Raised by an off-the-highway gas station and marching band, Schmidt relocated to the city of Columbus to get her BFA in Animation at Columbus College of Art & Design. After graduating in 2014, she worked for a boutique motion graphics studio before going full-time freelance in 2017. She taught adjunct professor classes at CCAD in 2017 and started Malt Adult Animation Night in 2016. As an independent curator, Sarah has showcased over 200 animation artists to her community of Columbus, Ohio and beyond with pop-up screening shows in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. In 2019, she started Sunshine Mall LLC with her partner and longtime friend, Ian Ballantyne. She is currently working on her MFA degree at DePaul University.