We were lucky to catch up with Karen Criswell Reese recently and have shared our conversation below.

Karen Criswell, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

KOAR Fast Tax – is my tax business and the first initials stand for the first name of each one of our kids – K-Khalil O-Olivia A-Ashley R-Roxie Can I Play – Is the name God gave me for the beginning of my sports brands
Can We Talk Sports, is the name of my sports mom talk show
Can We Play is the name of my non-profit
Greenwood Ave Project – is the name of my documentary based on the aftermath of the Tulsa Massacre
I’ve Got One More in me – is the name of documentary I did for my uncle that needed a kidney and was a coach
Adult Prom Dallas – is the adult prom that I help coordinate

Karen Criswell, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Karen Criswell Reese – film maker, entrepreneur, community cheerleader, wife, mother, and sports enthusiast.

I was born and raised in Morrilton, Arkansas, to a single mother and I am the oldest of 5 kids. I started college at the University of Central Arkansas but later moved to California in1989 to start a new future. In 2004, I relocated to DeSoto, Texas from Carson, California with my husband of almost 28 years, Pete Reese, along with our three daughters and one son. I created a rainbow of businesses, ranging from tax services to film production to event coordination.

In 1986 I worked as a waitress at Shoney Restaurant from ages 18 to 21, and had a favorite customer that loved her. This gracious patron, Donna, was a CPA and gave Karen a job to work during tax seasons, planting the first seed for Karen’s interest in doing taxes. Donna taught Karen how to manually prepare taxes 16 years ago. Karen never imagined that she’d one day own her own tax business, as for years she’d been seeking out services from H&R Block just like everyone else, because she was under the impression that it would cost millions of dollars to own a company. In 2004, Dee Smith Grigsby said, “You can do taxes as a business”, and so Karen stepped out and never looked back, establishing KOAR Fast Tax in 2005. Karen has been able to serve more than 100 versatile clients nationwide through her independent tax preparation services. Karen is finally running a business just like Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, Liberty Tax and many others, and is proud to inspire other working mothers to aspire for similar independence for themselves.

I began volunteering for the DeSoto Football Booster Club in 2011, and continued to do so four years after my son graduated. I grew to love all our kids from DeSoto and the community. I am the #1 fan of DeSoto Football and have the championship ring to prove it. This love for serving our football players & parents grew into the importance of giving back information & sharing their stories to the parents who are coming behind them. This gave birth to the name Can I Play brand which seeks to encourage our adults to 1) educate, 2) equip, 3) empower, 4) inspire, and 5) lead, by introducing a modernized perspective. We created a promo video https://youtu.be/KWDnKiK7XvI and training video to teach athlete https://youtu.be/uMML_jjw8HU .

I also started a documentary series about sports and the community called “PATH the Draft:7 DeSoto Players. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApvtPhGS_DE .
Before retiring from Donnelley Financial in 2020, I launched “Can We Talk Sports,” a sports talk show hosted by moms of athletes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vShUBRx2VjA

I also help organized the first Adult Prom of Dallas in 2017 which attracted more than 1,000 paid attendees. I help others in the community with organizing events, and helped with the Pure Elegance fashion show hosted by Isy Fashion.

With four children of my own to support, along with a grandchild that I keep close to my heart, and community efforts, it is important for me to give back to our youth. I strive to make a difference in our community that will impact generations for years to come.

With the heart of the community and family, Terry Baccus reached out to me and wanted me to help tell the story of Greenwood, this gave birth to Greenwood Ave Project “From the People, For the People” documentary https://youtu.be/u82AJLavy3k . Yes also gave me the love to bring stories to life, this birthed me doing a documentary about me uncle “I’ve Got One More In Me” https://vimeo.com/703922547

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I’ve been doing taxes for 20 years and for the most part it was a side hustle because I worked in corporate American until 2021 when I was laid off after 30 years which was great because I want to do what I loved to do, which is bring stories to life. My daughter told me I didn’t need to bring my tax clients to my house, so after I was laid off I went rented a space for my tax business.
Now today, I have my tax office in DeSoto, Texas and I am in partnership with a tax office in Columbus, Georgia and also now I sell tax software to other tax offices with a goal of having 100 tac offices under my software.

This will afford me to be able to do more films and my talk show.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

The capital to start all my businesses was from my tax business and my husband. I have had to fund all my businesses at this time or sow a seed in my business
One day those seed will be ready for fruit to be picked off of it

Contact Info:

• Website: www.canwetalsports.com www.koarfasttax.com www.greenwoodaveproject.com www.kfttaxpro.com www.adultpromdallas.com
• Instagram: @karencriswellreese @canwetalksports @koarfasttax @greenwoodaveproject @adultpromdallas
• Facebook: @karencriswellreese @canwetalksports @koarfasttax @adultpromdallas @greenwoodaveproject
• Linkedin: @karenreese
• Twitter: @lamdesoto @canwetalksports
• Youtube: @canwetalksports @greenwoodaveproject
• Yelp: @koarfasttax @aaafasttaxaccounting
• Other: tiktok @canwetalksports @koarfasttax @greenwoonaveproject