She moved to California in 1996 where she graduated from California State Long Beach with a BFA in English Creative Writing. Kari started stand-up comedy when she was 35 years old, after rediscovering a bucket list of sorts that she had written while bored and answering phones at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. She thought she would try stand-up comedy once, but was instantly drawn to the writing and performing of the craft, and she has been performed in shows throughout Southern California since.