A New Generation of the NKL

To all my lovely, loyal NKL fans and friends:

When I founded the National Karaoke League in 2008, I never expected it to grow to the heights that it has!  In the past three years, I’ve enjoyed watching it grow and change to become one of the most unique and welcoming communities in Austin.  In that time, hundreds of league members have come to the microphone, and I hope that the NKL has brought each and every one of you friends, fun, and many good memories (or hazy drunken nights–either way!)

And while the NKL has grown and changed, my life has changed too.  Since 2008, I finished law school, became an attorney, realized I hated being an attorney, freelanced, consulted, started a website, and, eventually, got my dream job at Google.  All of these changes have brought excitement and new challenges, but have also taken up more and more of my time.  As a result, I wasn’t able to grow and improve the NKL in the way I knew it was capable.

Luckily, I’ve been able to rely on our amazing board members to continue the tradition of the NKL and bring continuing seasons of fun to new performers.  In fact, they’ve done such a great job, that I realized the legacy of the NKL was safe in their hands, and that it was time for me to pass the torch.  Therefore, I’m extremely excited to announce that as of last season, I have permanently stepped down as CEO of the NKL.  Even better, I’ve found not one, but two, veteran NKL board members and performers to take my place.

As such, I hope you’ll help me welcome Kelly Strait and Kara Kalasky as the new co-CEO’s of the National Karaoke League.  Between these two very capable ladies are more than 10 seasons of NKL experience.  They’ve served as teammates, captains, board members, kjs, presidents, hosts, and–ironically–both have been voted biggest flirt at least once.  I know they will be able to take the NKL to even higher heights, and I know you’re all going to love some of the ideas and changes they have in mind.

2012 is going to be a great year for the NKL, and I hope you’ll register now for the spring season to be a part of it.  And who knows–with all this new free time I’ll have on my hands–I might just end up competing myself.    Congratulations to Kara and Kelly, and as always–Sing or Die!

Whitney Francis

NKL Founder