For Sarah Mulé, the small-town feel of NEPA was a huge shift from the fast-paced rhythm of Florida. Coming from the Palm Beach area, she had worked as a journalist and had always been surrounded by the bustle of the city. But when she moved here in 2012, she found that life moved slower…. in a good way. She soon discovered the perfect balance between the vibrancy of the Valley and the quiet serenity of the country.

NEPA wasn’t completely new to Mulé. Her family had roots in Nescopeck, where her father and grandfather had started the landmark restaurant Franco’s (which is now called Fratello’s and run by her aunt and uncle). She had actually lived in NEPA until she was four years old, but the memories were so distant, the move was practically a fresh start.

Not long after, Mulé made another major leap and entered the nonprofit world. She spent four years as program coordinator at CASA of Luzerne County and still remains a volunteer advocate today. Then, in November 2021, she took the role of executive director at the Back Mountain Chamber, where she proudly serves the community that she calls home. Under her leadership, the chamber is embarking on an exciting and busy year, complete with events like the annual awards ceremony, a golf tournament and an Elton John-themed cultural event.

Mulé’s dedication to the community not only shows in her career, but also in her life outside of the office. She serves on the board of the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce and volunteers with the Rainbow Alliance. She is also currently enrolled in Leadership Northeast, where her project team, Readership Wyoming, is renovating the children’s room of the Wyoming Free Library.

We met with Sarah at the chamber office and to talk about all that she loves about the Back Mountain and beyond. And of course, we had to ask, Why NEPA?

How long have you lived in NEPA?

This will be my tenth year in August.

What brought you to NEPA?

In my former life, I was a journalist. It was right around that time that people stopped reading newspapers on a regular basis. I made it through the last round of layoffs at the newspaper I was working at, and it just seemed like the perfect catalyst to make a change. I had family close by in the Lehigh Valley, and I have some family in Nescopeck. I figured I would just try something new and do something completely opposite of what I was doing. I traded the beach for the mountains, and here I am.

Did anything surprise you about NEPA?

There was more to do than I thought there was going to be. When I first moved up here, I moved to Berwick, and it was a huge change. I came from South Florida, where there was always something going on. There wasn’t ever really a “last call” at a bar. Everything was just kind of open all the time. Then, coming here to a much slower paced lifestyle was a big adjustment. Even little things, like no streetlights on the highway. That was like, “How does anybody see?” It was just those little things that were an initial adjustment. But there was so much more vibrancy here than I imagined that there would be.

What do you love about your town?

It’s so pretty. I feel like that sounds so simple, but I don’t think it can be emphasized enough—the real beauty in this area. Even here, our offices look out onto this preserve. It’s these little things that I never really saw before. I’d never seen a bald eagle outside the zoo until I moved here. I’d never seen a deer up close. It was all of these really cool things.

And then, Dallas is such a great place because there’s a lot of businesses. There’s a really bustling community here. There’s a lot of commerce in Dallas, and then there’s places like Frances Slocum and Hillside and Harveys Lake, where you can really just go and be alone and unwind. It’s such a good mix of busy and calm.

What’s your favorite NEPA restaurant?

I really can’t choose favorites. There’s a lot of great restaurants back here. There’s a really emerging cultural genre of restaurants, which I think is really great. Especially for me, coming from an area like South Florida, to be able to come up here and still experience some of that, plus cultural stuff that I’ve never tried before. Like, I never had Polish food until I moved here. I think that’s a really cool addition. I try to branch out as much as possible, especially trying to support mom-and-pop restaurants, because that’s what I grew up with. My parents were restaurant owners. We really do try to support as many local businesses as we can.

What’s your favorite thing to do in NEPA?

We have a nine-month-old dog named George, and he is terrible. [laughs] We like to take him outside as much as possible and walk him. I really love going to Hillside. We spent a lot of time there through CASA. They do a grief camp for kids, so Hillside really has a special place in my heart for that. It’s kind of like the perfect place to go when you want to relax. We love going hockey games and baseball games. I never thought I would like hockey either, so that’s really fun.

What’s next for you?

I don’t know, and I think that’s really exciting. So much of my journey in Pennsylvania is not at all what I expected or planned. I really found my home here, which I didn’t think I was going to. If you had asked me in 2011 if I would ever leave Florida, there was no chance. I was convinced that I could not live without a palm tree. Now that I’m here, my friends are here. I have family here. I’m building a family here. That’s more than I could have ever expected.

In terms of my role here, I’m excited to see what happens with the chamber. We have a really exciting year planned now that we have a full-time team in the office. I think that’s really great. We have a super engaged board of directors. Our executive committee is outstanding. I think that we have all of the things to really support this community. Hopefully, we’ll be like a train station for our members—a place where they can pass through and help them get from one place to the next and give them the information that they need to be successful. I’m excited for all of that.

Where do you see NEPA heading in the future?

In Leadership, I’m learning that there’s so much about this area that I didn’t realize. It really seems like there’s a lot of forward motion and a positive trajectory. After hearing from these companies, we’re poised here for a lot of growth, which is really cool, especially given the proximity to other places. That’s another crazy thing. I’ve never been close to other places before. It was five hours to get out of Florida. I was closer to Cuba than I was to another state. Here, in just a couple hours, you’re in Baltimore, you’re in Philly, you’re in New York, you’re in New Jersey. You’re six hours from New England. That kind of stuff is really cool. I think that the more we highlight how unique this area is and that aspect, there’s a lot of opportunity.

Why NEPA?

I’ve been thinking a lot about that. For me, I just keep going back to the fact that it’s home. Even in the winter, when I complain a lot—sorry to anyone who’s around me from November through March—it’s home. This is where my family is. This is where my friends are. This is where I’ve had some of the most transformative experiences of my entire life. I never imagined that when I came to Northeastern Pennsylvania that my life would change in such a positive way. At this point, there’s nowhere else I could see myself.