Karine Berthou
Born and raised in Paris, Karine studied Art at the Sorbonne and subsequently at L’ecole du Louvre, she then completed a PhD in Egyptology. In an unusual career move Karine then worked in finance for over ten years as a broker and trader for a number of well-known financial companies. Having always had an interest in philanthropy and charitable work, Karine participated in the donation days in banks, which have since become a well-established practice. During this time she was also involved in an Art Therapy project for Brazilian children.
After being introduced to The Institute for Philanthropy by a friend she decided to attend The Philanthropy Workshops to understand more about charitable work, mission statements and theory of change from different parts of the world. Karine’s personal ventures in philanthropy started in 2008 when she founded KBff (Karine Berthou: founding our future), which is an online platform for philanthropists, artists, those in the financial sector and everyone in between to come together to share advice, stories and experience. The aim is that people will be inspired to invest in all parts of their lives; their work, their hobbies and their wellbeing.
In 2010 Karine founded the Succeed Foundation. The Foundation’s aims are born of her personal struggle with eating disorders and a desire to help others understand and overcome them. Embracing the challenges of the fast paced and demanding world of finance Karine fought a battle with anorexia and bulimia for almost a decade. Her personal mission was born; the mission to increase support for sufferers and their families, raise awareness of eating disorders and ultimately decrease the incidence of deaths from eating disorder related illnesses.
Karine has been working with the eating disorder charity Beat, funding some of its projects, and is now an Advisory Board Member to the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED)
Over the course of her journey Karine has transformed the negatives into positives, embraced her weaknesses and channelled them into strengths; and has used her financial talent to create an outreach strategy that will aid those who most need it. As such her life’s journey has finally led her towards following her dreams and pouring her energy into something she enjoys and feels extremely passionate about.