Karen Vandergrift on Women Entrepreneurs - The Secrets of Success

Proprietor of Estancia Tierra Santa; www.estanciatierrasanta.com The daughter of a Navy pilot (father) and public relations entrepreneur (mother), Karen Vandergrift spent her formative years moving every two years as orders took her father to far-flung locales the world over. She received her undergraduate degree in Journalism and Public Relations from San Diego State University in 1988. While in college, Karen began her hospitality career working for the Intercontinental Hotel in San Diego and establishing the concierge desk for Le Meridien Hotel in Coronado, California. Karen and her husband are the owners of an estancia in Carmelo, Uruguay. They purchased the derelict property, complete with outbuildings and 80 overgrown acres in 2002. Perched on a bluff overlooking a small river, the main house was originally built in 1830 in the Tuscan farmhouse style that corresponded beautifully with Karen's affinity for Italian architecture. Renovations were completed in 2007 and Karen opened Estancia Tierra Santa, a luxury guest ranch welcoming sophisticated travelers seeking an alternative to the standard high-end hotel experience. A working ranch as well as a hotel, the estancia produces its own organically-fed lamb and beef, along with its own honey, eggs, fruit and vegetables. Wool is sold to a local cooperative and the outlying acreage is farmed in alfalfa and oats for the horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and chickens. Karen resides at the ranch in Uruguay during the seven months the hotel is open for guests. The remainder of her time is spent with her husband in San Francisco where she tests recipes, gardens, builds on her considerable wine knowledge and enjoys time with friends and family.