Today we’d like to introduce you to Karisma Pleasant.
Hi Karisma, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My story has always been about turning experiences into purpose and purpose into action.
I didn’t necessarily set out to become a founder, educator, facilitator, or strategist. Those roles found me gradually through the experiences I was willing to learn from the people I was able to serve, and the realization that some of the things I naturally do—creating, teaching, connecting, and helping people see possibilities—could become something much bigger.
A.I.R. Project was one of the first major expressions of that purpose. What began with a desire to bring awareness to the impact of abuse and violence has evolved into something much broader. Today, A.I.R. Project is focused on moving from awareness to action—advocating, innovating, and renewing marginalized communities through holistic intelligence. That evolution reflects my own growth: I have become increasingly interested not only in identifying challenges, but in creating meaningful ways for people and communities to move forward.
Along the way, I discovered another part of my purpose through my professional work: I genuinely love helping people learn.
What started with creating training guides and finding more engaging ways to explain information, developed into opportunities to design instruction, facilitate learning, mentor and coach others, serve as a subject matter expert, and help people build the confidence to apply what they have learned. I began to understand that effective instruction is about much more than delivering information. It is about creating an experience that makes people want to engage, think, ask questions, and ultimately do something different.
That realization has shaped my growth as a facilitator and leader. Today, I am increasingly trusted with opportunities to teach, lead learning experiences, and support others in their development. The feedback and recognition I have received along the way have been especially meaningful—not simply because they affirm the work I am doing, but because they remind me that the impact of good instruction often extends far beyond the classroom.
I have also learned that leadership doesn’t always begin with a title. Sometimes it begins when people start looking at you for answers, asking you to teach, trusting you to guide others, or recognizing something in you before you fully recognize it in yourself.
That is where I find myself today.
I am continuing to grow as an educator, facilitator, leader, and strategist while bringing together the different parts of my experience—education, creativity, community work, instructional design, and human connection. Each chapter has given me another tool to put in my toolbox, and I am learning how powerful those tools can be when they are intentionally combined.
And there is another chapter quietly taking shape.
I am developing a new venture that brings together many of the skills, perspectives, and ideas I have cultivated throughout my journey. I am not ready to reveal all of it just yet, but I will say that it reflects where I am now: thinking beyond simply delivering information and becoming more intentional about how learning, strategy, creativity, culture, and innovation can intersect to create meaningful impact.
When I look at my journey, I don’t see a collection of unrelated projects or career experiences. I see a pattern.
I have always been drawn to helping people understand, grow, connect, and move forward.
A.I.R. Project gave me a platform to turn awareness into action. My professional journey has taught me how to turn information into learning and learning into capability. And the next chapter is giving me an opportunity to bring those lessons together in a new way.
I’m still building. I’m still learning. I’m still evolving.
But I have become much more intentional about what I am building—and why.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it definitely has not been a smooth road—and I think that is part of what has made the journey meaningful.
There have been moments when I questioned whether I was moving in the right direction, especially when I was trying to build something while still figuring out what that “something” was becoming. Starting and growing an organization comes with its own challenges, from limited resources and learning how to navigate unfamiliar territory to balancing vision with the realities of execution.
I have also had to grow through the uncomfortable parts of leadership. Learning how to advocate for an idea, facilitate difficult conversations, make decisions, navigate different personalities, and remain confident when the outcome isn’t guaranteed has taught me a great deal about myself. I’ve learned that being a leader isn’t about always having the answer. Sometimes it is about being willing to ask the right questions, listen, adapt, and keep moving.
Professionally, my growth has come with its own challenges. Moving from being someone who could do the work to becoming someone who teaches, facilitates, mentors, and helps others develop required me to become more intentional about my voice and my leadership presence. I had to recognize that the knowledge and perspective I bring to a room have value—and become comfortable owning that.
There have also been seasons where several responsibilities and ideas seemed to compete for my attention. I’ve had to learn that everything that is a good idea isn’t necessarily the right idea for right now. Discernment, patience, and timing have become just as important to me as ambition.
What I appreciate most about those challenges is that they didn’t stop me; they shaped me. They taught me resilience, adaptability, patience, and the importance of continuing to evolve. I’ve learned to view obstacles less as evidence that I’m on the wrong path and more as opportunities to reassess, refine, and grow.
