Sagan Smith was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. Their love for nature and wildlife began with roaming the green spaces within neighborhoods around Salt Creek. This passion was further ignited after they enrolled in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR) program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, allowing them to participate in educational travel experiences. They discovered a passion for birds, for community relationships with nature, and for the stories of people who lived within wilderness. Sagan's current work focuses on minority communities within wilderness around Nebraska as they seek to recognize and remove the boundaries between minority populations and nature. They are in the process of establishing “Open Wilderness,” a prospective student organization for underrepresented students interested in nature. They are also completing a documentary under the Platte Basin Timelapse project.