She/her
Areas of Expertise
Climate Policy Development & Implementation; Legislative and Regulatory Strategy (State & Federal); Coalition-Building and Cross-Sector Partnerships; Advocacy and Campaign Strategy; Strategic Communications & Messaging; Community-Centered Engagement; Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and AANHPI Engagement; Power-Building and Community-Led Climate Action; Carbon Markets & Climate Finance; Transportation Decarbonization
About Sara
Sara is a climate policy and strategy professional with deep experience advancing equity-centered climate solutions across local, state, and federal contexts. She brings a strong background in legislative and regulatory affairs, coalition-building, and stakeholder engagement, with a track record of navigating complex political environments to deliver meaningful climate outcomes.
Prior to joining Hua Nani Partners, Sara served as California Political Affairs Manager at Environmental Defense Fund, where she led political strategy across more than 20 climate workstreams spanning clean energy, transportation, climate resilience, carbon markets, and climate finance. In this role, she helped advance high-impact legislation, authored technical comment letters, led statewide advocacy campaigns, and built broad, cross-sector coalitions to support ambitious climate policy. She previously held roles at The Greenlining Institute and the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, where she focused on equity-driven policy development, community engagement, and partnership-building.
Sara is especially passionate about community-powered climate action and brings a people-centered approach to her work, grounded in trust-building, inclusive engagement, and clear, strategic communication. A Kanaka Maoli woman and Bay Area native, she is deeply committed to advancing climate solutions that reflect and serve the communities and places she calls home.
Sara holds a B.S. in Society & Environment with a minor in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated summa cum laude.