Board of Directors
Officers
Sara Rose Salih
Founder & Executive Director
Sara Rose Salih is the Founder and Executive Director of The Usual Artspects, a unique nonprofit organization where creativity meets healing. Sara began her lifelong work in community service helping special needs teenagers during middle school and high school through her school's Partner's PE program. In college she became heavily involved in her sorority’s philanthropic efforts for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, Walk to End Alzheimer's, Inherit the Earth, Main Seacoast Mission, and Gerontology. After college Sara volunteered at SafeHaven, a shelter for battered women in Tarrant County.
Sara’s background in film and creative writing at the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of North Texas, and the University of London, prepared her for a multi-faceted career as a writer, filmmaker, and abstract artist. In 2013 Sara published Tales of a Sevie, a lighthearted and empowering coming of age book for tween girls. In 2018 she directed, filmed, and edited the promotional video for the Epilepsy Heart Project to deepen public understanding of epilepsy through the medium of art.
The following year Sara produced her own project, Heal The Cause, a powerful Public Service Announcement to create awareness of sexual abuse and trauma. Heal The Cause debuted at the Women in Film Dallas Topaz Festival in 2019. The subject matter of this PSA has always been a cause close to Sara's heart and inspired her to create a local online support group for survivors of sexual assault. The online support group rapidly expanded and now has over 200 members internationally.
At the same time, Sara’s abstract paintings were being featured in shows throughout Dallas-Ft. Worth. In 2021 she created The Usual Artspects and began producing her own art shows—booking venues, artists, musicians, and vendors and coordinating events. Continuing to be inspired by the moving stories of women in the online support group she started, Sara made the decision to combine her art show business with her personal vocation to help survivors of sexual assault. Relying on her nonprofit experience serving on the Board of Women in Film Dallas, Sara transitioned The Usual Artspects into the nonprofit organization it is today, promoting advocacy, awareness, and providing unique artistic programs of healing for female survivors.
Robert Salih
Director of Organizational Strategies
Robert contributes broad experience in both business and volunteerism to The Usual Artspects. He served as Operations Manager for his family’s restaurant and catering businesses and later as a Management Trainer with Brinker International. He managed diverse responsibilities in a unique and multi-faceted position as Renaissance Manager with Tangram Corporation, a developer of site selection software for major multi-unit companies, including 7-11, Blockbuster Video, McDonald’s,Lowe’s Home Improvement, and others. He has been a residential Mortgage Broker with PrimeLending and a multi-unit property manager with a privately held real estate group.
Robert has served in multiple board positions with his local church and has experience with several nonprofit programs. He worked with mentally incapacitated Veterans at Ann Arbor House residential facility, helped sponsor underprivileged children into private schools with Children of India, and co-created Dallas Child Care Outreach to sponsor underprivileged children into accredited YMCA day care facilities.
Robert had the opportunity to combine a Fine Arts degree from SMU with his passion for helping others when he researched, developed, and scripted a one-hour docudrama, Battered Wives: The Next Step, for The Family Place in Dallas. The film helped battered women living in shelters make the difficult transition from co-dependence in abusive relationships to self-reliance and safety.
With The Usual Artspects, Robert is charged with developing strategies to implement creative healing programs for survivors of sexual trauma and with creating pro-active programs of awareness and education to prevent sexual abuse of young girls and teens. He applies his business experience, principles, and best non-profit practices to all aspects of the organization.
Ashley Seher
President & Treasurer
Jorden Long
Secretary
Jorden has worked in the finance industry for 10 years. She is currently the manager at Prosperity Bank Grapevine. She is a graduate from The University of North Texas with her Bachelor of Science.
She looks for ways to give back to the community and has been a volunteer with Leukemia of Texas.
Erin Burke
Director of Fundraising & Sponsorships
Erin has worked in municipal recreation for fifteen years in cities across California and Texas, focusing primarily on events, fundraising and community partnerships. She has an educational background in marketing, event planning and public speaking, and she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies from California State University, Long Beach.
Erin possesses a passion for public service, and truly believes that healing happens through recreation and the arts. She holds a strong desire to give back to the community in which she lives, works and plays, and looks forward to making community connections that will help enhance quality of life for women across the Metroplex.
Amanda Herzer
Director of Communications & Marketing
Growing up involved in art, Amanda Herzer made it her career to continue creating. She has worked with the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling nonprofit, and volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and Best Friends Animal Society. Throughout her career she has worked with popular and lesser-known companies in various industries from fashion to food. In 2023, Amanda's eager to positively impact the lives of many through the mission of The Usual Artspects.
Shawni Darling
Art Director
Ashley brings a wealth of knowledge in operations and is a National Operations Manager by day in her current career. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Austin College in 2009 and revels in human interaction, relationships, mindfulness, meditation, conflict resolution, problem solving, and carries an analytical mindset.
Creating works of art herself in her spare time, Ashley understands the power of creativity; it is a way to safely escape and be yourself with no judgment and the result is something beautifully unique. Reaching women in an impactful way through all mediums of art is a passion of hers. The Usual Artspects joins both this passion and the love of art together.
Shawni is an artisan who understands the outlet art can bring. She is owner and artisan behind Darling Creative Works.
Shawni began part of her journey as a stay-at-home mom who needed an outlet and a way to express herself, so she invested in many art and crafting classes and fell in love with weaving and glass, specifically.
Throughout the years, she has volunteered often at schools and libraries, kid’s sports programs, as well as social services and animal welfare programs. Most recently she has worked in various art studios. While working in the art studios and continuing her own business, she has been shown many times how powerful and healing art can be for a person’s soul.
