Kara’s connection to primate conservation began when she researched the history of gorillas at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., as well as researching the zoo’s journey into better animal management practices. By reviewing thousands of pages of documents, recorded interviews and photos at the Smithsonian Archives and interviewing people who spearheaded the zoo’s conservation mission, Kara was able to publish the narrative non-fiction book, Raising America’s Zoo: How Two Wild Gorillas Helped Transform the National Zoo (Mascot Books, 2017). The book also documents the zoo’s pioneering efforts to work with national and international partners to coordinate conservation programs for captive and wild golden lion tamarins. That work to save golden lion tamarins has been hailed as a model for the development of Species Survival Plans for other captive animals.

Kara has been a career journalist, working for newspapers in Virginia and Florida and then as a reporter covering national special education issues for an online publication. In 2020, she authored a booklet titled Recruit and Retain Special Educators (LRP Publications). She currently works as a national education reporter for K12 Dive in Washington, D.C. where she lives with her husband and two sons.