Karine Méhu

Director, Multimedia Marketing
ESPN, New York City
Age: 34


When the Internet “boom and bust” caused Karine Méhu to be laid off from her job as senior production manager at iClips Network L.L.C., she spent nine months in a futile quest for employment. The experience prepared her for her current position. “Without the foundation of hard work, determination and belief in oneself provided to me by my grandmother, and life testing that foundation through a traumatic job loss, I would not be where I am today,” she says.

As ESPN’s director of multimedia marketing today, Méhu, 34, develops programs for advertisers who wish to reach a fan base within the entertainment and sports network’s core digital properties. She has created several award-winning advertising campaigns. While studying journalism at Howard University, she received the Best Beat Reporter Award in 1999 for her coverage of Washington, D.C.’s overwhelmingly Black 8th Ward. Since then, she has excelled in digital marketing as a producer, associate director, project manager and, currently, ESPN’s director of multimedia marketing.

Méhu graduated with honors from Howard with a bachelor’s degree in print journalism. She began her career as an editorial assistant at BET Publishing. Nearly three years later, she moved to an e-commerce firm in Reston, Va., and subsequently to a number of advertising agencies, before joining Time Inc. as associate director, where she was able to merge her journalism and digital training. Last February, she was listed in Black Enterprise magazine among the top advertisers and marketers. “Always do your very best.  No one can take your talent away from you,” she encourages others.

With the time and financial backing, she would open a wine bar, serving gourmet small plates. “I adore cooking and wine tasting has become a hobby over the years.  I would love to put the two together and become a full time restaurant owner,” she says.

Fun Facts
Favorite team: NY Yankees
Favorite book: “The Girl Who Played with Fire” by Stieg Larsson
Favorite sport: Softball