Sara Hooker currently works part-time writing Dining and Cheers 3 columns for TimeOut!, as well as writing stories for the DuPage bureau and editing stories for Reflejos. She began her career with the Daily Herald in 2004 as a reporter covering Glen Ellyn and Glendale Heights. In 2005, she began covering Indian Prairie School District 204 in Aurora and Naperville. In 2007, she switched to part-time and has since worked on various web projects, editing and story assignments.

Hooker wrote numerous stories following District 204's referendum request that eventually passed in 2007 and provided the funding for its third high school, Metea Valley, in Aurora. She reported from Barack Obama's campaign headquarters during both his U.S. Senate primary victory as well as the presidential primary. In 2009, a feature story she wrote about the increase in indoor midnight softball tournaments in the suburbs was selected and appeared in a segment on the ABC 7 Sunday news.

Before joining the Daily Herald, Hooker worked as a reporter and editor at the Southern Illinois University Carbondale school paper, the Daily Egyptian. Hooker earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from SIU and a master's degree in public affairs reporting from University of Illinois Springfield. As part of the masters program at UIS, Hooker completed an internship in the Daily Herald's Springfield bureau covering statehouse politics.