About us
Meet the Founder of Embark Career
Sarah brings a wealth of professional experience in education, workforce development, and human resources to Embark Career
Sarah Leibrandt, Ph.D., founded Embark Career in 2023 after experiencing a need for career coaching services for women and non-binary individuals (and mamas in particular) who are embarking on a new chapter in their career.
An experienced human resources professional, Leibrandt is intimately familiar with the hiring process and understands what it takes to make a successful candidate stand out among hundreds of qualified candidates.
Sarah has over 15 years of experience working at the intersection of higher education, workforce and economic development, and leadership development. The majority of her career has been spent working in colleges and universities and state and local governments.
Personal experience fueled her desire to improve the job search process for other women, especially mamas
Sarah wishes that a program like Embark Career's signature coaching program existed when she was looking for a new job in 2022. She had been with the same organization for 10 years and was happy in her role creating professional development opportunities for college staff. However, after becoming a single parent in 2021, she realized she needed a different type of role for this phase of her life: she needed one that didn't rely on grant-funding and didn't require out of state travel. Around the same time, Sarah discovered the field of learning and development and wanted to make a complete career shift from education policy into learning and development.
Through informational interviews and countless hours looking at job postings, Sarah made the decision to change careers completely. While she had the skillset, she needed to repackage her experiences to align with the language and culture of this new role. After applying to dozens of jobs in learning and development, and landing interviews at seven organizations in different industries, she accepted a job offer with her local county designing and offering leadership development and professional development opportunities to library leaders. Ultimately, her career switch and job search were successful and she is thrilled with her current position. But it was a lonely, daunting process to get there. She thought there must be a better way. So, out of her personal and professional experiences, Sarah founded Embark Career to provide a community of support for other women (especially mothers) making career changes.
Sarah considers herself to be a lifelong learner
Sarah earned a Ph.D. in education policy from the University of Colorado Boulder and a B.A. in Spanish language from Wellesley College. She is currently completing a certificate in coaching from New York University. Sarah has lived abroad twice: she studied abroad in Cordoba, Spain in college and taught in a primary school outside of Madrid, Spain, before going to graduate school.
Sarah lives outside of Denver, Colorado with her daughter and her pup. Every weekend holds an adventure: they are either hiking or camping in the mountains or exploring the Front Range.
