Affectionately known as The Advertising Diva, Karen Maria Alston is a branding and marketing expert. In 2002, Karen stepped out on faith, left her job at America Online to follow her passion and create Alston Marketing Group now d/b/a, AM+G Marketing Communications.
Alston Marketing Group based in Washington, DC has a large roster of current and former clients and created several notable advertising campaigns in the Washington, DC area including the red bikes known as Capital Bikeshare. In 2015, Karen founded the innovative women’s empowerment and professional development organization, The Spectrum Circle.
Born as a 3rd generation entrepreneur and a 4th generation college graduate Karen knew early on in her career she would eventually work for herself and become a business owner as previous generations. AM+G has grown steadily over the past years and has carved a niche working with government, local schools and non-profits developing stellar marketing and branding campaigns.
Because of her illustrious profession and business acumen, she has been featured in several print and online publications, radio, internet webinars and TV shows. She is also a sought after speaker for many marketing industry conferences on a range of topics such as digital media, traditional marketing, government contracting, and her favorite topic the “burdens of the superwoman” which was the pre-cursor to The Spectrum Circle. Upon founding The Spectrum Circle, she has been a sought after expert and asked to speak on numerous panels and conferences around the country on women’s empowerment, career guidance and issues pertaining to women and the glass ceiling.
In January 2015, The Annenberg Center at Sunnylands asked Karen to participate on a panel of experts on emergency communications, alongside technology luminaries such as Vint Cert and Adam Clayton Powell, III. In 2015, Copa Style Magazine named her its inaugural “2015 Woman of the Year.” In April 2016, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) asked her to participate in its AEI Leadership Forum on urban policy and poverty in Washington, DC along with sixty other leaders from around the country.
Karen Maria Alston received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from Howard University, an Executive Education Certificate in Branding and Design from Harvard University, and an Executive Education Certificate in Non Profit Management from Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University. She has been admitted to Harvard Business School Executive Education program in June 2017 for a specialized class in Women’s Leadership.
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