Kareema Bahamou graduated from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana with a Bachelor of Communications (concentrations: journalism and advertising). She is bi-lingual in Spanish and English and spent two years living abroad in South American, where she taught English and volunteered in a boys orphanage. She loves hiking, rock climbing and periodically jotting down her travel experiences on her blog.

After graduation she moved to New York, where she spent two years in news production working as a freelancer for places such as Inside Edition, Good Morning America and the Today Show. During her off time she would do promotional work for Charla Krupp, nationaly renowed beauty editor and fashionista for the Today Show. This is where she discovered her interest in advertising and PR. Charla Krupp's book "How Not to Look Old" hit the New York Times best seller list and Kareema ran the social media department, working with Charla's publicist to make sure book sales stayed on top. After that she moved back to Chicago and did Ad Sales for Chicago's top morning radio show, Eric and Kath on the MIX.