Meet the Author

Karen M. Bobos, a.k.a. mom

Karen Bobos began writing poetry and stories at the early age of ten years old. Her fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Ramos, found a book of poems that she wrote with her best friend. Mrs. Ramos took the book, and Karen remembers feeling that perhaps she was in trouble. Her teacher called The Hammond Times and had an article placed in the paper praising the young girls for their work. Karen remembers this teacher as "the first teacher to recognize and praise my talent."
Karen continued writing throughout her entire life. She earned her undergraduate degree in English in 1999. At the end of her senior year of college, a counselor in the job placement department asked her what she was going to do after graduation. Karen shared with him that she was going to write her first novel, as she had always dreamed of being a famous author. He told her that it was a pipe dream and to find a career in which she would actually make a living. Being young and easily influenced, her dreams felt crushed. Feeling discouraged, she began interviewing to be a technical writer. An opportunity arose to pursue a strong interest in the exercise physiology field, allowing Karen to put her novelist dreams on hold and continue down another career path. She completed her master's degree in Exercise Physiology in 2002. She had many research studies and fitness-related articles published during her fitness career. She owns a wellness company in Chicago, IL, since 2006 and is a monthly contributing author to the weekly blog. Karen became a mother in 2013, which she describes as truly her greatest "job." She immediately fell in love with her three daughters and dotingly referred to them as "the Bobos Babes" early on in their life. She would create little cheers for them to encourage an unbreakable sisterly bond. Creating a life of magic and joy for the girls has been her and her husband Stephen's (married in 2011) primary role. Stephen, an avid lover of non-fiction literature and fairytale-like stories, nicknamed the girls Angel, Princess, and Fairy at the time of their birth and inadvertently nicknamed his wife his Queen. He tells them bedtime stories from memory every night and often includes them as characters. Karen's "fun" writing was demonstrated in the family's annual Christmas card. Stephen would laugh at how much she would enjoy rhyming away the year's past events, often to the theme of a Christmas song. She enjoyed expressing her writing on social media and creating a Facebook journal of memories of her father (Leonard the Lion in the Bobos Babes Adventures) after his passing in 2016. In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic caused a huge shift in the fitness industry. Karen's wellness company, which provides on-site wellness services in Chicago, had been severely impacted for months. The extra time and fear of providing for her family inspired Karen to create a world of Harmony for her family and hopefully others to escape, even if only for a moment.