shara karasic - online community

"making media more social since 1995"

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shara karasic home

Shara Karasic Resume

OVERVIEW

Online community and social media expert. Broad understanding of Internet business based on more than 10 years' experience in online community, product development, user experience/interaction design, and content strategy. Team-building, project management, people management. Ability to lead cross-functional teams while balancing content, community, technology, design and business needs. Excellent written and oral communication skills -- good at explaining features and functionalities to everyone from engineers to writers. Ability to define project technical, user, and content requirements. Specialties in online education/e-learning, Internet legislation, and international ICT development. Broad experience with business, youth, and education communities including: kids, tweens, teens, K-12 educators, small business people, entrepreneurs.

WEB EXPERIENCE

Community Manager, Business.com/Work.com, Santa Monica, CA. 2006-present. Build and manage community of site for UGC sharing of business knowledge. Focus on SME audience as well as entrepreneurs. Write the Work.com Small Business Community Blog.

Community Manager, Sparktop.org, Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, San Mateo, CA. 2005-6. Managed community of 8-14-year-old kids with dyslexia and AD/HD.

Web Consultant, Snapfish.com, Hedgestreet.com, San Francisco/San Mateo, CA. 2004. Front-end/UI web design and development.

Community Manager, Classroom Connect , Brisbane, CA. 1999-2003. Founded, led, and managed 6-member online community team for K-12 education technology company. Focus on educator, student, and adventure learning communities. Define community features and functionality. Develop discussion forum, user profile, and email list strategy and technology. Integrate community and curriculum areas to enhance learning. Implement community technologies to enhance community growth. Work with marketing and PR to promote brand.

  • Founded new team in company, developed mission, goals, and budget and hired staff
  • Grew email subscriber base from less than 3000 to nearly 50,000 in less than 3 years
  • Managed cross-functional teams to produce community areas of web site on time and on budget, including messageboards, art galleries, and email lists
  • Aligned community strategy with marketing, content and business objectives
  • Developed the content strategy and user experience for online community areas
  • Cultivated an engaged learning community that garnered PR in the form of success stories in CNN and numerous education publications
  • Customized messageboard software for use in over 40 web applications
  • Customized email list software to run over 45 email lists
  • Recruited more than 40 teacher volunteers who evangelized our products across the Internet
  • Developed company privacy policy and partnered with TRUSTe to publish a privacy booklet for students and teachers
  • Developed company accessibility policy to comply with Section 508 guidelines

Technology Trainer, Geekcorps, Accra, Ghana. Fall 2001. Consulted on projects through USAID's EDDI initiative with the goal of using information technology to support development of democracy and transparency in Ghana. Worked with Ghanaians on sites for the Ghana Parliament, the Asante kingdom, Planned Parenthood of Ghana and the human rights organizations Legal Resources Centre and FIDA Ghana. Developed database-driven dynamic sites, message boards, and content management systems.

Internet Media Designer, Classroom Connect, Foster City, CA. 1998-99. Designed user interface and front-end technologies for K-12 education technology company. Product development for Quest adventure learning site. Designed and programmed Quest multimedia slide shows.

Web Consultant, Charles Schwab, San Francisco, CA. 1997-98. Designed Web pages for Schweb intranet.

Editor, Cyberteens. Mountain Lake Software, San Francisco, CA. 1995-1997. Developed, edited, and produced one of the first teen Web sites. Winner of the GII Award. Featured in NYTimes CyberTimes and Macromedia's Shocked Gallery.

OTHER EXPERIENCE

Extensive cross-cultural experience, fluent in Indonesian, basic Mandarin, Russian; professional photography; No End member

EDUCATION

UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA. 1995. Graduate coursework in Southeast Asian studies and medical anthropology.

Tufts University, Medford, MA. 1989. B.A., Magna Cum Laude, English and Soviet Studies.

more about shara at shara karasic home

contact shara

interested in an online community/social media/social networking project, consulting, or collaboration? contact shara karasic, los angeles, california, at skarasic[at]yahoo.com or yahoo messenger skarasic.

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