While in graduate school, Karyn Buxman combined her research with the one thing that enabled her to get through an entire day without losing her sanity: humor. The result became her master’s thesis: “The Development and Implementation of a Humor Room in a Hospital Setting.” Now an internationally recognized expert on humor, she puts her studies to work by delivering energy-charged keynotes that entertain, motivate and educate audiences nationwide. Buxman realizes that helping businesses, healthcare institutions and associations discover effective solutions to achieving performance recuperation, maintaining healthy work environments and adding balance to work life issues is no joke—but it can be a laughing matter!

Recently bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH), she’s an internationally acclaimed expert and humorist who recognizes the operational benefits of humor and laughter. Buxman’s highly regarded skills as an entrepreneur and professional speaker help her deliver outcome-oriented messages that move ideas and people forward. Just ask the folks at NASA, Johnson & Johnson, and M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, to name a few.

Buxman’s ability to both articulate and entertain have led to her appearances on national television programs such as Iyanla, numerous regional television appearances in conjunction with her speaking tours, and as a frequent radio guest on local, regional and nationally syndicated programs. It’s also why she’s quoted again and again not only in professional journals, such as the American Journal of Nursing and Nursing Spectrum, but in lay magazines such as Marie Claire, Shape, and Woman’s World. American Airline magazine, AmericanWay, included her humor tips for their business article, “Job One: Relax,” and recently Frontier Airlines featured an entire article, “The Good Humor Lady,” about Buxman in their monthly magazine. She’s also recognized online for her expertise on sites such as ABCnews.com and Monster.com.

Buxman’s ability to write is evident in her contributions to Chicken Soup for the Nurses’ Soul, Chicken Soup for the Christian Woman’s Soul and Humor Me; America’s Funniest Humorists On the Power of Laughter. For 10 years she was a contributing editor for the Journal of Nursing Jocularity and for 5 years edited the national newsletter for AATH. Her articles appear in numerous professional and industry journals such as Professional Speaker, Tax-Pro Monthly and Healthcare Review. Buxman also wrote and published, This Won’t Hurt a Bit! And other Fractured Truths in Healthcare, a 96 page collection of stories, quotes, jokes and cartoons for those on the giving and receiving end of healthcare and is currently working with her agent on her latest book in which Buxman will reveal her “Laugh Strategies” to the world.

Buxman’s impact is felt globally through her involvement with the International Society of Humor Studies (ISHS) and in 1999 helped co-found The World Laughter Tour, an organization striving for world peace through laughter. Their creed: “Together we can lead the world to health, happiness, and peace through laughter.”

Buxman holds a distinguished position in the world of speaking. She has earned the National Speakers Association’s (NSA) Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation (held by less than 7% of professional speakers), and is one of only 166 experts (26 women) in the world awarded admission into the NSA Speaker Hall of Fame (CPAE). Speaking approximately 40 times a year to audiences ranging in size from 75 to 7500, both her attendees and her peers see her as one of the very best in the speaking profession.

Her fellow nurses sang her praises when awarding her the Missouri Nurse of the Year, 9th District, and recently her Alma Matter, University of Missouri, honored her by designating her as one of the distinguished 2003 Faculty Alumni Award winners. The Mayor of Muskogee, OK designated her as an official “Okee from Muskogee,” and in 1999, the Governor of Kentucky bestowed upon her the elite title of Kentucky Colonel! Most recently, Buxman was honored by the American Association for Applied & Therapeutic Humor with their most prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. Being the 2004 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award signifies that Buxman has demonstrated an extraordinary impact on the field of therapeutic humor throughout her career via her speaking, writing, research and professional practice, as well as contributing to AATH’s mission.

Buxman is President and founder of HUMORx, a humor-based management and communications company. Since 1991, HUMORx has provided remedies to organizations seeking simple, workable ideas to their human performance problems. Through her years of research and experience, she’s determined that humor and its powerful consequences (physiological, psychological, social and spiritual) offer benefits in the work place that can be the catalyst for change that will move groups forward and allow individuals to live more positive, productive and happier lives. Buxman is serious about humor!