Our Staff
Sarah Wilson
Executive Director
Sarah began her career in education with Teach for America in Atlanta, GA and then became a boarding school devotee while teaching at Asheville School in Asheville, NC before going on to earn her master's degree at the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University. Prior to joining TAIS, Sarah served as the Upper School Director and then the Director for Laurel's Center for Research on Girls at Laurel School in Shaker Heights, OH. Sarah currently serves on both the Nonpublic Schools Advisory Council and the Committee of Practitioners for the Tennessee Department of Education as well as the Girls on the Run Memphis Board, working in each of these roles to forward equity and access for all students in Tennessee.
As Executive Director at TAIS, Sarah works to advise and support independent school educators and leaders through trainings and retreats, professional development offerings, membership benefits, and advocacy work. She especially enjoys working with leadership teams and faculties at independent schools on change management, program development, curricular revision, support for students and families, and leadership structures. In working with students, Sarah focuses on authentic student voice and leadership, mentorship, the power of students' sense of purpose in education, and skills-based approaches to equity and inclusion and civil discourse.
Sarah lives in Memphis with her husband and their three children.
Kara Vaughn
Associate Director
Kara's journey into education began before she even knew it. She grew up as a teacher's kid, spending afternoons and summers hanging bulletin boards, counting textbooks, and living for the chance to out-spin the other faculty kids in the "teacher chairs." From her earliest years, these moments shaped her by the very best of what schools can be: places that cultivate care and challenge, provide access and safety, and embrace the weedier ways of being human together.
After earning a degree in psychology, Kara began her career in nonprofit publishing and curriculum development. Soon enough, she'd found her way back to schools as a teacher resident and graduate student. It didn't take long for her to find a home in independent education, drawn to its creative and responsive pedagogy, thoughtful learning environments, and enduring missions. She has served in a variety of teaching and leadership roles across Memphis-area independent schools, where she taught upper elementary and middle school, led departments and interdisciplinary initiatives, designed signature programs, and partnered with students and faculty to reimagine learning experiences and spaces. Today, as Associate Director with TAIS, Kara designs professional learning curriculum, shapes the association's signature programs, explores new ways to strengthen and support independent schools, and collaborates with practitioners across Tennessee and the Southeast as co-creators in it all.
She lives in Paris, Tennessee, with her husband and their two children.
Melissa Lawmaster Falks
Partnerships and Special Projects Director
Melissa Lawmaster Falks found her way to education through a career built on advocacy, service, and a belief in the transformative power of relationships. After earning her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, she began her professional career in the entertainment and legal field, where she supported individuals navigating complex immigration processes and supported artists and those with exceptional abilities as they pursued their dreams of continuing their work in the United States. While that work deepened her commitment to helping others, it also revealed that her greatest passion was walking alongside people as they learned, grew, and discovered their own potential.
That calling led Melissa to Lipscomb University, where she earned her M.Ed. in School Counseling and found a home in independent education. She began her Nashville Independent School career at both Ensworth and USN, and most recently served as the School Counselor at St. Bernard Academy, where she developed the school's first comprehensive school counseling program and partnered with students, families, faculty, and community organizations to cultivate a school culture rooted in belonging, well-being, and student success.
Melissa also serves as a University Supervisor in Lipscomb University's School Counseling Program, mentoring future counselors as they enter the profession, and as a Student Support Specialist with Vanderbilt University's Programs for Talented Youth, supporting gifted learners and their families. Additionally, Melissa serves on the Governing Council for the Middle Tennessee Counseling Association, as well as on the Board of Directors for the Nashville Civic Orchestra. Across each role, she is driven by the belief that everyone deserves to feel known, supported, and empowered to thrive in education, the arts, and beyond.
Melissa lives in Nashville with her husband and is a proud stepmom to two wonderful stepsons.