In this episode of Every Deal Is a Dance, host Mishawn Nolan talks with the extraordinary Karen Somers—an actress turned filmmaker, photographer, documentary director, music photographer, and now property developer and community builder.

Karen shares her remarkable path from neurodivergent kid with a Brownie camera, to conservatory-trained actor, to commercial producer, reality TV director, Grammy photographer, and embedded documentary filmmaker working around the world. She recounts stories about:

• crawling across Arctic ice to film polar bears
• shooting live music and touring with major bands
• being hired as a one-woman camera/audio/lighting team for studios
• fighting gender bias in camera and directing roles
• creating her first micro-budget film Robert Rodriguez–style
• building a career through grit, reinvention, and stubborn determination

Karen then explains how that same world-building instinct now fuels her passion projects: directing Pursuing the Light about Bill Strickland and systemic poverty, investing her life savings into rehabilitating multifamily housing in Jamestown, NY, launching her ethical development brand Rivet & Roost, and helping creatives leverage grants, community partnerships, and storytelling to build sustainable impact.

This is a wide-ranging, energizing conversation about creativity, flow, courage, risk, and how the creative mind can shape real-world change.

🎧 Listen to learn how world-building on set can become world-building in life.