Meet Sarah

A life of centering people in transportation systems

I am an Asian American woman born in rural Texas to a Polish-Pakistani family. Our challenges there made me the person I am today: someone who wants to make an impact in the face of systemic racism and discrimination.

When I first got to the Bay Area 24 years ago, I had an experience with public transit that changed the trajectory of my career. I waited for a bus that never came, so I could not get home to the East Bay from Marin County. I began to advocate for better bus service. I met others who were working on similar issues. I began to see how access to reliable transit is a question of equity.

When we can get to and from our jobs reliably, we can do more with our lives. And we can have better jobs. I earned two Master’s degrees in city planning and transportation engineering at UC-Berkeley. I've spent my career building light rail and better bicycle access in the Bay Area at BART and in Silicon Valley. I led bus rapid transit planning in Los Angeles and championed safe routes to schools in Oakland and Berkeley. At the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC-Berkeley I help communities have their voices heard in planning and evaluate transportation equity grant programs. 

Running, rock climbing, and hanging with my pup Dolly help me find relief from the daily frustrations of being a change maker within entrenched bureaucracies. I do this work so that others can get to and from their jobs, schools and lives more safely and reliably. Help me do this work at a board director level in AC Transit, where I can bring about more change.