#PeopleofPortHuron: Karen Palka, building leaders one girl at a time

Port Huron is evolving. Here are the people shaping its future: #PeopleofPortHuron

This week’s feature:

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Karen Palka is dedicated to building better lives for girls in the Port Huron region. As founder and CEO of A Beautiful Me, she has spent the last decade finding ways to help young girls in grades 3 through 12 thrive by building their self-esteem and creating healthy decision makers. The program focuses on fifth graders. Through the years, Karen has watched her business grow exponentially, meaning that she’s making a difference in hundreds of lives across the community. She chose to establish her business in Port Huron because of her love for the area. She fell in love with the community while working with Blue Water Film Festival and just had a gut feeling this is where she needed to be.She loves that Port Huron is full of philanthropic people – everyone works together, which is key to being successful. “We have all of these terrific pieces, Port Huron is a gem people are starting to recognize.” Palka is about to take the next step in investing in downtown Port Huron, opening A Beautiful Me Closet. The retail store will help train high school girls in budgeting and learning basic skills needed to get a job.”The guts of it is to teach girls business, entrepreneurship and philanthropy- it builds their skills and helps them get their first job. Karen chose downtown Port Huron for A Beautiful Me Closet because she has always loved downtowns and when there’s revitalization, she enjoys watching it grow and succeed. “I’ve always been an underdog rooter, someone has to be a cheerleader for the underdog and I want to be able to be that little corner that helped build it up.” She also said the location is prime to help boost all the businesses. “I want them to come to our shop, but also support the other businesses, too. Karen also loves sharing her love for the Blue Water area with friends and family, it makes her happy to watch them enjoy the places she has grown to love. A Beautiful Me is always looking for volunteers, and has key fundraisers coming soon. Learn more at www.abeautifulme.com. #PeopleofPortHuron #ABeautifulMe #self-esteem

A post shared by The Keel Port Huron (@thekeelporthuron) on Sep 27, 2018 at 8:52am PDT

#PeopleofPortHuron: Karen Palka, building leaders one girl at a time

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