Kari started dancing at the age of 7 in a small town in central Iowa. She studied dance in the disciplines of Tap, Ballet, Jazz, and Pointe while also participating in middle school and high school cheer. Upon graduating from High School she got an opportunity to begin teaching for a former dance teammate while attending college. She taught for 4 years at Main Street Dance Studios in Panora, Iowa before moving to Muscatine, Iowa and opening her own dance studio. The Kari Thorn School of Dance was open for 6 years and offered classes in Tap, Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Lyrical, and Tumbling and competed both locally and nationally for 5 of those years. After 6 years in Muscatine, she moved to Sioux City, Iowa with her husband and continued teaching for Siouxland Dance and Gymnastics for the next 3 years. At that time she left teaching to start her family.  In 2007 she move to Kansas City with her family, and in 2013 she began coaching and running a youth cheer program in the Kansas City area for the last 10 years. 

Kari is married and has 2 kids - Trevor (18) and Tia (14) and lives in the Liberty area with her family.