Sara grew up on the Chesapeake Bay in rural Maryland and obtained a B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She obtained her B.Sc. at the University of British Columbia at Vancouver (UBC) and is now a Ph.D. student, Vanier Scholar, and Ocean Leaders Graduate Fellow there. Sara splits her time between UBC, and the Republic of Marshall Islands, attempting to understand the ways that people affect the health of coral reefs, and how the health of coral reefs affect people.