LA Commons
karen mack / LA commons
Karen Mack UCLA M.B.A. ’90, founder and CEO of LA Commons, is part of the glue that binds together the disparate communities of Los Angeles. A graduate of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, she founded her community-based art program, LA Commons, on the conviction that art can help foster a larger civic conversation of common purpose. As a child growing up in Compton, Mack — whose parents had met when both were working at Douglas Aircraft — dreamed of becoming a pilot, an artist or an accountant. Instead, she gravitated to the intersection of art and community.
“I’m the co-chair of the Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative of L.A. County, and at the base of that is the belief that culture is really an important part of people’s experience across the board. But one area where we can really talk about it is arts education. There’s data that supports the success of students who have access to the arts in their growing-up years.”