Sakura is a mom and the CEO of Rotary Charities of Traverse City. The daughter of Japanese and Taiwanese immigrants, she grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii and made Traverse City her home ten years ago. After earning a BS in Finance and Economics from Boston College and an early career in investment banking, she pivoted to the nonprofit sector after earning an MBA in Social Enterprise from Columbia Business School. These days, she applies her knowledge and experience in leveraging financial tools to support community development. Sakura believes in a holistic, open-listening approach to creating positive change and brings non-conventional minds together to build partnerships and drive solutions to our region’s most complex problems.

Here is Saku's story from the January 2022 event.