{"id":14621,"date":"2016-01-03T15:08:09","date_gmt":"2016-01-03T20:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/?p=14621"},"modified":"2016-01-03T15:08:09","modified_gmt":"2016-01-03T20:08:09","slug":"southern-hospitality-in-southern-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/southern-hospitality-in-southern-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern hospitality in Southern California: Karen Mohr Sunshine M \u201994"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Oct.<\/a>
\nThe first day of the year is a particularly special day in Pasadena. For more than a century, floats constructed of rainbow rose petals and other natural materials have been paraded through the streets in celebration of New Year\u2019s Day. Last year alone, 28 million Americans tuned in to ESPN\u2019s coverage of the Rose Bowl game \u2014 the Rose Parade\u2019s grand finale.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Behind the scenes and on the sidelines, yet seemingly at the center of it all, you\u2019ll find Clemson alumna Karen Sunshine \u2014 special events manager for Disney, founder of her own event planning company and full-time mom to three kids and a pup named Pawley.
\nAlthough Sunshine grew up in Southern California, she credits her bright career in the hospitality industry to the Southern hospitality she experienced at Clemson.
\nAfter completing her undergraduate degree, Sunshine applied to volunteer for the Tournament of Roses \u2014 it was perfect opportunity for a new grad (and avid football fan) to get started in the event business.
\nBut her application was denied.
\nIn the wake of rejection, Clemson\u2019s Death Valley became a spontaneous destination. While flipping through the game program in Memorial Stadium, Sunshine saw an advertisement for the University\u2019s parks, recreation and tourism management graduate degree.
\n\u201cThe rest is history,\u201d she said.
\nDespite the stress of coordinating high-caliber events, she finds reward in giving others an unforgettable experience \u2014 and sharing those stories. During Clemson\u2019s Homecoming week, Sunshine traveled to Clemson to share her career experiences and offer advice to current students.
\n\u201cWhen you put on an event, you should always walk away with a jewel of a story,\u201d she said.
\nIn her 20-year career, Sunshine has more than a few gems \u2014 from riding on the team bus with the MLB champions to zip lining above the rainforest at a tropical Disney resort. And it\u2019s all part of the job description.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get to do things for work that I wouldn\u2019t normally get to do,\u201d she said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have had all this fun if it weren\u2019t for Clemson.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first day of the year is a particularly special day in Pasadena. For more than a century, floats constructed of rainbow rose petals and other natural materials have been paraded through the streets in celebration of New Year\u2019s Day. Last year alone, 28 million Americans tuned in to ESPN\u2019s coverage of the Rose Bowl […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":14509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21],"tags":[171,2458,3058,3299,3300],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-14621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumniprofiles","tag-alumni-profile","tag-rose-parade","tag-tournament-of-roses","tag-winter-2016","tag-winter-2016-alumni-profiles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Karen-Mohr-Sunshine.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14621"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=14621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}