Sara Sabin is a qualified accountant, former start-up founder, and leadership coach, as well as a regular contributor for Entrepreneur Magazine and the Fast Company. She is on a mission to change how we perceive leadership, and believes that anyone, if encouraged, has leadership potential.
Sara partners with innovative companies and entrepreneurs, to coach leaders, and their teams, to become more emotionally smart, focused and higher performing, and to approach business challenges in a more creative way, so that they are more effective, impactful and satisfied at work.
Especially for the WomenTech Network, Sara agreed to give an interview and share her story.
Are you excited to be among the speakers at the WomenTech Global Conference 2021 and what motivated you to join our community of 100 000 women in tech, minorities, and allies?
I am very excited to be among the speakers at the WomenTech Global Conference 2021! I think it's so important for women to be represented in the tech community and to have access to a support network to elevate them. Sharing inspiring success stories and new ways of thinking can really help to open up womens' eyes to the possibilities out there for them. Yes, the fact remains, that tech is a male dominated industry and research suggests it also may be harder for female founders to get investment, BUT we need to focus on the future possibility and work on developing the resilience, passion and unshakeable mindset to reach our goals.
Share with us about your background, your journey in tech, and what inspired you to develop your career in this direction?
I come from a corporate background, working as a tax accountant and high net worth advisor; before beginning my entrepreneurial journey, 5 years ago.
In my time, I have founded two start-ups of my own (one of them being tech) and consulted for other tech start-ups. I was quite simply fascinated by technology's capacity to solve modern day problems, and bring a simple solution to the customer. The preponderance of tech start-ups in the last decade has been truly inspiring, as more people take creative problem solving into their own hands. The tech industry is slowly changing, as more women learn to code, work in AI/VR, and sit as CEO of YouTube; but we need more women having the confidence to step up and progress in the industry, either within a corporate environment or as a Founder. As a former tech start-up Founder, I found that there were indeed challenges to being a woman in the industry - from attitudes, to role models, to raising capital. I often felt very alone and I wish I had had a support network that I could have relied on, at the time.
Although I now no longer work in tech start-ups, my love of the industry remains, and I believe that it has the greatest capacity to change the world, of any industry. But for that to truly happen on the scale that it needs to, we need diverse leadership. My mission is to create a tech industry, composed of evolved senior leaders and entrepreneurs. Leaders (male or female) that bring more balanced traits to the job that they do, co-elevate others, and are not afraid to be courageous, authentic leaders, blending empathy and assertiveness; and kindness with tough decision making and competence. For men to see the effectiveness of this balanced leadership, there needs to be more female role models. In my work, I help leaders and their teams to reach higher levels of performance and inner potential through coaching and consulting, so that they are confident to step into being a unique leader.
Who would you advise to attend the Global Conference and why?
Any aspiring or established start-up entrepreneur, passionate about the tech space, with a great idea for how to solve a particular issue through technology. It's important that they have a support network to draw on and inspiring stories to motivate them.
Leaders working within the tech industry, who are interested in developing their leadership skills, to reach their full potential and have the maximum impact. Attending the conference will give them a springboard to gain internal and external insights.
Anyone interested in tech!
Reserve your spot at WomenTech Global Conference in June 2021 to enjoy Sara's talk "Intelligent Leadership: Adapting to An Exponentially Changing Business World", and learn from other inspiring speakers.
