Chorus Connection is so excited to welcome Karyn Castro to the team!
Karyn is the first Customer Success Specialist to join Chorus Connection. In her new role, Karyn will help provide our customers with the top-notch support that you've all come to know and love.
Q: Karyn, We're so excited to have you on the team! Tell us a little bit about your choral background.
As with everyone else on this team, I am a choir nerd! I started singing at the age of five with the Hawai'i Youth Opera Chorus and haven’t stopped since. I’ve sung with over fifteen different choirs throughout my life, not including high school honor choirs and collaborations, and have been employed by three different ones in some capacity. Currently, I sing with the 18th Street Singers and a new ensemble, called Artifice, in Washington D.C.
Q: Wow, that's a lot of choirs! You're going to give us all a run for our money. With so much experience, what would you say is your strongest chorus management skill?
I have to say operations – I love planning for and executing concerts and events. I love taking ideas and turning them into reality, and get just as much satisfaction anticipating concert minutiae like stage set up, how the choir will get on and off the stage, how many programs and ushers will be needed, and all of the other tedious things. Recently I’ve also taken a strong interest in board governance: what/who comprises a good board, how to choose and cultivate the right people, the function of the board in various sized organizations, and so on.
Q: Okay, Karyn... I really need more people like you in my life!! How about a fun fact about yourself?
If I wasn’t so passionate about singing and the arts in general, I think I would have loved to be a florist. The fact that I can barely keep succulents alive is beside the point.
Q: Ooh, another fun creative outlet! What are you most excited for in your new role?
I am thrilled to be to other organizations what Jacob and Brian have been to me in the past. As an employee of the Kona Choral Society and Windward Choral Society – who were among the first twenty customers of Chorus Connection – I first implemented Chorus Connection, then became the Chorus Connection Guru.
Jacob, Brian, and the team were always such a joy to work with, so empathetic, enthusiastic, and patient with every question and inquiry we had. I remember all too well the difference Chorus Connection made in the everyday operations of the choirs, and how their excellent customer service really made us feel heard, made us feel important, and made us feel like family. I’ve come full circle at this point, and I am ecstatic to be part of the team that makes it easier for choirs everywhere to get back to the music.
Okay, well now the team is crying over here. So, thanks for that! Karyn, we are so, so, so (did I mention, SO?!) excited to have you on this team. I'm pretty sure that our customers will be too! Welcome and enjoy the ride.
Tori Cook is the former Director of Sales & Marketing at Chorus Connection, an active board member of the Greater Boston Choral Consortium, and a soprano with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. In a past life, she was the Music Director of the Harborlight Show Chorus and President of Chorus pro-Musica. When not making music, she daydreams about adopting a golden retriever puppy and scuba diving to exotic locations around the world.