Energetic wife and mother of two, award-winning marketing professional, best-selling author, former radio talk show host, courageous cancer survivor - these characterizations barely begin to describe the whirlwind life and career of Sara Ellington Behnke '91 (pictured on right). And now, Sara has added a weekly blog to her busy schedule. Her topics range from the joys and challenges of parenting, marriage, and family life to current news items. Her blog appears on the Charlotte Observer web page.
A native of Amherst, Virginia, Sara continued the family tradition of attending Lynchburg College, following her parents Dick '59 and Elizabeth Mays Ellington '61 and sister Laura Ellington Vassar '85. As a marketing major, Sara balanced a full schedule that ranged from working with Dr. Stewart Husted on LC's winning entry in a marketing competition sponsored by Apple Computer to occasionally babysitting his two sons -- all of which turned out to be excellent preparation for her life and career after college.
Following graduation, Sara went to work for Seko Air Freight in Charlotte, N.C., where she might best be remembered as the employee who raced around a roomful of 400 persons like the Road Runner, yelling, "Beep! Beep!" after agreeing to be hypnotized during a sales meeting. Working at Seko was not all fun and games, however, and Sara was named top U.S. salesperson and a four-time President's Club member.
After earning a second undergraduate degree in English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Sara worked as a freelance copywriter for advertising agencies. While working for a Virginia Beach ad agency, she became close friends with co-worker Stephanie Triplett. New jobs took them and their spouses to separate cities, Charlotte and Atlanta, but they kept in touch via e-mail. Their exchanges about their sometimes hilarious, often frightening experiences during simultaneous pregnancies and as first-time moms resulted in the publication of The Mommy Chronicles: Conversations Sharing the Comedy and Drama of Pregnancy and New Motherhood (Hay House, 2005), a best-seller which won the US Book News Award in the Best in Parenting category.
The book resonated with other young mothers, and Sara and Stephanie started a parenting podcast that launched The Mommy Chronicles show on Hay House's Internet radio network, which was later picked up by Sirius Satellite Radio, and an appearance on the Today show.
Sara's career and personal life were abruptly interrupted in December 2006 when she received devastating news: a diagnosis of Hodgkin's Disease, a highly curable form of lymphoma. The next year was filled with doctor's appointments, two minor surgeries, scans, chemotherapy, and radiation. Sara says she found the courage to fight the disease for her children, Anna, 7, and Cade, 4, and the support of her husband David, family, and friends. Happily, recent scans have not shown the presence of cancer cells.
Reflecting on her bout with cancer, Sara says, "The one thing I am trying to make myself learn, and this is a good, but difficult lesson for women, is that it is NOT selfish to take care of myself. It's the airplane oxygen mask metaphor . . . if you don't take care of yourself first, you won't be around to take care of anyone else. I'm trying to do better at that. We women are so hardwired to put everyone else first. It's a challenge to change that thinking."
Determined not to let the side effects of her treatment interfere with her writing, Sara continued to work with Stephanie on their second book, The Must-Have Mom Manual(Ballantine/Random House).
Also in the works is a film about Sara's and Stephanie's lives as moms, authors, and radio show hosts, as well as the development of a new radio show. The film, which is being produced by independent filmmaker Back 40 Films, is scheduled for release in 2009, coinciding with the April 7 release of The Must-Have Mom Manual.Sara has some ideas for casting. If she had her way, she'd be portrayed by Reese Witherspoon, and Kate Hudson would portray Stephanie.