Karla Jacobs

Karla Jacobs is a native Georgian whose many roles include freelance writer, soccer mom, and community volunteer. Governor Nathan Deal appointed her to the Georgia Commission on Women in 2012 and reappointed her in 2016. Karla, the former chair of the Commission’s Education Committee, likes to focus her attention on education issues, particularly those affecting students in K-12 and gifted students. A lifelong athlete, she is also interested in policy areas concerning health and fitness. Karla represents the Commission on the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force. She served as chair of the Commission from 2015-2018.

Karla is active in her community and served as a PTA leader in her children’s schools for many years. In 2015, Georgia PTA District 9 awarded her the PTA Visionary Award for her efforts to make PTA more accessible for Spanish speaking parents and for her work with local government officials on various community issues. Girl Scouts gave her the opportunity to help build a new generation of leaders as a leader in her daughter’s troop, and she has organized fundraisers with ONE, Malaria No More, and Nothing But Nets, which are dedicated to wiping out malaria.

Karla has a BA in Literary Studies from The University of Texas at Dallas and an MBA from UTD. For several years, she was a sales and marketing manager for a small software company in Raleigh, NC before leaving the paid workforce when her children were born.

Karla enjoys reading and knitting, and she has not met many books she did not like. Her all-time favorite is “Cold Sassy Tree” by Georgia author Olive Ann Burns, and she loves a wide variety of genres including the 19th Century fiction of Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, biographies, historical fiction, and even chick lit and sci-fi/fantasy. She loves the outdoors, and most weekends her family is outside hiking, camping, or biking. They all love to travel and consider Jackson Hole, WY to be their home away from home.

Karla grew up in Gainesville, GA, and she is glad to be back in her home state after living in Texas and North Carolina after college. She and her husband, Stephen, live in Marietta, GA with their children, Abby and Daniel. They are members of Due West United Methodist Church.

You can find Karla on Twitter at @karlacjacobs