Karen Summerville
The Parent GPS®
Discover Your Child’s Constellation of Gifts
As The Parent GPS®, I empower parents to guide their child’s journey toward a bright future by embracing curiosity over expectation. By shifting your perspective, you can uncover your child’s unique constellation of gifts—a one-of-a-kind blend of talents, interests, and values that define who they are and who they can become.
Meet Karen Summerville
Karen Summerville is a leading expert in career alignment and fulfillment, with over 25 years of experience counseling individuals to find success and satisfaction. Having invested tens of thousands of hours working directly with individuals, Karen has helped countless adults navigate career challenges and align their talents and values with their professional lives. As the creator of The Parent GPS®, Karen merges her career counseling expertise with her insights as a parent to two professional athletes, guiding parents to discover and nurture their children’s unique constellation of gifts.
With a deep understanding of how parental influence can shape career paths, Karen offers a “crystal ball” perspective on the future of children and the critical role parents play. She shares her transformative insights as a sought-after speaker and writer, making an impact on stages and through her Parent GPS® Newsletter, where she provides practical guidance to help parents trust in their child’s journey.
Karen holds a Juris Doctor degree and is recognized for her thought leadership and engaging seminars. She has spoken at events such as Parent University in Seattle, inspiring parents to confidently guide their children’s futures. A dedicated philanthropist, she supports foundations, including the Safe Crossings Foundation, which provides grief counseling for children and teens.
Through The Parent GPS®, Karen equips parents to guide their children toward success, much like ancient mariners navigating by the stars, helping them discover their children’s unique blend of talents and interests.
Karen’s Odyssey
Career Counselor and Mom
You are invited on a transformative journey, where the compass doesn’t just point north but guides parents toward unlocking the unique brilliance within their child.
With over twenty – five years as a career counselor, I’ve had the privilege of delving into the personal stories of hundreds of attorneys, unveiling the dichotomy between their public success and untapped passions.
Behind closed doors, these professionals, many lauded as Rising Stars and Super Lawyers, confided in me, revealing a narrative not often shared. Despite external success, they had never truly contemplated what brought them joy, pride, or a sense of fulfillment. This realization struck chords with clients from their twenties to sixties, prompting a reevaluation of their career choices.
Leaving my office at the end of the day, I transitioned from career counselor to the dynamic role of mother, and I applied the invaluable “lens of curiosity” developed through my counseling practice.
Raising two boys, I witnessed the profound impact of allowing them to explore their constellation of gifts. This lens guided me to discover my own boys’ unique gifts, notably their “deep gladness” found in the world of sports, particularly baseball.
In our home, the lessons learned from my clients resonated – I resisted nudging my boys into activities I understood but they didn’t necessarily enjoy.
My Son's Odyssey
Peter, my oldest, is a testament to the unexpected brilliance that emerges when children explore their talents and interests without constraints. Despite Peter’s declaration in middle school that he didn’t read books, he found his niche devouring the sports section of the Seattle Times and exploring computer science and playing baseball.
Fast-forward through a baseball scholarship and an unforeseen journey, Peter is now a Major League Advanced Game Coordinator for the San Diego Padres – a career that didn’t exist when he was in college. The position was in many ways created for his unique talents.
Peter’s once-unconventional story now stands as a testament to the reality that most future jobs for today’s youth are yet to be created.
Karen’s Background
A graduate of the University of Washington School of Law, Karen was a litigation partner in a downtown Seattle law firm before creating Legal Career Management.
While helping over fifteen hundred attorneys find “success and satisfaction”, Karen was also raising her two sons, now young adults.
Karen’s clients became the inspiration for parenting through a lens of curiosity – not expectation. Her sons’ laughter, dreams, and the genuine joy they found in their own interests became the cornerstone of her parenting perspective. Karen has left Legal Career Management, but not without taking the lessons she learned in a new direction as The Parent GPS™.
Her mission is to transform the way parents envision their children’s future.
Karen’s goal is to empower parents to navigate the uncharted course of their child’s potential and aspirations through speaking engagements and writing, including The Parent GPS™ Newsletter.
Let’s Connect
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