Host Karen Bordador reflected on the decade since the day she said her life “turned upside down,” looking back on how nearly five years behind bars changed her perspective on life and her purpose.
The former radio DJ shared her lengthy reflection on Friday, August 14, a day after marking 10 years since her arrest on August 13, 2016.
“Has it REALLY been 10 years already?!?” Karen began. “August 13, 2016 was the day my whole life turned upside down.”
Before her arrest, Karen said she had been a radio DJ for five years. Although she was already doing television shows and endorsements, she said she felt her passion for her work was fading.
“I started praying to God for depth,” she said.
Karen said she wanted to gain experiences that would allow her to share more meaningful lessons with her audience, not just stories that sounded good.
“Little did I know God would answer me in the most shocking way,” she wrote.
“The way to inspire is to expire, right? 😭😂 And He put me in jail—not as a punishment I could explain…but as a profound turning point I could finally understand.”
Karen spent nearly five years in detention following her 2016 arrest. She was later acquitted of the drug charges against her and was released in June 2021.
Looking back, she said she eventually understood her time behind bars as an experience that gave her the lessons she had prayed for.
“I had a little whisper in me that this was part of my prayer,” she said. “That what I asked for—lessons to impart—was going to be lived first… not just heard.”
She said the experience gave her a deeper understanding of “the life behind bars,” “second chances,” and situations that are rarely discussed.
Karen also reflected on the people she encountered during her years in detention, saying she witnessed them “breakdown when they were finally ready,” “melt when they were ripe to shed old ways,” and “regress when they lost their grip.”
“People are complicated,” she wrote.
She now hopes to share what she learned with people who may feel trapped by their own circumstances.
“I have so many lifetime learnings,” Karen said. “And I’m happy to share them with you—especially if you’re in a season where you think you’re stuck.”
Karen, who previously reflected on her life after detention, said she now tries to slow down, meditate and recalibrate so she does not get consumed by the noise around her.
“I know who I am, and I want to be better,” she wrote. “And I want to bring as many people with me—into what better can actually look like for themselves.”
As she marked the 10-year milestone, Karen shared a message for those going through difficult circumstances.
“Because if you’re in a negative circumstance right now… I promise you: you’re not just enduring. You might be becoming.”
She ended her reflection by saying: “THAT SEASON DIDN’T DEFINE ME—IT REFINED ME.”
