Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Colomé

Hi Sarah, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?

Like many, my goal was never to start a company so it’s been an interesting road to get here. I was burned out when I started Collective Futures. Desperately trying to keep my head above water after bouncing from one dysfunctional organization to the next, all the while leading some very heavy trauma-response work.

I started the company because quite honestly – I believe the work of creating change can and must be better. I watched as organizations and campuses proclaiming values like wellbeing, inclusion, equity, and innovation would say one thing then turn around and enact harm toward their own teams and communities.

You see, I’ve been the entry level hire who is experiencing abusive managerial practices, fooled into believing scarcity and that my organization’s “family” dynamic was an allowable excuse for toxic behavior. I’ve been the manager caught between performative leaders and underserved communities, and I’ve been retaliated against for holding an organization (and leaders) to its own values. I’ve also been in rooms with those who know these choices don’t serve us, or our missions. The people who may not necessarily know what lies ahead, but know that change is messy, but that there is beauty in those moments. And that those moments build to a wave of transformation greater than what we ever started with.

Fortunately, I have met incredible people along the way – people who live their values, who embrace the challenges and mess of being imperfect, and who model self-awareness, learning, and true emergence. This is why I know what is possible when we are willing to show up authentically, and recenter humanity in social change work.

Collective Futures is about actually embodying our values, and moving from good intentions to good practice. Having worked with and for national and local nonprofits, governmental offices, and campuses across the country I wanted to create a space where people who were ready to do truly transformational work felt seen and supported.

So, I decided to create a space like the one I had been looking for. A place where people can come as they are, and be supported in unlearning the restrictive and oppressive practices that keep us from creating the kind of lasting change we all want to make.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

The entrepreneurial road has been quite a roller coaster. Shifting from a few very toxic and taxing positions to what I’m doing now has also helped me to really reexamine my relationship with rest. I was bouncing between 0 and 100 for so long that an integrated lifestyle felt impossible. Now, I’m giving myself the grace and space to play with rest and how it can be a core tenet of my life, rather than a reward or a remedy.

As someone who thrives with a diverse portfolio of projects, it can also be hard to narrow down the work to something manageable or “niche”. When you have so many ideas, and you see so many unaddressed needs, being selective can feel limiting. What I’ve found helpful is tracking those lightbulb moments, capturing them, and mapping them out for the future. In many cases, they weave quite fluidly into something I’m already doing, or are a substantive compliment to one of our programs that clients can explore in their next chapter of growth. As a relationship-oriented company, my goal is to create multiple entry points that can be layered according to individual and organizational need.

I think that overall, the ability to make choices in a different way than I’ve been afforded when working for others, outweighs any of the struggles I’ve encountered thus far. But who knows – ask me again in a few months!

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

At Collective Futures, we work to build liberated, effective, and care-driven teams, programs, and workplaces. Through authentic, forward-thinking partnership, we enhance necessary capacity and cultivate new approaches to your mission-driven work.

We offer customized services that can include strategic planning, retreat facilitation, team building, individual and group coaching, capacity-building workshops, resource development, and organizational development consultations. All services are provided through an anti-oppressive, trauma-informed lens adapted to the unique needs of your organization or community. While our services are relevant to all professionals, our approach is rooted in nearly fifteen years of experience in nonprofit and higher education spaces.

Collective Futures is here to help put intention into practice, through personal and organizational transformation. By centering community voices, we support clients who are eager to bravely deconstruct the barriers that prohibit equity in action.

We’re known for creating and facilitating experiences and resources that get to the core of a person or organization’s goals. At Collective Futures we bring proven strategies, humor, empathy, and an unapologetic commitment to advancing equity. I’m proud to have worked alongside – and continue to work with – so many agents of change in this country and others.

What was your favorite childhood memory?

One was our annual Christmas tradition of packing into the car with PJs, blankets and pillows to go look at neighborhood lights. We would pile in, sometimes with hot chocolate or cider, and typically fall asleep by the time we got home. Now as adults, the phrase “I wonder what they’re electricity bill is like” gets said a lot more often than, “Oh look, Santa!”

Pricing:

• • Our newest offering just launched: Unlocking Powerful Professional Partnerships. This live, 6-week interactive course provides the critical foundations of relationship-building, and actionable strategies for building the professional partnerships that can propel your work – and community – forward.
• • Cost: $469 but we also offer payment plans to maximize accessibility.
• • A synchronous version of this course will likely roll out as well in a few months.
• • Later this Fall we plan to launch our interactive Rest as Restoration series. Follow @ourcollectivefutures to stay up to date or sign up for our newsletter.
• • Beyond our course offerings, all of our services are customized in design and price to best fit the needs of our clients..

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ourcollectivefutures.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ourcollectivefutures
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ourcollectivefutures
• Other: https://bit.ly/UnlockCourse24