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Arizona native Karen Samfilippo landed in Los Angeles in 1981 where she began her career in entertainment at the Wilhelmina West Modeling Agency. Soon promoted to running the Men's Division, she coordinated Kevin Costner's first print layout for Gianfranco Ferre, among various other campaigns. One day Samfilippo noticed a feature in the Los Angeles Times on the well known publicity firm Rogers & Cowan, which intrigued her. She pursued the company and before long, Samfilippo found herself in the entertainment division of Rogers & Cowan working with actors and athletes including Annie Potts ("Designing Women"), St. Louis shortstop Ozzie Smith and Indy 500 winner Danny Sullivan. After 5 ½ years with the company, she was hired by the prestigious PR firm of PMK. Soon she was handling publicity for Keanu Reeves, Will Smith and Matthew Broderick as well as orchestrating Academy campaigns for Mercedes Ruehl ("The Fisher King") and Holly Hunter ("The Piano"). After six years with PMK, Samfilippo wanted to broaden her horizons. She accepted a position with Planet Hollywood as the PR Director for the Western Region which included California, Arizona and Nevada. Not long after, the studio world beckoned and Samfilippo became Vice President of National Publicity for Polygram Films and Artisan Entertainment. However she yearned to return to personal publicity and decided to help out a friend at his firm when one of his publicists left on maternity leave. She quickly picked up where she left off, signing new business and building up her client list. After a successful Academy campaign with Halle Berry for "Monster's Ball," Samfilippo decided it was time to open her own shop. Image Management Public Relations was born in 2002. At IMPR, Samfilippo coordinated another winning Academy campaign with Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Capote." These days, in addition to Hoffman, her eclectic client list includes award winning director Darren Aronofsky, Andie MacDowell, Jon Cryer, Mark Harmon, Emmy winner Allison Janney, veteran Powers Boothe, and up-and-comer Mary Elizabeth Winstead among others. When not working, Samfilippo devotes time to various charitable organizations, mostly dealing with women's issues and animal rescue.
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