She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication (1988) at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila. She served as UST Pax Romana Central Coordinating Council as Secretary from 1985-86; VP for Catechetical Section in 1986-87 and Executive Vice President and VP for Cultural Section in 1987-88.

Prior to education, she started as Production Assistant for a Television production, JTR which aired shows on IBC 13. After graduation, she worked for Mark Strat, Inc., a marketing company in Makati which handled marketing and advertising campaigns for Johnson and Johnson and Nestle Philippines. She also worked at a public relations company, AMPR Consultancy which handled campaigns for Yokohama Tires, and the relaunch of Teleperformance.

She finished her Teacher Certificate Program at the Our Lady of Perpetual Succor College 2002) in Marikina. She passed the licensure examinations for teachers and became an educator since. She took her Master of Arts in Education major in Teaching in the Early Grades at FEU Roosevelt.

Prof Pineda brought her UST Pax Romana organization traits when she held seminars in Personality Development to the girls at the Girl’s Home as well as facilitated outreach programs in different areas in Rizal – Inigan Elementary School, Balanti Day Care Center, Base Camp Elementary School and co-facilitated the Chosen Children’s Village in Cavite, as well as relief operations for the victims of Ondoy.

She also wrote supplementary materials – Foundation of Language, Foundation of Phonics, Filipino Unang Hakbang sa Wika at Pagbasa and Sibika – for Reachability and EvanVill Publications. At present, Prof Karen Pineda is on her 16th year of teaching and is currently a Faculty of the Graduate School of Education of FEU Roosevelt where she teaches courses in MAED Teaching in the Early Grades.