Bjorn Karlman is a 30-year-old writer, public speaker and fundraising specialist with 10 years of experience in International Public Relations and Communication.  A Swedish citizen, Bjorn was born in Stockholm but quickly escaped the northern European cold when his family moved to Asia for his first 12 years of life. A unique blend of Scandinavian/Asian upbringing infused his first experiences as the child of a university lecturer father and pediatrician mother who shunned conventional career paths to work for higher education nonprofits in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

In a complete change of backdrop, Bjorn went to an international boarding school (with one of the most international student bodies in the UK) just north of London, England during his teens. At the age of 16, Bjorn took a year-long break from his British schooling to live life on his own terms, working as a volunteer English teacher and youth activity coordinator in two Filipino villages and one very small town in the Lappland region of Sweden, 80 miles south of the Arctic Circle. In his 20s, he has studied in France, the United States, Peru and Argentina.  Bjorn is a huge language enthusiast and currently speaks English, Swedish, French and Spanish.

He has worked in England, France, Sweden, the Philippines, Thailand and the United States.  Bjorn’s expertise is in devising Public Relations and fundraising campaigns for nonprofit educational institutions, hospitals and other international organizations that seek to communicate effectively across barriers of culture, religion and language.

Bjorn has a BA (honors) in International Public Relations and French Studies from Andrews University in Michigan.  In 2010 U.S. News & World Report ranked Andrews University as tied for the fifth most racially diverse National University in the United States and tied for sixth in its percentage of international students.

While a student at Andrews University, Bjorn was recognized and described as a “world citizen” and was, in 2005, awarded the 2005 Michigan Campus Compact Heart and Soul Award for his work mentoring economically disadvantaged children in Benton Harbor, the city with the lowest per capita household income in Michigan and one of the highest crime rates for a city its size in America.

Bjorn currently lives in Northern California and is spearheading the fundraising campaign to pay for the expansion of the Emergency Room at the community hospital he works for. He also works extensively doing community relations for the hospital and holds various officer positions in his town, including that of President of the Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors (an active organization that orchestrates local business networking and awareness events).

Since its launch in September, 2009, CultureMutt, Bjorn’s blog (click here for more info) has attracted several thousand readers in more than 100 countries.