Sarah Larson
Executive Vice President

An award-winning journalist and public relations professional, Sarah Larson supports Furia Rubel clients with public relations and crisis communications strategy and implementation.

After graduating from Drake University with a degree in English and political science, Sarah spent two years teaching English in Hungary. It was there, braced at the front of a swaying bus trundling through the Eastern European countryside, that she learned everything she later would need to know to succeed in professional communications – an insatiable curiosity, a love of people and a keen desire to learn and share that learning with others.

During nearly 20 years as a professional journalist, Sarah specialized in nuanced reporting on complicated subjects, helping readers understand not just what happened or how it happened but why it was important. In 2010, she left newspapers for the emerging world of online journalism, building, launching and running Pennsylvania’s most successful edition of Patch.com, a network of local news and community websites owned by AOL.

She then moved into public relations, equipped with a savvy understanding of how today’s media really works – which helps clients work better with the media.

Committed to addressing unmet needs in her community, Sarah volunteers her time and talents to many area nonprofits. She serves on the Board of Directors of NOVA (Network of Victim Assistance), which supports victims of sexual assault and other serious crimes in Bucks County and works to eliminate violence through advocacy, education, and prevention programs. A member of the Perkasie chapter of Rotary International, she also serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors of Pennridge FISH, a food pantry and clothing outlet that serves the Pennridge community. Previously, she served on the Board of Directors of the Bucks County-based women’s empowerment organization, Sisters U, and on the development committee for HealthLink Dental Clinic.

Through it all, Sarah has built rewarding relationships with those who depend on her advocacy skills by employing the same lessons she learned on that bus trip in Hungary: do your homework, prepare for emergencies, talk to and listen to everyone around you, ask for help if you need it, but above all, don’t be afraid to take calculated risks. In public relations and marketing, as in life, they are ultimately the only ways to get you where you want to go.

A resident of Bucks County, Pa., Sarah enjoys many of the things she gets paid to do: reading, writing, taking photographs, learning, talking and listening. Whether kayaking on a lake or hiking a mountain trail, she loves to be outside.

AWARDS – SARAH LARSON

In 2017, Sarah was named an Emerging Leader in Bucks County by the Central Bucks Family YMCA, The Intelligencer, and the Bucks County Courier Times. The annual program recognizes leaders from local businesses and organizations in Bucks or Montgomery Counties who demonstrate high value to their employers and a commitment to serve their communities.

Sarah has been honored for her writing prowess and communications expertise many times over, in both journalism and public relations. Her work at Furia Rubel has been honored by the Public Relations Society of America several times:

• 2017, for a press conference to announce the filing of a lawsuit by law firm Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg & Jeck, P.C. against the city of Philadelphia and its police department in response to the police-involved shooting death of an unarmed man
• 2016, for Brand and Reputation Management for a campaign on behalf of Penn Community Bank, Bucks County’s leading independent mutual bank
• 2015, for a community relations campaign on behalf of Tinicum Township regarding its legal agreement with the Philadelphia International Airport

During her career in journalism, she was recognized numerous times by the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Journalists, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, and other organizations. The Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awarded Sarah First Place for Best News Story for “To Russia With Love,” a news series that reported on a local charity group’s mission trip to bring aid to children in Russian orphanages.

Sarah was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, the largest all-media, general reporting prize in American journalism. Her investigation into drug smuggling, sex abuses and overdose deaths at the Bucks County prison led to major prison reforms. In 2006, she was named Employee of the Year for The Intelligencer in recognition of her on-the-ground reporting in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her reporting chronicled the ongoing efforts of the Bucks County Katrina Relief Project to aid the rebuilding of the Mississippi Gulf Coast after the storm.