The first female vocalist in U.S. Marine Band history, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Sara Sheffield ('01), has performed for some of the most influential people in the world.

She's sung for Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, met President Barack Obama and worked with President George W. Bush, and she played an essential behind-the-scenes role for the 60th Presidential Inauguration in January.

Through all she has accomplished, Sheffield has never forgotten where she came from.

"It's not lost on me that I'm a gal from East Texas who got to go to the White House," she says.

Going Through Training

Raised in Jacksonville, Sheffield was always interested in music and grew up singing in church. At nine years old, she learned to play the piano and continued studying music throughout middle school and high school.

"I decided to put all my eggs in the singing and piano basket," she says, "which I guess worked out pretty well."

After graduating from Jacksonville High School, Sheffield studied vocal performance at UNT's College of Music. She recalls one challenging music course she took.

"Do they still make students do theory at 8 a.m. at North Texas?" she asks. "If you could survive that 8 a.m. theory class, you knew you were going to make it."

Originally planning to become an opera singer after graduating from UNT, Sheffield shifted career paths when her then-boyfriend won a job in the Army band, leading her to win a job in it shortly after.

Before beginning her musical career with the military, though, she first had to go through boot camp.

"I took it as a unique opportunity to experience something new," she says about her 10 weeks of training at Fort Jackson.

While at boot camp, Sheffield was not completely cut off from music, being able to call cadence when marching and sing in the choir at the chapel on Sundays.

"There was a fantastic older lady who was a pianist there who knew all these great Baptist hymns that I had grown up with," she says. "So, I was able to stay rooted in music."

Joining the Marine Band

After training, Sheffield served in the U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" for three years. In 2004, she auditioned for a position in the "President's Own" United States Marine Band, and the following year she made history by becoming its first female vocalist.

"When I took the audition, I didn't set out to be any kind of trailblazer or break any glass ceiling," she says. "Now that I have 20 years of that service to look back on, it resonates a bit differently."

A New Role

In 2016, Sheffield earned her master's in business administration at George Mason University. When the position for director for administration and production for the U.S. Marine Band opened, she saw it as an opportunity to use her business sense to serve the organization she knew so well.

"I felt like I still had some untapped potential that I hadn't been able to use while being a vocalist in the Marine Corps," she says.

In 2023, she began her duties in this new role and the following year was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 3.

She now serves the Marine Band by focusing more on supply and production. For the Presidential Inauguration in January, she helped operationally with personnel rosters and rehearsal coordination.

"The pivot this year we had to make is that the inclement weather call was maybe 36 hours before," she says. "So all the preparation, all the planning we had done was completely out the window."

Unpredictability is an aspect of her work she has mixed feelings about.

"The thing I like most about the job is that I don't know what puzzles are going to come through that I have to solve on that day," she says. "It is also the thing I like least about my job."

Stages of Life

Though this position comes with its own pressures, for Sheffield, they don't compare to the anxiety that comes with performing.

On her desk is a photo from a recording session she did that shows an empty concert hall with one microphone on stage.

"I was so nervous the day we recorded it," she says. "Every time I look at that photo, I am reminded of the fear that was still in my being."

Sheffield says when she starts to miss singing, the photo is a reminder of the nervousness.

"That anxiousness of being on a concert stage, having to deliver in the moment is something that I do not miss," she says.

She no longer sings with the band but says she is still actively performing in the Washington D.C. area.

Sheffield says she never lost the wonder of walking into the White House to sing for the most important people in the world.

"It was never about me. I was always the conduit to something greater than myself."