Sarah Allen Preston

A serial entrepreneur at heart, Sarah Allen Preston launched a stationery company in college at Southern Methodist College. After college, she built Sarah Allen-Preston Designs,  a luxury event design, planning, and production company. Her company was featured in multiple magazines during her ten-year run, including Martha Stewart Weddings and BRIDES Magazine.  

What happened next would change Sarah’s life forever. When Sarah’s youngest son was born, he was diagnosed with atrioventricular septal defect, or AVSD, in which there are holes between the chambers of the right and left sides of the heart, and the valves that control the flow of blood between these chambers may not be formed correctly. As a result, he had to have open heart surgery at only five months old, and while what she was dealing with was horrible, there was a silver lining.

Sarah saw the community around her rally, whether it was a simple text, an invitation to go on a walk, or a gift on her doorstep. This immense feeling of gratitude came over Sarah each time someone took the time to reach our present a gift. That brought a thought to Sarah, “How do I bottle that feeling and connection”? 

Since there was no platform to help support people going through tough times, as Sarah had dealt with, she created it, and Afloat was born in 2020.

Afloat is a gifting marketplace created to celebrate the people and businesses you love with the ease and convenience you crave. It’s a place where you can show someone you care, and it makes you feel good. At your fingertips, you can give gifts, support local businesses, and reinforce relationships. Better yet, afloat uses technology to make these things easy and enjoyable, ensuring everyone reaps the real-life reward of doing good while feeling good.

Currently, Afloat operates in Kansas City and Dallas, but by the end of the year will be rolled out to an additional ten cities. Today over 70 local businesses in Dallas and Kansas City are on the app, with over 12,000 users. Afloat has a waiting list of 200 other companies.

While Sarah splits her time between Dallas and Kanas City, she is still active in our community. She sits on the board of the committee of 100 for The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art and is very busy in the startup ecosystem.

While hardships and tragedies are a part of life, it impresses me that Sarah was able to find that silver lining and build something positive out of it. I know the best is yet to come for Sarah and Afloat, and I look forward to supporting her journey.

Visit the Afloat website to learn more about or shop.

Website: www.afloat.life