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About Sarah Waller:
Sarah Waller discovered her love of stories around the campfire.
Each summer, her family would strike off on camping adventures through sage lands, rain forests, and rocky beaches of the Pacific Northwest. These wilderness pilgrimages introduced Sarah to a colorful slice of humanity: cattle ranchers, fly fisherman, rock hunters, wilderness guides, bison experts, and a seemingly endless string of interesting people who could all tell a good story. She listened to their tales, woven together with the aroma of sage and the hungry crackling of a campfire. She still believes that a good test of a radio story is how interesting it would be told in the flickering light of a campfire.
Sarah's love of story collecting continued in high school. She decided to compile a book of interviews with veterans, starting with a member of the Last Man's Club – Seattle's sole surviving veteran of World War I. There was just one problem. She had no idea how to do a real interview. Fortunately, KUOW was a regular part of her mornings, and she decided that if there was anyone who could teach her to do an interview, that person was Marcie Sillman.
So, Sarah trotted into KUOW for the first time. She met Marcie and other radio idols, who would later become her co–workers. She wrote about the experience, "It was chaos and creativity ... I could almost see working at a radio station."
A dozen years later, she did just that. Sarah got her feet wet as an intern, and now produces stories for KUOW Presents. Finding stories for radio reminds her of soaking up conversations around the campfire. Sometimes, when she picks up the phone for a pre–interview, she can almost smell the sage and smoldering fire logs.
Outside of KUOW, Sarah leads habitat restoration events in the Cedar River Watershed. She is also a professional artist and an illustrator. Her artistic pursuits have inspired her to climb mountains, learn violin repair, dissect squid, speak Finnish, and collaborate with orchestras. Most recently, her work was featured in National Geographic and a Sundance Channel documentary.
Sarah is thrilled to live in a region that is home to both giant pacific octopus and hummingbirds. She hopes that you will talk to someone today and find out what his/her unique story is. And she hopes that someday, you will take the time to share your own life story around a campfire with a young person.
