About

Kara at 3. Her mom thought
this was a good idea.
Clearly she was wrong.
Kara DeFrias, a former journalist, started this blog to keep her family back East aprise of the fire situation here in San Diego during the Witch Fire of 2007.


She recently completed serving her country as a member of the inaugural class of White House Presidential Innovation Fellows. According to her 2nd grade report card, Kara “likes to talk. A lot.” Which makes sense that this long-time Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) and former journalist would still be working to create experiences where we talk to people like they're humans, not robots.


Turns out not much has changed over the years. Here on Back to San Diego (the name a nod to the fact that after heading East for grad school she found her way back to San Diego a second time), she covers everything from the banal things she notices in life to watching the final space shuttle launch as a guest of NASA.

Three cancer debacles aside, Kara considers her life pretty lucky. Some other cool things she's done:
  • A bunch of entertainment and professional sports jobs (Oscars, Emmys, Super Bowl XXXVII Host Committee and Halftime Show, FIFA Women's World Cup, an NBC/Dreamworks pilot, US Soccer)
  • Lived in 3 countries (America, Australia, and England) and traveled to 18 others
  • Studied one year at University of Gloucestershire in England
Kara today. She doesn't let
her influence her wardrobe .
When she's not writing user experiences for one of the best software companies in the world, Kara does pro-bono PR/social work for causes she digs.

Looking for a speaker? Check out her topics and experience on the Contact page.

Want to connect?  Follow her on Twittercheck out her profile on LinkedIn, or send her an email.