Emily Sawyer

Emily is a proud wife, mom of one, and SPA alumna (class of 1992) who has long dreamt of joining the Sister Stella Foundation board. She knew Sister Stella personally, and she made a lasting impression on her and her family with her kindness and generosity.

Emily came from a low-income family. Her mom, a single mother of two, met Sister Stella at the parish’s Separated, Divorced & Widowed group that she ran at Saint Paul. Sister Stella changed Emily’s life by inviting her to attend Saint Paul the Apostle School and giving her family the necessary financial aid.

Additionally, Emily’s Uncle Joe had AIDS during the height of the AIDS pandemic. When others were closing their doors, Sister Stella opened the church for masses for “persons with AIDS and their family and caregivers,” which Emily’s family attended for many years until her uncle passed away. His funeral was also held at Saint Paul’s, thanks to Sister Stella. When Sister Stella passed, my mom was in the front row at her funeral. Emily is proud to send her daughter to SPA today to pay it forward for all of the good that Sister Stella did in her life and the lives of her entire family.

By day, Emily is the head of Creative Strategy at Allison, a global communications agency where she acts as a full-out-all-of-the-stops, no-holds-barred creative magician for Fortune 500 brands.

In her spare time, Emily enjoys talking about exercising (instead of doing it), pretending to hike, meandering through museums, and communicating with her soul dog Gus.