An award-winning writer originally from England, Karen has lived the ex-pat life for the last 15 years across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Based in Dubai, Karen identified a gap in the market for specialised writing services for the travel, tourism and hospitality sector setting up Travel Ink in 2011. Matching a team of wordsmiths with client content and translation requirements, Karen steadily built the business to include some of the most high-profile hotels, airlines and tourism establishments in the region. In addition to her role as Managing Director, Karen is also the Travel and Tourism Chair Person for the British Business Group and a committee member of Business Network International. Her latest achievement is winning first place at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature Montegrappa Novel Writing Award 2016 with her book Dear Michael. After completing a B.A. in Linguistics and English Language at the University of Durham, a two year period teaching in Tokyo was the start of a career that combined her two great loves; travel and the English language. Moving to Dubai in 2004, Karen engaged in a sales, marketing and public relations role for a luxury hospitality company. It was a great opportunity to develop communication for luxury brands, gaining experience in writing and adapting copy for both off-line and on-line channels.