In this conversational testimonial, Sarah shares her journey from severe burnout and postpartum anxiety after returning to a hostile workplace, to discovering Lynne Levy’s coaching program, realigning her values, and ultimately securing a leadership role as Director of New Product Design and Operations at University Hospitals Ventures. She describes the pressures of long work hours before motherhood, the misalignment between her personal priorities and a demanding corporate culture, and the pivotal moment when her daughter’s birth forced her to reassess her career path. After seeking recommendations and connecting with Lynne, Sarah engaged in intensive soul‑searching, exploring civic technology, consulting, and finally focusing on healthcare—an industry she felt could leverage her skills for meaningful impact. The coaching process helped her clarify strengths, values, and a product‑mindset approach to job hunting, leading to daily micro‑actions that built momentum and refined her personal brand. Sarah concludes with concrete advice for future participants: maintain openness, patience, and dedication, use a daily checklist to create streaks of small actions, and iterate on communication skills to secure interviews and roles that align with one’s purpose.
Chapters
I actually like, like, I feel like one of the best parts about doing your program was it like opened up this whole other way of thinking about work for me.
Oh, awesome to see you, Sarah. I'm so excited. Let's have a conversation. Okay, you ready?
Oh, I'm ready.
So tell folks, where were you before you joined the program? What was your life, your work like? What were you feeling?
Oh gosh, I was, I always say I was on the COVID of the Struggle Magazine because I was, it was in the end of the pandemic. I was a new mom who was struggling with the aftermath of having a baby in a pandemic as well as struggling with my mental health. I had postpartum anxiety and depression, which was really challenging. I came back to work after an extended maternity leave to an incredibly hostile environment. And all of when before I left my job, I was working like 12 to 14 hour days. I literally worked until 9:00 PM the day before I had my daughter. And so I went back to an environment that expected that to me and from me. And was angry that I wasn't there for 6 months. So that's where I was. Yeah.
What made, what made you decide to reach out and think about the program?
It— having my daughter just cracked open a piece of me that I couldn't ignore anymore. I just knew that she, like, she was such an important aspect of my life, and I wouldn't sacrifice that aspect for work that was unsatisfying, that I wasn't even happy doing. And so pretty quickly after returning from maternity leave, I think I came back part-time in August. I mean, within a couple of weeks, it was very clear that it was just not gonna work.
Like, what—
who I was before was not the person that came back, and who I was willing to be was not, not the person that wanted to show up there every day. And so I think in September I started like, there would be days where I just couldn't go into work. Like it'd be Tuesday and I was like, I can't do it. And I would just take the day off, um, which didn't feel good, but I also could spend time with my daughter. So we, there was like a trade-off there and it was very clear that like my priorities were out of alignment and, um, I needed to do something to help figure that out. It also, I had had a lot of colleagues who had left and had much, much better, happier lives. So I knew that there was possibility out there. And so I started just asking around about coaching programs or what, how I could make that transition because I wasn't looking to change jobs or change roles or do anything as a brand new mom. I had a 6-month-old and then I, someone had recommended you, Shin Young, actually. Um, had recommended you and said that you had helped her a ton in her transition. And I admire— I admired her experience, her approach to work and life, and she seemed really happy and she spoke very highly of this program. And so, yeah, and so I gave you a call and we had a great chat, and here we are.
So what I love about your journey is, I mean, we've got burnout, we've got you want to be a mom, you want to be a good mom, but you also had a passion and purpose. I mean, you wanted to have an impact on the world. Talk a little bit about that.
Yeah. So I've always been somebody who really was interested in doing like service. So using my skill for service. And I mentioned that like having my daughter just like cracked open this piece of me that I think I sort of ignored. But having her made me realize that I I am a builder, and I am now responsible for building a world for her. And if I were going to use those skills, I should do something that matters, like do something that I want to see in the world. Not, um, not a better way to buy car insurance or a something that wasn't— it just, that's— it does add value to the world but didn't align with my personal values. And so I, through your program did a lot of soul— like, a ton of soul-searching around what might that value be and where might I want to, like, blend those things together in terms of, like, meaning and mission, as well as, like, a truly satisfying work life, um, that sustains the life that I want to have. And so I explored a ton of opportunities. I explored, like, civic technology, which is still in my mind as maybe a later space, um, I explored like consulting. I explored a bunch of different avenues and ultimately landed on the things that impacted me the most and helped me bring my daughter into the world is healthcare. And they actually deeply, deeply need people that think like me. And there's a lot of opportunity in that. And so I just started exploring that and that kind of the more, the more people I talked to, the stronger that why got and the stronger I got connected to that work.
And tell, tell everybody listening, what do you start doing in about a week or two?
I am going to be the director of new product design and operations at University Hospitals Ventures, which is an innovation wing of a community hospital here in Cleveland. But we will be piloting new ways of increasing access to healthcare, workforce satisfaction. So making sure that the people care for you in the hospital are connected connected to the larger mission and have the right technology, support, and services to do their job well, as well as piloting new ways of eradicating healthcare disparities in men's health and maternal health.
So, so amazing. So what do you think? I mean, you're a rock star. I mean, you, you've woven this amazing life. For somebody who's new joining the program, What advice would you give them to, to have that amazing outcome that you have?
Um, I have two things. One, patience and, um, dedication. So something I was— actually, three things. Openness as well. I was very open to the process. So at first I felt sort of intimidated, like I don't have a strong why, I don't know what I want to do, I kind of want to do everything. Like, that's always kind of been my challenge. I want to do everything. So Which thing do I pick? Um, and so I was really open to exploring a lot of different things in that process while working the, the aspects of the program that you had laid out, like with the values and what are your strengths. So like there's a space in connecting those and finding the right space to do that. And that took openness and patience. Like it just took me some time to do the reflecting. And I think some strong nudges from the team too, like you and Joy and Zachariah were like, come on. Keep going, keep going. Um, the other thing is dedication. So I had a— I have a journal and I have a little checklist that I just took one action each day. So that helped me a ton because one, I'm obsessed with streaks and I just wanted to keep the streak going. And that— what each of those small actions planted little seeds that like would grow in the future. So sometimes it was an email, Sometimes it was asking somebody to connect me to somebody else. Sometimes it was just doing research on a target company or putting a company on my target list, adding an alert on LinkedIn, sharing something on LinkedIn. And sometimes it was big things like apply for this job or have an informational interview with somebody. But each of those things just kept the momentum going and started to really build on each other. And also give me real life ways to practice the skills from the program. So every time I sent an email to somebody, I sharpened my, like, here's what I'm looking for, here's who I am, here's what I bring. Perfect. Um, and then it started to really come together so that when I got to the point where I was getting interviews, the interviews were great. So because I had sharpened, like, tell me about yourself, here's who I am. And I had kind of workshopped all of those things too. So it gave me like a nice space to iterate on them. And then like use your product mindset to figure out like what works and what would you like to continue.
I love that. Oh my gosh, I am so excited to watch your journey. I'm so excited to see the legacy you're building and the impact you're going to have on the world.
Thank you.
Amazing. Thank you so much, Sarah.
Thank you, Lynne. I couldn't have done it without you.
