Karen Sheley Oral History Interview

Karen Sheley is co-owner and founder of East Portland’s Gateway Brewing, and is also project manager at Country Malt Group-Great Western Malting. In her interview, Sheley describes her childhood and education outside of Syracuse, NY, with her brother, sister, and supportive parents. She describes the early—and persistent—importance of music played in her life, notably the community and social relations that her classical saxophone practice fostered. She credits being alumni of Northwestern (where she studied musicology) for opening many professional opportunities for her, and describes her transformative experience abroad in Russia just out of college.

Sheley also recounts experiences in recently-post soviet Czech Republic as a teacher and legal analyst, and how her work fostered a fascination with how brewing was linked to historical social structures there. Describing her work in Louisville and her move into Portland’s beer industry through Widmer Brothers, Sheley emphasizes the importance of friendly and social groups in her life, both for personal gratification and professional opportunities. This theme reemerges in her conversation about the Pink Boots Society, which she articulates is a critical forum for women in brewing to explore ideas and experiences, among a variety of perspectives, related to the work and life of brewing and beer.

Professionally proficient in supply chains and structure, Sheley implies a perpetual interest in the financial, administrative, and social structures of breweries and businesses. She ponders the changing role of working women, how it potentially relates to a trend she perceives of small breweries being supported by wives or families with day jobs. She concludes with a reflection on the waning role of the middle market in the craft beer industry, noting a polarization of Oregon’s breweries toward small and locally focused, or large, diversified, and attraction-based.