Karen Brasher

Manager of Communications
Agriculture and Natural Resources Marketing
Years in Position: 28
Years at MSU: 30


For 30 years, Karen Brasher has made a career out of telling other people’s stories.

As director of Agriculture and Natural Resources Marketing, Brasher leads the team that promotes the work of Mississippi State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Forest Resources, Forest and Wildlife Research Center and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, or MAFES.

After 28 years in the role, she still considers it the best job in the world.

“I love promoting the excellent work of our MSU scientists,” Brasher said. “Their passion is unmatched, and being able to tell their stories and convey the extraordinary work they are doing is the absolute best job in the world.”

Brasher also enjoys working with students who gain experience in writing, web, social media, design, photography and video.

“Watching these students evolve and learn during their time with our team is incredibly rewarding,” she said. “I especially enjoy when they return for a visit after graduating and tell me how the skills they learned in our office have helped them in their careers.”

Her staff, many of whom have been with her for years, have also become an important part of her MSU experience.

“I love working with my staff, who have become like family,” Brasher said. “The very best professional marketers work in Agriculture and Natural Resources Marketing, and I am so grateful to have such a wonderful team.”

Over the years, her work has included promoting some of MSU’s most recognizable agriculture traditions, including MAFES cheese. One year, Brasher and her team went beyond promoting the university’s popular Edam cheese and actually helped pack it for holiday shipping.

“I’m not sure it’s a favorite memory, but it is certainly a vivid one,” she laughed.

Brasher’s path to a career in communications began with a love of creativity. As a child, she wrote and illustrated short stories and poems. She served on her high school yearbook staff all four years and initially pursued music in college before shifting to web design.

She has also always loved commercials, particularly creative ones.

“I think that combination of creativity, storytelling and communication ultimately led me to this career,” Brasher said.

She’s never been afraid to try something new. Brasher once took the test to become a football referee and spent a season as a line judge in high school football.

“I realized it wasn’t for me when the play started coming towards me, and I started running away,” she said.

After that, they made her the clock operator.

Brasher’s work at MSU has earned professional recognition, including the John E. Forde Mentorship and Service Award from the Public Relations Association of Mississippi, Starkville/MSU Chapter, and the Robert L. Williams Stellar Staff Award. Both honors were especially meaningful because of the people they represented.

“Dr. Forde is a legend, and I felt very unworthy of the recognition,” Brasher said.

She said receiving the Williams award was equally special because she loves Dr. Williams and has had the privilege of working with him for many years.

After 30 years at MSU, Brasher is grateful for the people she has worked with, the students she has watched grow and the stories she has had the opportunity to tell.

Outside of work, she enjoys gardening, reading the Bible, following MSU athletics and spending time with her husband and their two adult sons. She also does a little freelance design, mostly for family members who, she jokes, don’t pay.