About Me
Helping motivated leaders accomplish their business and career growth goals is my passion.
Sara Evans
An experienced leadership development, organizational design and change management consultant for Fortune 100 companies, Federal institutes and academic institutions, I am well-versed in switching (and yes, even losing) jobs. With each job change, I gained insights into my own career goals and motivations and realized the tremendous value in being able to articulate and sell my own personal brand.
I struggled for a long time to find my career sweet spot - a role that played to my strengths and also motivated me. I’ve held 10 jobs in 6 fields over 20 years. I was laid off twice, and quit my longest held job to pursue a graduate degree soon after the birth of my second child. My path has not been linear, but each step brought me closer to my dream.
“My path has not been linear, but each step brought me closer to my dream.”
Along my varied career path, I found a job at the University of Maryland’s business school (Smith) career office where I was able to provide hands-on guidance to students. My work at the Smith School was so fulfilling that deep down I knew that working directly with people to activate their careers was in the cards for me. In fact, that’s when I realized that helping people navigate career transitions was how I could put my best foot forward.
With that nugget of clarity, I decided to supplement my BA in Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis with a Master’s degree in Industrial & Organizational Psychology through the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Understanding the critical alignment of individual strengths and core job competencies, I began helping motivated people strategically grow their skills, develop and market personal value propositions and navigate change in academic, government and private industry settings.
After two years of hard post-graduate work, I landed what I thought would be my “forever job” with Marriott International. In this role I led global and US-based change management and organizational design initiatives resulting from Marriott’s massive acquisition of the Starwood hotel brand. I re-invented the human capital and succession planning process with a focus on retaining Marriott’s best and brightest leadership talent. I created a new leadership development tool to enable our best and brightest leaders to assume key leadership positions and take charge of their careers.
However, six years into this job I knew there was more to my dream. This realization led to my pursuit of a coaching certification through the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI).
Ok, so I have the professional training and experience - but what makes me uniquely qualified to partner with people who want to realize their career potential? Allow me to tell you a little about myself on a personal level.
Just for fun, I asked my friends and family members for my top character traits and here’s what they had to say:
Listens without judgment
Resilient and never gives up
Great thinker; sees big picture
Positive; a true optimist
Funny
Honest
Nurturing
Analytical / grounded
Bottom line? My truest passion lies in using my top traits to help leaders intentionally pursue rewarding business and career growth goals. If you’re looking to make a change, let’s work together to put your best foot forward.