Get out to vote! - Urban One CAO Karen Wishart
About Karen Wishart
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.