Editor-in-Chief, Austin Home & Founder, Ground Up
Karen Zabarsky Blashek is the Founder of Ground Up, a multi-disciplinary creative studio for the built environment, and the Editor-in-Chief of Austin Home Magazine, the city’s pre-eminent design publication of 20 years. Through Ground Up, Blashek executes the strategy, design, and branding for projects in the built environment, from luxury residential towers in Toronto, to pre-seed Proptech start-ups based in the Bay, to historic hotels in San Antonio. Her platforms are informed by her time as the Head of Design and Branding for Kushner, one of the largest real estate development and management firms in the country, and as the co-founder of The Tanks, a pro bono advocacy effort for the adaptive reuse of decommissioned oil infrastructure into next gen public space. Blashek serves on the steering committee for ULI Americas YLG and ULI Austin Housing Innovations Council, and is the lead singer of the band Local Law.
