Change can upend us in ways we never expect, yet so often, our toughest seasons become the fertile ground for our greatest growth. This week on The Change Effect, I welcome Sarah Brown, whose life’s path has been marked by profound transformation through sobriety, the loss of an 18-year marriage, and a breast cancer diagnosis.
Drawing from her work as an executive coach, her journey along the Camino de Santiago, and her guiding philosophy of amor fati—to love one’s fate—Sarah has emerged not just as a survivor, but as a voice of compassion, wisdom, and hope for others traveling through their own storms.
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Sarah is a seasoned executive coach and People & Culture leader who seamlessly blends therapeutic insights with practical, solution-based business coaching. With a Masters in Clinical Counseling and over three decades of executive coaching experience, she began her career counseling high-risk children before pivoting to work with teams and leaders at Fortune 500 companies, including a major Cincinnati healthcare system.
A firm believer in the philosophy of Amor Fati (loving one's fate), Sarah draws on her personal journey—which includes overcoming alcohol abuse, divorce, and a cancer diagnosis—to foster resilience and potential in others, a theme she explores further on her podcast, Failing Forward.
In this episode, Sarah and I discuss:
- Sarah’s journey of sobriety, the end of her marriage, surviving breast cancer and finding new love.
- Walking the Camino de Santiago as a spiritual pilgrimage that mirrored her own healing.
- The role of intuition and how listening to her body, even amidst doubt and trauma, shaped every pivotal decision.
- Navigating “the gifts inside suffering,” and how adversity became her soil for new beginnings in love, purpose, and work.
- The power of vision boards, synchronicity, and trusting in the unknown when dreaming a new life into reality.
Whether you’re walking through a difficult chapter, seeking to reframe your pain, or searching for wisdom in your own process of becoming, Sarah’s story is a testament to resilience, radical acceptance, and the healing that comes with embracing our story—no matter how it unfolds.
If you enjoyed this episode don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me what resonated with you.
CONNECT WITH SARAH:
Website | Sarah Brown Coaching
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IG: Noelle Van
IG: daybyday
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