Sara Minard
MATUP Class of 2015–
Capital Projects Manager at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Sara has utilized the skills learned in MATUP for many different arenas. Along with five other TUP alumni, she is a co-founder of the in•site collaborative, a multidisciplinary research and design consultancy tackling issues surrounding uneven urban development. Her and other co-founders had received the coveted Parsons Entrepreneurship Lab Fellowship which provided mentorship, legal aid and business support for the in•site collaborative. Sara suggests that her education at Parsons has prepared her for a systems thinking approach to research, and an understanding that multiple forces (political, economic, social, historical) are necessary to tackle the most complex issues surrounding an industry that seems impossible to change. She brings that with her to her current position within the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs as a Capital Projects Manager, and also strives to bring the empathy and vision for equitable processes that she had developed at her time at Parsons. Her advice to current Urban@Parsons students is to nurture and expand their own network across the programs and schools throughout The New School, and make efforts to sustain the conversation among the thinkers, practitioners and peers because, if not always comfortable, it is always insightful, dynamic and neccessary.