Today we’d like to introduce you to Kari Goetz.
Hi Kari , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started my career at the age of 10, when I was cast in a Sea World commercial. I continued to audition and work in the film and television industry in Florida (predominately in Orlando) throughout my childhood and into my college years at the University of Florida. Growing up in Ft. Myers, I have always had a deep love for Florida’s beauty and spent a lot of time fishing and exploring the Gulf and Ten Thousand Islands.
After graduating from the University of Florida with a BFA in Theater, I moved to Los Angeles and continued to work in the Industry. I was one of the first hires for Second City Hollywood where, in addition to teaching and performing improv and sketch comedy, I was in charge of marketing the Training Center and the shows. This began my career in marketing (although I didn’t know it at the time).
The opportunity to move to Tampa and work for Jobsite Theater and old friends from UF became more appealing than the endless grind of LA and after five years in the City of Angels, I moved back to Florida and have had a career in working for organizations that make Tampa awesome. Over two decades in Tampa Bay I have had the honor to work for the Tampa Bay Chamber, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa International Airport, The Florida Aquarium, and United Way Suncoast. In that time I received my MA in Communication at USF where I have been an adjunct at the Muma College of Business as well as Wayne State University. I have co-authored a textbook on using improvisation as a tool for business management.
It was at America’s Favorite Airport, TPA, that I found my true love of aviation. Today, my agency, Winzig Consulting, is as diverse as my experiences with a client list of nonprofits, education, arts, and aviation. One day I may be advising an airport on recruiting new airlines or developing new routes for their community, while the next may be designing an annual fundraising campaign for a well-known nonprofit. In between, I can sometimes still be found in my first love – the theater, where I still perform and direct when time allows.
I am a firm believer in giving back to the community that has given me so much and have sat on the boards of Jobsite Theater, Stageworks Theatre, and Girl Scout of West Central Florida. I am currently on the boards of the Tampa Bay Chamber and the Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society. I am the past chair of Collegiate Leadership Tampa, the current chair of Leadership Tampa 2026, and am on the regional council for Leadership Florida. I’m also a proud member of the Athena Society, where I have held a number of leadership positions.
But my greatest accomplishment is finding my husband at 16 and not figuring out I should marry him until I was 37. I’m slow on some things. Our story is captured here – https://www.tampabay.com/features/relationships/from-this-day-20-years-later-pen-pals-become-life-partners/2125507/
Since that happy day, we have added a pretty righteous kid to the mix. Our son was born in 2014, and he has begun to dip his toe into performing and made his professional debut, also at age 10, in a Jobsite Theater production of, “The Pillowman.”
I try not to be a stage mother.
We also have too many animals, including a rescue we saved from a severe neglect situation a year ago, and a cat we fished out of sewer on the 4th of July. We live in a funky bungalow in Seminole Heights, a neighborhood I have loved and lived in for over 20 years. As a true hipster, I can say I lived in Seminole Heights, “before it was cool.”
I think that’s a lot of the basics. I also run, which is the only time my mind is quiet. So I try to run a lot.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh sure, did I mention I was a professional actor in LA for five years? That sucked. My professional life in Tampa has always been a blessing. I’ve worked for amazing leaders, and gained leadership experience that I couldn’t imagine receiving anywhere else. I have watched Tampa grow and thrive in the time I have been here. That hasn’t always been easy. The recession had me back in school and refocusing my skills beyond the performing arts. Finding aviation was a true gift, but it came with sacrifice as I managed a new family with frequent international travel. (If you ever need tips on how to ship breast milk internationally, I know how to do it and I don’t recommend that life).
Covid was a huge setback as I suddenly found myself having to find a new journey. I think all of these obstacles gave me the strength to know that I was ready and capable to start my own business. I am so grateful for all the challenges that got me to the opportunities I leverage today.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Winzig Consulting?
Winzig is the German word for “tiny.” I am both German and rather Hobbit sized, so it seemed the perfect description for my company. Our mascot is a flying squirrel and I do refer to myself as the “Chief Flying Squirrel.” The origin of that story can be found here: https://winzig.consulting/blog/
Winzig is a “Yes! And…” organization. Because of my diverse background and experience, I am as comfortable adapting a sales platform into a storytelling workshop to improve client relationships, as a I am building a strategic plan for a nonprofit on the precipice of scaling their operations. That said, the majority of our work is helping airports develop messaging that resonates with airlines and their community. With an international roster of airports in our client list, we have successfully campaigned for airlines to establish operations and existing airlines to expand their destinations. Developing compelling narratives from data is Winzig’s speciality. You can have the most compelling data in the world, but if you can’t make those numbers tell a story and stand out from the competition, you won’t succeed. That’s true in aviation, nonprofit, education, anywhere.
Finding the right data in a sea of information is the key to Winzig’s success for our clients. We laser focus on what differentiates our clients from their competitors and leverage that to create messages, campaigns, and plans that are resilient in today’s ever changing environments.
And we’re fun. Kari can be found leading interactive workshops at conferences across industries. Using her background in improvisation and her research in the importance of play in management, Kari’s role as a professor, keynote, and facilitator are in demand. It might be the only time she directly uses her theater degree, but mixed with all the business acumen she’s picked up along the way.
What are your plans for the future?
Winzig Consulting continues to grow and Kari is scaling her services to ensure that other flying squirrels have their change to grow in the industries that she has made a career developing. Always looking for artists with a business mind and business minds with an artistic vision, Winzig heads into the future with new partners and opportunities.
While the future often feels uncertain, Kari has a motto: “I like change,” she says, “As long as I remind myself that I like change.” Never one to be stagnant, and always wanting to innovate best practices to meet emerging trends, disruptions, and challenges, Kari feels like her life has prepared her for this time and what is to come.
I’ve always said Yes, to what comes next, And… I’ve always found success as a result.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.winzig.consulting
- Instagram: @winzigconsulting
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kari-goetz-9416285/
