OyChicago articles

Let Sara Fiedelholtz be your guide to living in Chicago 

For the past 19 years, Sara Fiedelholtz has been involved in various creative endeavors including magazine publishing, brand development and strategic planning. In 2004, Fiedelholtz launched the creative strategy firm thinkbox strategies, then in August 2007 she launched mint magazine:SOURCEBOOKS llc., a series of  annual subject-specific—think shopping, continuing education, beauty and food, to name a few—source guides for Chicago.

So whether you’re looking for the best manicure in the city, you’re a fan of Shabbat dinners or a fellow creative mind, Sara Fiedelholtz is a Jew you should know!

1. What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a doctor or the first female president of the United States.

2. What do you love about what you do today?
I love the fact that I am able to use both sides of my brain. I love the fact that I get to think creatively but act strategically. I also love that I get to take a simple idea and turn it into a finished product from which an entire business can be built.

3. What are you reading?
Everyday I read the daily entry in Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s The Book of Jewish Values: A Day-to-Day Guide to Ethical Living. I’m also reading Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by James Collins and Jerry Porras and The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism by Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin

4. What’s your favorite place to eat in Chicago?
I am a big fan of the hamburgers and sweet potato fries at Uncommon Ground. I’m also a big fan of 200 East Chestnut--they have incredible homemade (just like bubbe’s) marinara sauce.

5. If money and logistical reality played no part, what would you invent?
A chemical to be added to the world’s water supply that would make people kinder toward each other.

6.Would you rather have the ability of fly or the ability to be invisible?
I would like to be invisible. As a journalist I can’t think of anything better than really being able to be a fly on the wall.

7. If I scrolled through your iPod, what guilty pleasure would I find?
I haven’t joined the 21st century, I still listen to CDs. I am a proud non-iPod owner. My CD collection does include: John Denver, Bob Marley, James Taylor, Carol King, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon and several movie soundtracks.

8. What’s your favorite Jewish thing to do in Chicago – in words, how do you Jew?
I like getting friends together for Shabbat dinner.