Sara Minkara
Disability Rights Advocate, Former United States Special Advisor on International Disability Rights
Sara Minkara
Disability Rights Advocate, Former United States Special Advisor on International Disability Rights
Biography
Sara Minkara is a former Ambassador-level senior U.S. diplomat, global thought leader, and dynamic speaker, whose immersive and groundbreaking methods help organizations unlock their potential, drive innovation, and create meaningful change across teams and sectors. Sara’s pioneering leadership and proprietary In the Dark methodology has guided corporate leaders, senior government officials, and civil society groups to transform their organizations. At the heart of her work is a single, radical belief:
Every person wants to be seen, heard, and valued. And when they are, organizations are more innovative, effective, and profitable.
Appointed U.S. Special Advisor on International Disability Rights, Sara was known around the world for her ability to build partnerships across governments, the private sector, and civil society. By bridging divides and creating sustainable solutions that benefited all stakeholders, Sara was able to elevate disability rights in spaces where it had never been on the agenda before – including the areas of trade, security, and digital transformation. She led the U.S. delegation at the inaugural G7 Ministerial Meeting on Inclusion and Disability in Perugia, Italy, and co-hosted the ASEAN-U.S. High-Level Disability Dialogue during Indonesia’s presidency. She engaged with 21 economies through APEC, resulting in the signing of the Arequipa Goals, and hosted a special C5+1 session with Central Asian government leaders and civil society at the United Nations. From the Munich Security Conference to the Delphi Economic Forum to the East Africa AmCham Summit Sara helped to shift tired narratives, often changing world leaders’ minds in real time.
Before her government service, Sara founded and led Empowerment Through Integration, a global non-profit organization that has transformed opportunities for youth with disabilities worldwide, breaking down systemic barriers for more than 1,000 young people with disabilities across the Middle East and North Africa for over a decade.
Sara’s leadership expertise across multiple sectors, coupled with her lived experience as a blind, Lebanese-American, Muslim woman, all conspired together to shape her premiere In the Dark Methodology, an immersive, experiential organizational tool that uses visual and verbal constraints in order to unlock authentic leadership, deepen trust, and spark innovation.
In the Dark has transformed leadership teams, shifted culture, and unlocked new solutions across multiple Fortune 500 companies and international organizations. Organizations and leaders who have experienced In the Dark have reported significant improvements in communication, team cohesion, and problem-solving abilities. Sara has facilitated these sessions across diverse settings, from corporate boardrooms to student orientations and in locations from London to Lebanon. It is unlike any of the other facilitated corporate experiences out there today.
A graduate of Wellesley and Harvard’s Kennedy School, Sara’s work has been recognized by Forbes 30 under 30, the Clinton Global Initiative, and Vital Voices, and she was a recipient of the MIT IDEAS Award. Across her speaking, consulting, and immersive engagements, she has helped leaders across the public, private, and non-profit sectors seize their authenticity, have courageous conversations, and own their collective responsibility.
If you’re ready to dismantle the barriers holding your team back-and ignite your true potential as an organization-schedule a conversation with Sara’s team today.
Speaker Videos
U.S. Special Advisor SARA MINKARA - 2023 Global Leadership Awards Honoree
Disrupting The Disability Narrative. Terri-Karelle Speaks With U.S. Special Advisor Sara Minkara
Why I don’t need you to "fix" my disability | Sara Minkara | TEDxMidAtlantic
Disability Access in the MENA Region
Accessibility is a fundamental right
Asia Society Northern California at APEC 2023 – Day 2
Harkin Summit 2024 Day One Welcome and Morning Keynote
Disability Inclusion in Foreign Policy with Special Advisor Sara Minkara
Seeing People As They Are, Not How They Look - With Inclusion & Disability Expert Sara Minkara
US Special Advisor on International Disability Rights Sara Minkara
Ep. 10: Thinking out Loud with Sara Minkara
Disrupting the Narrative: Office of the Special Advisor on International Disability Rights
Sara Minkara on Unlocking the Potential and Value of Disability Inclusion
Speech Topics
Authentic Leadership as a Growth Strategy: How Curiosity and Connection Drive Performance & Innovation
Your audience will leave with:
- Proven strategies for exercising leadership through curiosity, vulnerability, and authentic connections
- A concrete sense of the connection between authentic leadership, establishing a culture of openness and trust, and the subsequent free flowing of ideas and innovation.
- Practical strategies and playbooks for carrying authentic leadership forward in their daily lives.
How We Helped Change the State Department: Creating Transformational Change & Nimble Solutions in Complex Systems
Your audience will leave with:
- A clear lens to distinguish between quick fixes and the hard work of adaptive solutions – and the courage to ask the hard questions about whether a proposed solution is actually addressing the problem or just treating symptoms.
- Concrete strategies for leading adaptive work – how you can work across large, bureaucratic organizations to make space for difficult conversations, create expectations for shared responsibility, and build capacity for taking the real hard work forward.
- Lessons from the inside – based on real work at the U.S. State Department, this session offers tested insights on shifting institutional culture, navigating resistance…
Reimagining the Future of Work & Technology: Leveraging the Disability Lens for Innovation
Your audience will leave with:
- A compelling vision of how the disability perspective fuels innovation and drives the future of AI, technology, and the workforce at every stage—from design and implementation to evaluation and beyond.
- A clear understanding of the concrete economic and societal gains realized when all stakeholders are embedded into every facet of technology and workforce development.
- Actionable insights on how prioritizing the disability lens in reskilling and upskilling initiatives leads to stronger, more resilient, and future-ready organizations and societies.
- A strategic perspective on building inclusive technologies and policies that inherently enhance outcomes for all, ensuring no perspective is overlooked.
Lessons from a Diplomat: How to Drive Action Around Your Cause When It’s Not on the Agenda
Your audience will leave with:
- Practical tools and strategies to build unlikely coalitions, bridge divides and establish common ground to advocate for issues and solutions that aren’t on the radar of your key stakeholders.
- Powerful stories from Sara’s lived experience and diplomatic career, including how she got global leaders to prioritize disability inclusion at forums where it had never been discussed before.
- An understanding of the value of disability policy and its implications for everyone — not just the world’s largest minority.
- Actionable insights on allyship, advocacy, and why the inclusion of people with disabilities strengthens outcomes for everyone.
Why Disability Perspectives Belong in Every Global Conversation
Your audience will leave with:
- Actionable frameworks for integrating disability perspectives into policymaking, program design, and international negotiations, ensuring more resilient, innovative, and human-centered solutions across sectors.
- Real-world insights from Sara’s groundbreaking work in disability mainstreaming, including how she elevated disability rights in high-level global dialogues on trade, climate, security, and technology – even when it wasn’t on the agenda.
- A reimagined understanding of disability policy — not as a niche issue, but as a value-driver that strengthens governance, expands market access, and unlocks new dimensions of innovation.
- Tangible ways to be an effective ally and why including disabled voices in all conversations strengthens outcomes for everyone.
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