Executive Vice President, Assistant Secretary & Chief Administrative Officer, Urban One
Search every verified Karen Wishart interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Karen Wishart, Executive Vice President, Assistant Secretary & Chief Administrative Officer at Urban One, has been a company employee since 2005 and in her current role since 2017. In September 2024, she urged Richmond, Virginia residents to vote "Yes" on a project she said would bring 1,300 jobs to the city. Wishart described herself as a "product of what a good job means to a family," stating that her immigrant parents lived in a one-bedroom apartment and that her mother's job as a nurse enabled her to send Wishart and her brother to college, and for Wishart to send her own children to college. She offered to provide rides to the polls for those who needed them. In a 2019 speech to aspiring attorneys, Wishart discussed the role of choice and motivation in shaping one's destiny. She advised the audience to "know the truth and know your truth," and not to "buy into those alternative facts." Wishart encouraged attendees to embrace change, own up to failures, and consider their motives for pursuing a legal career, asking, "Is it to protect our communities, uplift people, make a lot of money, or build a life that allows you to play golf and travel?" She also referenced historical figures such as Macon Bolling Allen, Charlotte E. Ray, and Thurgood Marshall as examples of those who paved the way.
“I'm Karen Wishart and I'm the chief administrative officer of Urban One. I've been a proud employee of this company since 2005 in my latest position since 2017.”
“I'm so passionate about bringing this project to Richmond, Virginia. You see, I'm a product of what a good job means to a family.”
“My parents were immigrants; we didn't have anything when we came to this country. In fact, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment all four of us.”
“My mom was given that opportunity to have a good job as a nurse and that allowed her to put my brother and me through college and for me to put my children through college.”
“Richmond, please get out there and vote Yes. The 1300 jobs that we are bringing to Richmond, Virginia can be lifechanging, and I'm somebody who can testify to that.”
“If you need a ride to the polls, call us and we'll be sure to get you in.”
“It is in your moments of decision that destiny is shaped.”
“Our lives are and will remain the sum total of our choices; we are who we are and will be as a result of a string of choices that we make each and every day.”
“Motivation fuels decisions and decisions in turn fuel destiny.”
“Good character doesn't denote perfection and is not the absence of failure; good character means you own up to your failures and admit your mistakes because your mistakes don't define you.”
“Change is constant; embrace it. The people who I see being most successful in this world are those who embrace change.”
“Many greats have come before you and paved the way for you to do great things, and in turn for you to pave the way for those who look up to you.”
“You have to know why you want to be a lawyer. Is it to protect our communities, uplift people, make a lot of money, or build a life that allows you to play golf and travel? What's your motive?”
“If decisions shape our destiny, then what drives our decisions? I would argue that it's our motives—our motors—that allow us to make the decisions and push us to make those decisions.”
“You really don't have to watch MSNBC and CNN for five hours or catch up with Game of Thrones or House of Cards back-to-back. Capture some of that time and put it into the stuff that's really important to you or that motivates you.”
Karen Wishart, Esq., MBA, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Urban One Media,, served as a featured ...
Sign in to search the full transcript archive, filter by topic, and access every quote from Karen Wishart.
The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →