Meet the founder.

About Sara

For more than 20 years, my work has centered on helping people recognize what is possible and creating the conditions that help them move toward it.

Luster means a gentle sheen or glow, an inner brightness that comes from well-being, joy, and the honest pursuit of what matters most. When I began thinking about what to call this work, that idea felt immediately familiar. It gave spirit to LUSTER Works because, in many ways, it describes what I had been doing throughout my professional life all along: helping people recognize their strengths, find clarity in complexity, build skills and confidence, and bring more of their potential to light.

I began my career in public education, spending 10 years as a special education teacher and five years in special education leadership. I earned Wisconsin licensure as both a Principal and Director of Special Education/Pupil Services and worked alongside students, families, educators, and teams navigating learning needs, disability services, complex systems, and important decisions.

My work later expanded beyond K-12 education. Teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside gave me the opportunity to work with college-age and adult learners developing the executive function skills needed to manage coursework, responsibilities, planning, organization, and the transition into professional life. Serving on Wisconsin's Birth to 3 Interagency Coordinating Council also gave me a broader view of how families, providers, agencies, and systems work together, and what happens when those connections are difficult to navigate.

Since 2017, nonprofit leadership at GiGi's Playhouse Milwaukee has added another dimension to that experience. My work has spanned operations, programs, volunteers, family support, community partnerships, fundraising, grants, organizational systems, and sustainability. It has reinforced something I learned much earlier in my career: good work depends not only on good people, but on creating the conditions that help people succeed.

I see that in my work with Nicolet FEAR Robotics, too. As a mentor to a student-driven high school robotics team, I support young people as they develop leadership, communication, organization, project management, outreach, fundraising, logistics, and professional skills. The goal isn't to do the work for them. It's to create the structure, opportunities, and support that allow them to become increasingly capable of doing it themselves.

Some of my most important perspective also comes from outside my professional roles. As a parent, I have personally navigated special education, disability services, healthcare, and community resources. I've experienced complex systems from many sides of the table, as an educator, administrator, service provider, organizational leader, mentor, advocate, and parent. That perspective shapes how I approach the work: listen first, understand the whole picture, make complexity manageable, and help people build the confidence and skills to move forward.

That is the thread connecting everything I do through LUSTER Works.

Whether I'm working with a family preparing for a school meeting, a young person building greater independence, or an organization strengthening its people and systems, the work begins in much the same place: understanding what matters, recognizing the strengths and possibilities already there, and finding a practical path forward.

Find clarity. Build skills. Move forward with confidence.