Honda Manufacturing of Indiana associate Karen Tarver’s career began at Honda as a co-op engineer in 2004 before she was even out of college, and she has called Honda home ever since. She is the newest subject of the Who Makes a Honda is What Makes a Honda video series.

“I had a lot of good mentors during my co-op years, and I could tell that my opinions and ideas were valued,” said Tarver. “That’s when I knew I was going to work at Honda.”  

Tarver has served in a number of roles in both Ohio and Indiana. This included leading the purchasing team in the launch of the 2019 Honda Insight where the team, “really accomplished something great in bringing this beautiful car to the market,” said Tarver.

Speaking at Honda Manufacturing of Indiana’s (HMIN)’s STEM Day, as part of the National Urban League Youth Leadership Summit in July, Tarver shared with students the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Passionate about mentoring, Tarver sees it as a critical step in developing young talent within Honda.

“I feel that a lot of my success is because I had managers around me who planted seeds. It’s why I want to do the same thing for others,” she said.

Tarver is also a founding member of the African American Resource Collaborative of Honda, a business resource group at HMIN. She finds fulfillment in seeing its members benefit from the career development, relationships and mentoring that take place within the group.