The Powerhouse with a Heart: Coffee Grounds Talks Tech & Media with Karen Chupka of the Nab Show
Look, my name is Freedom Mercado. If you know me, you already know that I absolutely love life, loud laughter, and diving headfirst into epic stories that make people feel something real. I live for capturing the moments that define our culture, our passion, and our creative industries. But right now, we have to talk about one of the absolute biggest milestones for my platform, Coffee Grounds.
We recently got to sit down for a brilliant, game-changing interview with the one and only Karen Chupka, the Executive Vice President of Global Connections and Events for the NAB Show.
Let me tell you straight from the heart — she is truly the nicest, most genuine person you could ever meet. In a fast-paced media industry that can sometimes feel cold, intimidating, or overly corporate, Karen brings this incredible, authentic warmth that just fills the whole room and puts you right at ease. A massive, booming thank you goes out to Karen for being so incredibly generous and giving me and our phenomenal camera operator and photographer, Marty F. Orta, a few precious moments of her time to capture something truly special.
This interview honestly changed everything for us, and it gave us a front-row seat to what real, visionary leadership looks like. Before Karen stepped in to run the massive machine that is the NAB Show today, she spent over three decades acting as the legendary, brilliant mind shaping CES (the Consumer Electronics Show). Think about that for a second! She literally started out way back doing basic registration for a small conference and rose completely through the ranks by mastering every single layer of the trade show ecosystem.
She took CES and turned it into the world’s most influential, multi-billion-dollar tech playground, managing everything from major digital shifts to global operational scale. Whether it was integrating the latest automotive tech, AI, robotics, or digital health into the main stage, she knew exactly how to capture an audience. She understands how to build spaces where creators, tech geniuses, and everyday consumers can thrive, which is exactly why she is recognized worldwide as an absolute powerhouse in this industry.
Now, she’s bringing that exact same epic energy right here to Las Vegas to elevate the National Association of Broadcasters to whole new heights.
Karen and her team organize the entire NAB Show from the ground up — handling the massive marketing campaigns, signing up the top global exhibitors, and coordinating the beautiful chaos to make it one of the absolute biggest, most unrivaled media marketplaces on the planet. It is the ultimate hub where the future of streaming, gaming, creation, independent filmmaking, and immersive storytelling all collide into one massive celebration of human creativity. Watching her lead this global phenomenon with so much grace, power, and genuine kindness proves exactly why she is an industry icon. We are beyond hyped to share her journey and insights with the world. I promise you, this is just the beginning for Coffee Grounds as we keep bringing you up-close stories from the true innovators who are literally building the future of how we create, connect, and share our lives.
