Kaarin is a Designer at Rowell Brokaw Architects with extensive prior experience in communications and graphic design. Before receiving her master’s degree in architecture, she was the director of communications for a $600-million philanthropic foundation in San Francisco and founder of a publishing company in Portland, Oregon. She holds degrees with honors in journalism and design from the University of Oregon, where she was also the Jackson Award recipient and NCAA Woman of the Year. Her design projects have been honored by the American Graphic Design Awards Annual, Sappi/Annual Reports Show, and International Council on Foundations, among others.

Kaarin’s work for Rowell Brokaw Architects includes design for the Hult Center for Performing Arts, Silverton Senior Center, Head Start of Lane County, City of Eugene, Crescent Village mixed-use development, and a small community church in eastern Oregon. She is a guest critic and teaches design studio as an adjunct faculty member for the UO School of Architecture & Allied Arts. Her research has been published by the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) and Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). In 2009, she is completing a volunteer residency for "Architects in Schools" with the Arts & Technology Academy. She has also volunteered for the Willamette Resource and Education Network (WREN), West Eugene Collaborative (WEC), and UO's DesignBridge community design-build program.