Sara O’Hara is our campaign and community impact livewire. She is an original to the northwest Michigan area and has recently returned to reconnect with family, friends and the community that survived her teenage years. With the good fortune of marrying Prince-So-Very-Charming, aka Robert, and living the dream, Sara believes in the power of community, the gift of volunteering, and the therapeutic value of a good chocolate bar. In the somewhat near future, she plans to save the world between naps and perfect gourmet mushroom risotto.

Melissa has been a part of the United Way team since 2010, first as an 80’s loving subcontractor bookkeeper and then in late 2017 as an 80’s loving employee. She is all about the numbers so her duties are administrative based. She is a SuperWife to Perry and a SuperMom to Emma and Abigail. She is the only member of the team to work remotely or as she likes to call it, from the southern division. Melissa’s home base is in sunny (and hot) Florida. When she is not dodging hurricanes and tropical storms she can be found dreaming of salt free and gator free waters but not snowy ski slopes.

Norika joined the UWNWMI team in summer 2022 as the Early Childhood System Coordinator. In her prior role as a legal aid attorney, she worked to help clients overcome legal barriers to life’s challenges. Having grown up in Benzie County, Norika has strong ties to the region and is happy to be working to make it a great place to live and raise a family. She lives in Traverse City with her husband and two young children.