meet sarah
digital health, creativity, strategy, service, and play
LAB/COAT, Bernadette Cay 2020. Pairing a piece of art with Sarah’s journey. This collage evokes Sarah’s background in digital health, her many interests, sense of humor, and playful approach.
I’d like you to meet Sarah. On LinkedIn, she’s a Senior Director in R&D in Digital Health. And she’s so much more. A Ceramicist, Mentor, and DEI/Reproductive Rights Activist, she expresses unique combinations of her interests and values in different ways. Sarah is thoughtful, creative, and has a great sense of humor. She also has a way with words. I feel truly honored to support her on her journey. I’m grateful for her generosity in sharing her story with us today.
meet sarah:
“I came to coaching as a Senior Director working in Digital Health. I had what many would consider a ‘conventionally successful’ career thus far, including an MBA from Kellogg and a prior experience in strategy and impact investing. I loved the impact my work has on patients, but I was craving more autonomy and creativity. I was also feeling burnt out and frustrated by work cultures that didn’t seem to value what I had to offer.
I thought about career options as wide ranging as opening a curated home-goods store, becoming a graphic designer, going back to graduate school to study the role of play and joy in healthcare, or switching to another healthcare company with a different culture. A lot of ideas! It was time for me to go back to the drawing board career-wise. I was looking for some structure and outside perspective to sort through these different directions and take a more fearless career approach.
I once heard a graduation speech that really moved me: the speaker attributed her success to a willingness to say “Yes” in the face of fear. I loved that attitude, but have struggled to put it into practice in my own life. I have so many ideas, but in the face of fear, I retreat to more conventional paths, even as those don't feel like the right fit career-wise.
When I started my search for a coach, I had a lot of concerns about finding the right fit. Career coaching in grad school and in undergrad never felt like they fit my interests or goals, which don’t fit into a traditional industry/role matrix. So, I did a lot of research. I asked all my friends who had worked with coaches, interviewed several, and even used the LinkedIn RFP feature! With Bernadette, I found such an incredible fit, that met all of my goals for coaching, and led to an incredibly productive coaching space.
I felt like Bernadette really understood where I was coming from and saw the interconnectedness of my interests. Her own professional history and skills as a coach helped me shift to see my multifaceted interests and experiences as a strength. I viewed coaching as an investment in myself alongside therapy–a space where I could grapple with my relationship with work and workshop tactical concerns with someone who “gets it.”
Our sessions addressed pressing challenges in my day-to-day, while also helping me think through my strategy and see the big picture. The concepts challenged my underlying thinking and helped me grow in so many different ways.
After each session, I really appreciated the tailored follow-up resources. Through books, topics, and homework prompts, the resources were incredibly helpful and showed me connections I hadn’t seen before. Heavily underlined and dog eared, I’ve already returned to these books many times.
I have felt (and my family and friends have noticed) a really fundamental shift in my relationship to work and how it fits with my life and other interests. I feel freed from putting so much identity on work. That freedom has allowed me to be very intentional with my professional goals, and helped me create my own path for the kind of growth that I want, in a way that feels authentic to me.
Before, I felt overwhelmed by all my ideas. Coaching has helped me sort through those ideas and prioritize them, so when ideas come, I can actually act. These reasonable goals can then build into big bold ideas. As a result, I feel empowered to dream really big! Our work has helped me both in my day-to-day and also changed my vantage point, helping me to articulate and start working towards the big goals too.
I would absolutely recommend working with Bernadette, especially fellow professional women looking to cultivate creativity and balance many interests or factors in their lives. Bernadette helped me create a really rich life, one in which I am intentional about wanting to grow professionally, but also where career is one facet of a broader life. I loved our sessions, and feel so grateful for the growth they’ve enabled over these past months. I’m excited to see where this takes me next.”
–Sarah R., Senior R&D Director in Digital Health, Ceramicist, Mentor, Reproductive Rights Activist