Office of Community and Economic Development

Staff Spotlight: Meet Sara Almaraz

Sara brings nearly 15 years of nonprofit events and communications experience, including experience in fund development, stakeholder communications, event coordination and publications design. A Fresno State graduate in Mass Communication & Journalism, Sara starts each sentence with just one space and very rarely employs the oxford comma.

You're alone in the car. What are you listening to?

I'm a big fan of personal narratives and storytelling and my favorite thing to listen to right now is The Moth Radio Hour. I'll catch the live show on public radio when I can and I sometimes binge episodes online. The storytellers are fascinating, and their styles are all over the map. They're touching and uplifting, occasionally depressive, historical and laugh-out-loud funny. My favorite episode is by Mark Katz, who is a humor consultant to politicians and tells the story about helping Al Gore write jokes for the White House Correspondents' dinner.

What's your favorite local restaurant and what is your go-to order?

Everything at Colton's Social House in Clovis is amazing so it's hard to pick just one thing as my favorite. The caramelized Brussels sprouts, bleu cheese burgers, clam chowder -- and definitely the craft beer -- are all brilliant!

Is there something that you always have with you?

Fruit snacks, applesauce pouches and Goldfish crackers. I am the mom of two young kids, so I always carry snacks for emergency meltdowns. The tricky part about this is actually keeping stock of what I'm carrying around – I once found a rotting orange hidden at the bottom of my purse.

What are you excited to see happen at OCED this year?

There have been so many changes within the organization over the past several months. I'm looking forward to seeing what OCED has in store for me, and I'm looking forward to helping the organization move forward with my own skills and experience.