Karen Stritzinger

Karen Stritzinger, Founder at Old Hara Studios, is an award-winning creative technologist, environmental justice activist, speaker, educator and Founder of Old Hara Studios with over a decade of experience building immersive product and storytelling experiences. She has worked as a technical artist at SF Bay Area tech companies, most recently as a prototyper for the Oculus system software at Meta. Karen has given talks and participated in panel discussions at the UN Games & SDG Summit, AWE Nite Durham, Oak City Indie Games, Lesbians Who Tech, and IGDA NC Triangle. She enjoys mentoring underrepresented talent and has taught classes for Women Who Code, Black Girls Code, the University of Oregon, Elon University, and NC State University.

In 2022, Karen founded Old Hara Studios to leverage immersive media to educate about environmental justice and climate solutions. She currently leads the design and development of a game called “Waves of Jeju: Diving School”. In 2024 the game was awarded Honorable Mention by Unity for Humanity, featured at SXSW, the Hollywood Climate Summit, MeaningfulXR, and the Games for Change Arcade. In 2025, the project received significant press in Korea where Karen established partnerships with the Jeju government and organizations to preserve and globalize the culture of the Jeju Haenyeo.