Sober Curator Contributor – Bellevue, WA
Raised in Southern California, Sarah grew up with sunshine in her bones and a deep love for the kind of life that includes beach days, ball games, good friends, and a perfectly built cup of froyo. She eventually traded the California coast for the Pacific Northwest when she moved to Seattle to attend Seattle Pacific University, where she earned her degree and began building the foundation for what would become a successful career in people leadership.
After college, Sarah’s career took off. So did her social life. From the outside, things looked fun, full, and impressive. But what started as success, connection, and celebration slowly began moving her life in a direction she never expected. After countless consequences, quiet bargains with herself, and a dwindling list of “yets,” Sarah got sober in 2015.
Since then, recovery has become the foundation for everything good in her life.
In 2021, Sarah released her first book, Pearls and Probation: Adventures of an Alcoholic Good Girl, a personal and unflinchingly honest look at the contradictions of being high-functioning, polished, and unraveling all at once. Later that same year, she contributed to The X-Factor: The Spiritual Secrets Behind Successful Executives & Entrepreneurs, a collaborative book featuring business leaders from around the world. Together, these projects reflect the two lanes Sarah often writes and speaks from: the deeply personal work of recovery and the strategic, spiritual, and human side of leadership.
Today, Sarah is an HR executive, fractional people leader, founder, speaker, and writer who brings nearly two decades of experience in recruiting, people operations, culture, compliance, and executive leadership. As the Chief People Partner at Radical Ignition, she partners with founders and growing organizations to build people-first systems that actually work. Her approach to HR is strategic, practical, deeply human, and never about being the “principal’s office.” Sarah believes workplaces get healthier when leaders are willing to tell the truth, have the hard conversations, and build cultures where people can thrive.
For The Sober Curator, Sarah brings the voice of a woman who has lived both sides of the story: the polished professional life that looked fine from the outside, and the private unraveling that eventually led her to recovery. Her writing lives at the intersection of sobriety, leadership, motherhood, mental health, workplace culture, and the everyday magic of rebuilding a life you actually want to be present for.
When she is not advising leaders, writing, speaking, or talking about why HR is so much more than policies and paperwork, Sarah can usually be found drinking strong coffee, chasing sunshine, planning a gathering, watching sports, talking about culture, or being lovingly humbled by her son, Jack.
Her mission is simple: tell the truth with kindness, build healthier workplaces, celebrate recovery out loud, and remind people that the story is not over just because everything fell apart. Sometimes, that is exactly where the good part begins.
Beyond the Happy Hour
Where workplace culture, sobriety, and modern recovery conversations meet.
Beyond the Happy Hour explores the intersection of workplace culture, sobriety, and modern recovery. From sober-friendly networking and inclusive office events to boundaries, burnout, leadership, and belonging, Sarah brings a fresh perspective to what it means to show up personally and professionally without checking your recovery — or your values — at the door.