For Sara Kinnamon Fritsch ’00, adaptability has always been a guiding principle. A mechanical engineering major and studio art minor at UVM, she has spent the past 25 years weaving together design, engineering, and entrepreneurship into a dynamic career.

After graduation, Sara and her husband, Oliver Fritsch ’00–her former study partner in thermodynamics–worked as consultants in Boston before settling in Portland, Ore. There, they built a life centered on family, creativity, and the outdoors.

Sara’s professional breakthrough came at Schoolhouse, a luxury home and lighting brand, where she rose to president. Her leadership earned her recognition as Portland Business Journal’s 2020 Executive of the Year. When Food52 acquired the company in 2021, she stayed to guide the transition before launching her own venture, Studio Tigress. Through the firm, she helps design-driven companies grow and evolve while also developing her own line of products focused on our relationship with time. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Wired, and more.

Sara’s entrepreneurial path has roots at UVM. She and Oliver were part of the founding team of the Society of Automotive Engineers program in 1999, building an amphibious off-road race car that competed in a national collegiate competition. “It was a lot of work, was very rewarding, and we both feel like it was the top thing we did at UVM to set us up well for our careers beyond college,” she recalls.

Athletics also shaped her Vermont experience. A member of the track team, she was among the first women to pole vault when the NCAA allowed the event in 1998. “Those of us who got to pole vault in 1998 felt like pioneers,” she says. “It has been amazing to see how far women’s pole vaulting has come since, and it is an honor to have been at the right place at the right time to go first.”

Her UVM connections remain strong. Sara helped establish the Katherine Anne Kelly Award, named for her late best friend and college roommate, which honors students who face medical challenges with courage and joy. She also mentors female entrepreneurs, serves on several corporate boards, and joined the UVM Alumni Association Board of Directors this fall.

Looking back, she credits UVM with giving her the foundation to balance creativity with technical rigor. “We all do our best work when we are able to be our truest self,” she says. “Learning how to connect with, prioritize, and be my best true self is the best gift I can give to those I love and those that depend on me.”

In her 25th reunion year, Sara continues to embrace new chapters–bending, building, and creating with the same resilience and vision that began in Burlington.