One of Tallahassee's busiest people has found the time to write a book. Karen Moore, prominent local business woman and community leader, is the author.
First a few things you may - or may not - know about Karen Moore. Since the time she struck out on her own to open a one-woman public relations shop at Lake Ella almost a quarter-century ago, she says she's had one overriding driver.
"I left Florida State University with a job many would think was the greatest job in the world," Moore remembered. "And if I was going to do that, I was going to create a company that, every single day, I came to work saying I could have made a difference in at least one person's life."
Now here's something you probably won't know unless you visit Moore at her Delta Court office. She loves history and old books. She has two cases filled with leather-bound Bibles and Anglican Books of Common Prayer, some several hundred years old. So it really isn't surprising Moore might someday aspire to write a book herself.
"You know, I have thought for several years that I'd like to write a book about something I'm very passionate about and that is, how to give a voice to the voiceless? How is it you can use advocacy efforts to make change?"
Topics informed by Moore's long labors in the fields of branding, marketing and advertising.
"I could talk about how advocacy has changed and the value that it brings, not only in political campaigns, but to businesses public sector/private sector and not-for-profit - in rallying around making a positive difference," she said.
And Moore didn't want her book to be an "Art of War" knock-off on how to win battles of competing issues and politics.
"Advocacy is about bringing disparate groups, diverse groups, non-traditional groups together to find that one thing that they can all agree on."
Although Moore admitted there will always be some adversity inherent in the process.
"Yes, we still want to pass bills and kill bills," she smiled. "But what we're seeing is that they are now building champions; internal champions - employees - and they're reaching out and building external champions. They are finding people out there who have circles of influence that they are tapping into and bringing them together to support them."
That nod towards a less hostile and more collaborative spirit of advocacy is what led Moore to entitle her book: "Behind the Red Door."
"If you were in a horse and buggy on a rural road," Moore explained, waxing nostalgic, "You knew if you saw a red door either on a house or a barn, it was a place you could stop. It was a safe place, it was a refuge, it was a place you could have open discussion and camaraderie with the people there."
Moore says it took her about 10 months to write the book. And given the rather crazy demands on her time , from running her agency to the multiple community service activities she's involved in, she admitted it was not a completely solo project.
"Whether literally helping to write a chapter or to help in editing or finding good anecdotal stories or looking up references or helping with footnotes," she said, crediting her staff. "There's a saying it takes a village? Well let me tell you; it takes a company to write a book!"
Moore officially rolls out her book on the 24th of this month (May). It'll be available on Amazon, at local book stores and - in case you're stopping by there anyway - her Moore Communications Group offices.