our mission

Sister Signal was created from lived experience.

We provide accessible tools, education, and emotional clarity for individuals navigating confusing, unhealthy, or emotionally unsafe relationships.

We believe information, self-trust, and awareness can help people make empowered decisions about their future. We believe that clarity, by itself, is a form of protection. And we believe that survivors deserve tools built with the same care they were not always shown.

“The first time someone gave me language for what I was experiencing, I cried for hours. Not because it was sad. Because it meant I wasn’t crazy.”

— a survivor, in the Sister Signal beta

the people behind sister signal

Our Team.

Sister Signal is led by a founder with lived experience and supported by a board of survivors, builders, educators, and advocates committed to making clarity accessible.

meet the founder

Sara Love

Founder, Sister Signal

Sara Love is the founder of Sister Signal, a nonprofit initiative dedicated to helping women recognise, navigate, and recover from emotional abuse, coercive control, domestic violence, and unsafe relationship dynamics.

A survivor of long-term abusive relationships, Sara created Sister Signal after recognising a critical gap in accessible support for women who are questioning their experiences but may not yet be ready or able to seek traditional services. Her vision was to build the resource she wished had existed during her own journey — one that combines education, awareness, practical tools, and compassionate guidance in a format available anytime and anywhere.

Sara holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa and spent more than a decade working in customer service and corporate environments. Although she did not come from a traditional technology background, she taught herself modern AI and no-code development tools in order to bring Sister Signal to life. Within weeks of beginning the project, she designed and launched the platform, developed a bilingual roadmap, established a nonprofit organisation, and began building partnerships with domestic violence advocates, community organisations, and funders.

Her inspiration comes not only from her own experiences, but also from witnessing the impact of abuse throughout her family, community, and online survivor networks. Over the years, she has watched countless women struggle to identify coercive control, access reliable information, or find support before situations escalated into crisis. These observations reinforced her belief that awareness, education, and community connection can help prevent harm and support survivors earlier in their journeys.

In addition to her nonprofit work, Sara is an advocate for animal welfare and participates in community cat care and trap-neuter-return (TNR) efforts in her neighborhood.

Through Sister Signal, Sara's mission is simple: to ensure that no woman has to face confusion, isolation, or abuse alone. By combining technology, education, and survivor-informed design, she is building accessible tools that help women move from uncertainty to clarity, safety, healing, and long-term empowerment.

board of directors

A small, fierce circle.

Sister Signal is guided by a board of survivors, builders, educators, and advocates — each bringing lived experience and professional craft to the work.

Natalie Smith

Board Member, Community Engagement & Education

Instructional Designer with a multidisciplinary background in psychology, learning design, and lived advocacy.

Natalie Smith serves on the Sister Signal Board of Directors and brings both lived experience and a deep commitment to advocacy and community impact to the organization.

After navigating harmful relationships in her own life, Sister Signal's mission is one that resonates personally, and she is passionate about helping create resources that empower others to recognize unhealthy relationship patterns, rebuild self-trust, and find support.

Natalie lives in Iowa with her husband and two cats. In addition to her work with Sister Signal, she is active in civic engagement and serves as a part-time political organizer, championing causes that strengthen and support communities.

Professionally, Natalie works full-time as an Instructional Designer and brings a multidisciplinary background in psychology, learning design, and graphic design. Her expertise helps inform thoughtful, accessible educational experiences that make complex topics easier to understand and navigate.

Outside of work and volunteer service, Natalie enjoys road trips with her husband, long walks, creating art, and discovering hidden treasures while thrifting.

Alyx Coble-Frakes

Board Member, Platform Strategy & Survivor Advocacy

Founder of The Agenda Period; advises on platform strategy, user experience, and survivor-centered product development.

Alyx Coble-Frakes brings both lived experience and an entrepreneurial background in women's health technology to her role on Sister Signal's Board of Directors. As the nontechnical founder of The Agenda Period — a cycle health app, planner line, and coaching practice she built and led for seven years — Alyx worked closely on product development, user experience, and platform strategy, gaining firsthand insight into how complex personal experiences can be translated into tools that people can meaningfully use in their daily lives.

That same pattern-recognition informs her understanding of coercive control, emotional abuse, and unhealthy relationship dynamics. Drawing from both personal and professional experience, Alyx helps guide Sister Signal's survivor-centered approach to education, resources, and outreach.

As a board member, she advises on platform strategy, user experience, and content development, helping ensure that Sister Signal remains accessible, practical, and deeply responsive to the needs of survivors.

Amana Katora

Community Advisor & Strategic Partnerships

Cybersecurity compliance assessor (CMMC, ISO 27001) bringing governance, strategic partnerships, and stakeholder communications expertise.

Amana Katora brings a sharp, systems-oriented mind and a deep commitment to community impact to Sister Signal. Professionally, she is a cybersecurity compliance assessor specializing in CMMC, ISO 27001, and related governance frameworks, with extensive experience guiding organizations through complex federal assessments for U.S. Department of Defense and Intelligence Community clients.

Known for translating technical complexity into clear, actionable outcomes, Amana also brings a strong background in proposal management, strategic partnerships, and stakeholder communications.

She channels that same dedication to structure, clarity, and advocacy into supporting Sister Signal's mission to raise awareness and drive meaningful change around domestic violence in our community.

what we hold to

Five commitments.

Trauma-informed first.
Every screen, copy decision, and interaction is reviewed for whether it could disorient or harm a survivor in a hard moment.
Discreet by design.
Quick Exit, code words, and a calculator disguise are baseline features, not premium ones.
Education over diagnosis.
We name patterns; we do not diagnose relationships. The survivor remains the only authority on her own story.
Bilingual access.
Sister Signal is available in English and Spanish (es-MX) because language should not be a barrier to clarity.
Free at the point of need.
Donations and grants keep the core experience free. Survivors should not have to pay to understand what is happening to them.

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