global audience.

Todd Linsky

TLC, Host, “Todd-versations Podcast” Organic Produce Guru

What’s on Karen’s Plate?

Karen’s weekly newsletter

After decades as a CEO, Karen was inspired by Whole Foods founder and former CEO, John Mackey, who started his own blog. Both Karen and John feel a CEO should have a way to express their own voice, separate from their role as CEO. In 2011, Karen started her own blog, ‘What’s on Karen’s Plate?’. She initially focused on produce and marketing but found her followers also appreciated her honest and authentic musing about life, business, family and everything in-between.

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