I’m Kari.
I run AI Operations for small businesses in Portland, Oregon.
The short version: a decade of running operations across multiple independent founder-led businesses, then a four-month sprint where I shipped 40+ AI tools across compliance work, lead generation, member portals, and program operations. The work I do for clients now is the work I built that sprint. The longer version is below.
The operator decade (before AI).
I co-owned and co-ran yogaRIOT in Sellwood from 2015 to 2022, growing it from nothing to a 400-member community with 40 staff over seven-plus years. We pivoted virtual through COVID (Willamette Week, April 2020). I ran scheduling, teacher training, programming, payroll, member acquisition, and the books. I learned what a multi-role operation actually breaks on.
Before that I worked across food systems for 15 years, starting as a line cook and moving through sous chef, private chef, organic farm apprentice (80+ vegetable varieties, 100-member CSA), kitchen director (130-150 students daily), and Starbucks supervisor (40-person team, $2M location). Operations at scale, in food, before AI was a thing anyone could buy.
Then the MBA in Social Innovation from Portland State (2025). PSU Center for Entrepreneurship, where I ran Invent Oregon for 21 teams across 18 colleges and onboarded 85+ entrepreneurs through the Innovation Hub. Net Impact chapter co-president.
The through-line across all of it is operations. The yoga studio in Sellwood, the commercial kitchens, the PSU accelerator, the same shape of work in every one of them: run the system, fix the system, document the system, hand it off.
Every time we meet I can expect to learn more, find clarity and direction with next steps in the process of building a successful business. She has a very sensible approach and meets you where you are at. I appreciate that Kari comes to the table with a sense of urgency and intensity to get the infrastructure in place so that you can pay yourself back with time and efficiency in your building business model.
The AI sprint.
Starting in early 2026 I shipped 40+ AI tools in about four months. The work cluster: conversation-to-document pipelines, multi-session evidence packagers, stakeholder self-service portals, overnight outbound automations, opportunity-sourcing monitors, and a personal operating layer that runs my own practice across multiple ventures.
Concrete examples (named what I can name):
- The $5K Method. A facilitated interview tool that turns a 60-minute conversation into a branded research report, same day. 14 sessions, $750 per report.
- Portland State Business Accelerator contract. Three automation apps for Arsh Haque’s accelerator: financial automations, public-site and stakeholder self-service portal, lease management and onboarding.
- Six Figures. AI tools for startup investor outreach, co-founded with Arsh Haque and Joel Porter at PSU.
- C-Suite Framework. The operating layer I run my own practice from. Eight named AI roles, weekly improvement cycle, dashboard surface. Public version is open-sourced.
Other work in the portfolio is under contract with clients I can’t yet name. The case study frames on the home page describe what those engagements look like by operational shape, not by client.
AI absorbs the typing, not the thinking.
Why this matters for small businesses.
The AI consulting market is dominated by two kinds of people: engineers who have always been engineers, and PhDs who have always been researchers. Both are good at what they do. The AI work I do is shaped by the decade of operations behind it. That’s what I bring to your operation that an engineer or a researcher can’t.
That decade is what I learned getting yogaRIOT through COVID, what I learned running 130-meal lunch services, what I learned coaching 15 Xcelerate Women business owners on pricing and packaging, and what I learned as the Certifications Chair at On Purpose Oregon working with Oregon’s B Corp community on their recertification journey.
Kari’s excellent work as our Brand Manager and Systems Analyst has taken the Sarasvati Institute to the next level of visibility, marketing, and sales. Her focus on creating a more innovative customer journey has led to more new subscribers and more active current subscribers.
AI makes the human better at being human. That’s the stance. The work I build keeps the human in the seat that matters: relationships, decisions, anything that goes out the door with someone’s name on it.
One person who has done both.
The AI consultancies that run circles around me on machine learning architecture would not know what to do with your B Corp recertification binder. The operations consultants who have run multiple independent businesses for thirty years aren’t shipping AI tools. You need someone who has done both, and right now Portland has one.
For the audience that wants them.
- MBA, Social Innovation. Portland State University, 2025. Won First Place in the Everyday Entrepreneurs pitch competition.
- Adjunct Professor, PSU School of Business. Starts January 2027. Teaching experiential entrepreneurship (students launch a business in 11 weeks).
- Innovation Hub Navigator, PSU Center for Entrepreneurship. Onboarded 85+ entrepreneurs into the PSU innovation ecosystem and ran Invent Oregon for 21 teams across 18 colleges.
- Board member and Certifications Chair, On Purpose Oregon. The Oregon nonprofit (formerly B Local PDX) uniting purpose-led businesses across the state. Direct working knowledge of B Corp V2 recertification.
- E-RYT 500. Highest-level yoga teaching credential, with the operations pedigree behind it (yogaRIOT co-owner).
- Co-founder, Six Figures (PSU spinout). AI tools for startup investor outreach.
- Active long-form writer on operations, AI, B Corp work, and the founder experience. New pieces post regularly on LinkedIn.
If any of this fits, let’s talk.
Start with a Scoping Engagement. Two weeks together for $5,000, and you walk out with a written plan you can take anywhere.
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