lifestyle
f l e s r u o Put y IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT IT’S THAT MOMENT WHEN YOU REALISE THE ONLY WAY OUT IS TO RECALCULATE – TO THROW AWAY THE PLAN AND BE WILLING TO CHANGE DIRECTION, SAYS THE QUEENSLAND WOMAN WHO TELLS THE WORLD WHERE TO GO. STORY KERRY HEANEY
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LOOKING AT HER wide, beaming smile, it’s hard to imagine that Karen Jacobsen has enjoyed anything but a smooth path through life. She’s an award-winning singer, songwriter and speaker, but you’d know her best as Siri, the voice that gives directions from more than 400 million GPS and smartphone devices around the world. Karen has achieved the success that she dreamed of as a seven-year-old sitting in front of the television in her family’s lounge room in Mackay in the 1980s. “I was seven and watching the tele when on came the most important person in the world, Olivia Newton John,” says Karen. “My life changed. I saw this blonde Australian singer who had gone to America and I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a professional singer and move to America.” Many music lessons and school musicals later, Karen graduated from school, relocated to Brisbane, obtained her driver’s licence, and joined RACQ as “every good Queenslander does”. Eventually Sydney beckoned and although Karen’s career blossomed and she was an ever-present voice on radio and television in the 1990s, she stayed true to her vision and moved to America in 2000 with a ‘suitcase and a dream’. Opportunity opened its arms via a surprising call from her agent about a job for a native Australian female voiceover artist living in north-east USA to record a voice-to-text speech system. When Karen heard the brief she
QLD INTERVIEW | LIFESTYLE thought ‘this job is mine’ and she was hired immediately after the audition. A phone booksized script read four hours a day over three weeks – 50 hours in total – and the job was done. Two years later, a phone call from girlfriend Nadia, who had bought her husband a new ‘GPS thingo’ for Christmas, gave Karen a hint of where this career development was going to take her. “Driving back home from Maine to New York City using the GPS for the first time, they put on the Australian voice,” Karen recalled. “Nadia said to her husband, ‘Oh my god, I bought you Karen Jacobsen for Christmas’. “It’s lead to a lot of unexpected things. When people find out I am the voice that was with them on their fabulous trips they get excited and want to share their journeys. People talk to me as if they already know me. “Ryan told me that last weekend I went with him to his cousin’s wedding in Milwaukie and we had a fabulous time. Janice called me because I’d directed her all around Los Angeles.” As much as they love her, there’s one word Siri says that people tell Karen they don’t like very much at all and that’s ‘recalculating’. “I think recalculating is really good news,” Karen said. “By the time you hear the word the satellites have worked their magic and you are back on track, headed for your destination.” Making a connection between directions in the car and directions in life was a lightbulb moment for Karen that led her to create an empowerment brand, The GPS Girl. “It looks so easy to others, but my life is just one big recalculation,” she says. She has shared the bill with Norah Jones, Neil Sedaka and Christopher Cross singing The Star-Spangled Banner at the Giants Stadium for the New York Jets. But her route to Manhattan, where Karen lives with husband Tom and son Hayden, includes a ricochet redirection year that most people would describe as extremely challenging. It was 2009 and while the world was experiencing the global financial crisis, Karen and Tom faced a personal monetary crisis that demanded an escape to Australia for a year with their 15-month old son to live with Karen’s parents until they could get back on their feet. It was a big recalculation but it paid off. The GPS Girl’s Guide to Getting What You Want in Life is all about empowering others to take charge of their lives, to recalculate and bounce back when obstacles, challenges or detours get in the way of goals or results. Share more of Karen’s story at thegpsgirl.com.
IMAGES (OPPOSITE PAGE): PICK UP YOUR PHONE AND TALK TO SIRI/KAREN; KAREN’S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IN MACKAY; KAREN ON STAGE.
THE ROAD AHEAD DEC 2015/JAN 2016
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