As founder and executive director of Freelancers Union and CEO of the union’s Freelancers Insurance Company, Sara Horowitz has been helping workers solve their problems for nearly two decades.
A MacArthur Foundation “Genius” fellow, Sara has long been a leading voice for the emerging economy. She recognized early on the vital role independent workers would play in our networked, interconnected world.
Sara founded Freelancers Union in 1995 on the belief that all workers should have the freedom to build meaningful, connected, and independent lives—backed by a system of mutual and public support. With nearly 200,000 members nationwide, Freelancers Union helps this growing independent sector build creative, cooperative, market-based solutions to today’s pressing social challenges.
Sara saw that one of the biggest challenges facing independent workers is the lack of access to affordable health insurance. Rather than wait for the government or the private sector to solve this problem, in 2008 Sara launched Freelancers Insurance Company (FIC), a social-purpose business owned by Freelancers Union. Its mission is to provide independent workers with high-quality, affordable, and portable health insurance. With revenues approaching $100 million, FIC now insures more than 25,000 New Yorkers .
Sara is the daughter of a labor lawyer and granddaughter of a vice president of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. After studying at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, she earned a law degree from SUNY Buffalo Law School and a master’s degree from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is a life-long resident of Brooklyn, New York.
Recognized as a leading social entrepreneur, Sara was named one of Forbes’s Top 30 Social Entrepreneurs, Businessweek’s Top 25 Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs, and Crain’s New York Business’s 25 People to Watch.