SARA COHEN
I was born and raised in New Orleans – a town known for its culture and its soul. I'd like to think that I represent the city well and work every day of my life to make sure its culture and soul continue through even the hardest of times. After graduating from Emerson College in 2003 with a bachelor's of science in speech (organizational and political communication), I returned to New Orleans, where, until August of 2005, I worked as a publicist for New Orleans musicians like Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the Radiators, Ellipsis, and Hazard County Girls, and as a freelance writer for publications like Jambase Online, Antigravity Magazine, Gambit Weekly, Where Y'At, and Downbeat Magazine. Immediately following Katrina, I managed crisis communications for Preservation Hall in New York City, collaborating with Tipitina's Foundation and Black Entertainment Television (BET) on the Radio City Music Hall Katrina fundraiser and BET Katrina telethon.
After Katrina, my focus shifted. I moved to Los Angeles and decided to go back to school to pursue my master's degree in public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where I dove into emergency management, inter-agency coordination, crisis communications, and public health. And I turned to social media – which had been my only channel of communication for almost six months after the storm; cell phones were intermittent at best no matter where I was. I knew there were implications to this type of technology; if leveraged for communication during and after a disaster (and properly planned and organized) it could greatly change the speed and success of recovery.
I graduated with a master's degree in public policy and emergency public health – and completed a thesis with UCLA Office of Emergency Management on "Using Social Media for Emergency Communications." My adviser and I worked together to develop a model for schools to leverage social media to communicate with students before, during, and after crises. I presented these findings at several conferences, including the University of California Summer at the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Conference in November of 2007, the George Washington University Emergency Communications Symposium in June of 2008 and the Virginia Governor's Campus Emergency Preparedness Conference in August of 2009. I've since chaired the Advanced Learning Institute's (ALI) Social Media for Crisis Communications in Government in October of 2009 and presented on using social media for emergency alert, notification, and awareness at the Virginia Governor's Campus Emergency Preparedness Conference in August of 2010. I recently authored "Look Before You Leap: Security Implications in a Web 2.0 World" for the April issue of the Information Assurance Newsletter (IATAC), and spoke at TedXNola in August of 2010, on leveraging technology to build resilient communities.
My interests in emergency communications are supported by my interest in operations and planning – I've developed mission assurance programs focused in emergency response, continuity of operations (COOP), business continuity, and critical infrastructure protection. I've also participated and led in COOP and related emergency preparedness and response planning for several federal agencies, as well as for the City of Beverly Hills and UCLA. I've developed community education and training programs and spoke on the importance of family preparedness for the City of Beverly Hills Innovations Day.
In my spare time I volunteer with the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic, a New Orleans non-profit dedicated to providing medical care to underinsured and uninsured musicians. I'm also a member of EMPOWER, a non-profit organization dedicated to the enrichment and support of women in emergency management. I also play guitar, piano, sing, and write bluesy music, as anyone born and raised by musicians in New Orleans should.
