Sarah Alaimo

You have spent your career inside organizations, building cultures, developing leaders, transforming the employee experience from the inside out. What made you decide to step out and launch Elevate Consulting Collective on your own?

Twenty years across healthcare, tech, non-profits, start-ups, and global organizations, I saw the good, the bad, and the ugly of HR done every possible way. Leaving my final corporate role was scary. It was also exhilarating, building a brand in my own voice, finally, after two decades of building other people's visions. The work is grounded in one belief: people work and business results aren't separate conversations. The healthier the people, the healthier the bottom line.

You help organizations build cultures where people thrive, and yet working mothers are still leaving the workforce in record numbers. What does it feel like to be an expert in exactly the thing that is still failing so many women?

Some days, honestly, it's humbling. The frameworks are there. The policies get built. Still, working mothers keep leaving the workforce in numbers that should embarrass every organization tracking retention data. A mentor once told me there is no such thing as work-life balance. Work is part of life. Balance gets found through it all, not by drawing a hard line down the middle of a person. Building Elevate Consulting Collective while raising Jack is the daily proof of that idea. No switching selves between nine and five. One person, showing up whole, in every room.

Read the full feature in the September 2026 issue.