Instructor

Karen was born and raised in Pasadena, Calif., and graduated from the Los Angeles County College of Nursing. She earned her bachelor's degree from Chapman College and was an operating room nurse and manager at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles until she married Christopher Olch, a Navy medical officer, in 1985. They lived in Maryland, California, Connecticut, and Japan before being transferred to the Pacific Northwest. They settled in Kitsap County in 1997 and on Bainbridge Island in 2017. Their adult son, Matthew, is a video game animator in the Seattle area. Karen has always loved to look at and collect jewelry, so when she took her first class in BARN's Jewelry Studio, she was hooked. She understands the importance of organization and working together to provide an atmosphere of safety, judicious use of resources, and enjoyment of the creative processes in crafting jewelry.