So no, it hasn’t been smooth. But I don’t think it was supposed to be. The rough parts have helped me become more thoughtful about the leader, educator, creator, and entrepreneur I am becoming—and much more intentional about where I go from here.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Professionally, my career has centered around learning, development, and helping people become more confident and capable in what they do.
I have built my career in the federal workforce; lately it’s been primarily in training and instructional development. Over the years, I have had opportunities to design curriculum, facilitate and teach, develop on-the-job training, create job aids and microlearning, mentor and coach others, train instructors, and contribute to process improvement and special projects.
One of the things I enjoy most is taking information that may seem complicated or overwhelming and finding a way to make it easier to understand, engaging, and useful. I have always been someone who looks at a process and thinks, “There has to be a better way.” That curiosity has shaped the way I approach both learning and problem-solving.
Professionally, my career has centered around people, learning, development, and finding better ways to get the work done.
I have more than 20 years of professional experience in the federal workforce, and throughout most of my career, I naturally found myself helping others understand the work we were doing. Whether explaining a process, helping a colleague navigate something unfamiliar, creating a resource, or finding a better way to communicate an idea, teaching and helping others has always been part of how I work.
It wasn’t until the last nearly two years, however, that I was afforded the opportunity to officially move into a space that brings many of those natural strengths together. My current work has allowed me to intentionally develop my passion for instructional design, training, facilitation, mentoring, coaching, and creating meaningful learning experiences. I have been able to design instruction, develop curricula and learning resources, facilitate classes, provide on-the-job instruction, support instructors, and contribute innovative ideas across multiple areas of the agency.
One of the things I am known for is making information easier to understand and more engaging. I naturally ask, “How can this work better?” and “How can I make this easier for someone else to understand?” Those questions influence how I approach learning, problem-solving, creativity, and innovation.
My creative side has also played an important role in my professional life. I don’t see creativity and learning as separate. Creativity influences how I communicate ideas, design learning experiences, develop resources, and connect with different audiences. It reminds me that there is rarely one way to learn, solve a problem, or reach a goal.
I am especially proud of how much I have grown as an instructor and facilitator while continuing to bring the qualities that have carried me throughout my career: curiosity, creativity, resourcefulness, and a genuine desire to help people succeed. The recognition and opportunities I have received recently have been encouraging because they affirm something I have known for a long time—that helping people learn and grow is more than something I am good at; it is something I genuinely enjoy.
What sets me apart is the way I bring different perspectives together. I don’t just think about what information needs to be delivered. I think about how people will experience it, how they will connect with it, and what they will be able to do with it afterward. I want people to walk away thinking differently, feeling empowered, and knowing what to do with what they have learned.
As my career has evolved, so has my perspective. I am increasingly interested in the intersection of learning, leadership, strategy, creativity, culture, and innovation. For me, professional growth isn’t simply about moving up. It is about expanding my impact.
And that is what continues to excite me about the work I do: helping people learn, helping things work better, and finding new ways to turn knowledge into action.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something that may surprise people is that, despite my personality and the energy I bring into a room, I am actually someone who naturally likes to stay behind the scenes. I can be very much a “hide in my shell” kind of person—and fittingly, I absolutely love turtles.
What makes that especially interesting is watching how much my life continues to challenge me to come out of that shell.
I have often had to be my own validator—to recognize my skills, trust my abilities, and acknowledge the potential within myself before I was ready to fully step into it. At the same time, I have experienced time and again that my energy, personality, authenticity, and the way I connect with people are felt much more strongly by others than I sometimes realize. People often see potential in me that I may be hesitant to acknowledge in myself.
There is a funny tension in that. Part of me is perfectly comfortable observing, creating, working quietly, and letting the work speak for itself. Another part of me keeps getting pulled toward spaces that require me to be more visible, use my voice, lead, teach, facilitate, and take up space.
I think that is one of the most unexpected parts of my evolution. The more I grow, the more I realize that coming out of my shell doesn’t mean becoming someone different. It means becoming more comfortable being fully who I already am.
Every day, I find myself being drawn further beyond my comfort zone and closer to the purpose I believe I am meant to walk in. And perhaps that is why the turtle resonates with me so much: the shell will always be a part of me, but it doesn’t have to keep me from moving forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.abuseisreal.com
- Instagram: AIR Project-https://www.instagram.com/a.i.r.project/ Karisma-https://www.instagram.com/bekarismatiq/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abuseisrealairproject
- LinkedIn: https://Karisma-www.linkedin.com/in/k-pleasant
