Sarah McKay is the Executive Director of Misty Meadows Equine Learning Center in West Tisbury. Having grown up in Northern Ireland as the seventh child in a family with a long history of horse training and schooling, she started riding at age two. Sarah rode competitively at an early age across all English disciplines before attending the University of Ulster at Magee College, where she graduated first in her class with a BA in Business Enterprise Development. As a Fulbright Scholar, Sarah graduated from UMass Amherst with a Masters in Regional Planning. Her interest in community development led her to Martha’s Vineyard, where she served as store manager for the Cronig’s Markets for over 15 years. She has nine years of non-profit management experience serving on the Board and as President, and later, as Executive Director of Island Grown Initiative. Sarah is also a PATH Intl Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor.

Throughout this episode, we discuss:

• Sarah’s role at Misty Meadows Equine Learning Center
• Her dream of one day following her passion of working with horses
• How she helped to start the organization after realizing a need for it
• The components that go into building a successful nonprofit organization
• What influenced her to move from Ireland to Massachusetts
• Her transition from working for Cronig’s Markets to the nonprofit sector
• How she has built a team who supports the organization
• The importance of a board of directors and sourcing the right people
• Working on business development projects when it’s a slow season
• How to know when to partner with other organizations

And more. Listen to this episode to learn more about Sarah and her incredible history with horses and nonprofit management.

Access the full transcript here.

Watch the episode on YouTube here.

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