While in college, Sarah waited tables, sold ads, wrote copy for the local public television station and covered news and features for the student newspaper, the Florida Flambeau. In 1981, she received a master’s degree in English from FSU with a concentration in creative writing.

One of the poems from her creative thesis, nominated by her major professor, Van Brock, was a finalist in the Academy of American Poets competition. Soon after finishing her graduate studies, Sarah had her first poetry publication in the Florida Review. In the years since, she continued to publish poems in a variety of small magazines and literary journals.  She spent ten days as a residency-only student at the MFA program for writers at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C. in 1987 and later participated in two Key West Writer’s Workshops with the distinguished poet Carolyn Forché.

After completing her graduate studies, Sarah began working for weekly newspapers in the Florida Panhandle, becoming one of the state’s youngest-ever newspaper editors when she was named editor of the Gadsden County Times in 1983 at the age of 25. Many of her stories were honored with awards from organizations including the Florida Press Association, the Florida Press Club and the Florida Medical Association. In 1990, she began working for the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, becoming the college’s first director of communications. In May of 2025, Sarah retired after 35 years of service. Her colleagues in advancement presented her with a “Communications Director Emeritus” certificate, of which she is very proud, (regardless of how official it is.)  In her job at UF, Sarah routinely wrote and publicized stories on topics ranging from veterinary medical advances benefiting pets, exotic animals, horses and livestock to biomedical discoveries affecting animal, human and ecosystem health. Sarah’s communications work has received several awards from the Florida Public Relations Association, which named her its Jack M. Detweiler Professional of the Year in 2012. Her efforts on behalf of the UF College of Veterinary Medicine were nationally recognized in 2017 when she and her communications team received the American Association of Veterinary Advancement Professionals’ Excellence in Communications Award.

She lives in Gainesville with her husband and their black Labrador retriever, Finn.