LifeBeat Follow-up: Sarah Bacerra

We’re back! I took some weeks off from posting to do some traveling, but now it’s time to get back to it!

Let’s catch up with the dynamic Sarah Bacerra, entrepreneur, mom, and inspiring leader. Sarah was the third guest on episode # 6 of LifeBeat: Conversations with Purposeful Womxn (watch the episode) back in February 2021. Like many of the people we’ve already talked to, Sarah also went through some professional changes since we last talked and is still as committed as ever to creating, sustaining, and building a more equitable world. This Q&A was conducted over email, and Sarah provided these answers on April 11, 2022.

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Lizzie: We started off with questions for all the guests beginning with a question about pets. You and your family had gotten a pandemic puppy. Tell us how it’s been going.

Sarah: Our pandemic puppy is thriving, thanks for asking! Our dog, Sunday, graduated from puppy academy last year and is doing great.

The next question was about the highs and lows of technology. Do you consider yourself a Zoom pro now? What do you see for the future of how we work?

No, I still don’t feel like a Zoom pro because they keep changing things on me! These almost always end up being changes for good, like live captioning; it just takes me a couple beats to figure out the new features. 

I am very excited, however, by the innovative ideas coming out on how to use technology to broaden our reach, our access, and our equitable environments. There’s a new tool I recently learned about called Equalicert, and it’s essentially a Chrome extension that will allow you to see in real-time how much time each Zoom participant has spent talking in a meeting. We talk about “passing the mic”; now we can see the data to prove when we’re not doing it enough. It’s awesome to see these new ideas connected to creating equitable and safe virtual spaces.

I asked everyone about their most treasured possession. Your response was your home. Tell us what you consider your home away from home. Is it at a family home or maybe some vacation spot where you feel totally comfy?

My home away from home has to be my dad and stepmom’s house on Whidbey Island in Washington. It’s lush and green all around, you’re surrounded by water, and there’s a calmness on the island that’s hard to feel in large cities where hustle culture reigns supreme. We make it up there about once or twice a year. It is my peaceful sanctuary.

When we got to our more focused conversation, we started off talking about the Women’s March. In Feb 2021, you’d just concluded the virtual march in San Diego the previous month. Was there a march this year? Tell us what’s happening with the organization and what the future holds.

After serving in different leadership capacities since 2017, I stepped down from my role as President at the end of 2021. As an organization, I know the team is still regaining its footing from a very challenging two years. As is true for many volunteer-led nonprofits, Covid hit us hard. It was incredibly difficult to navigate what marchers needed from us and how to build volunteer capacity when everyone was navigating through collective grief. I will always be proud and in awe of all that we’ve accomplished as an organization. Women can do so much with so little. Can you only imagine what the world would look like if we had equal access to resources?

You started your own consulting business in 2020. Let us know how it’s going, what the highlight of 2021 was, and what you’re looking forward to this year. In the same vein, tell us about Trailblazing in Color.

Since 2020, I have been running my consulting business, at times with a full-time job. I am happy and proud to say that in July 2021, I left my most recent position to found my current company, Trailblazing in Color. 

Trailblazing in Color is on a mission to help trailblazers embody their voice, increase their courage, and empower one another to create change at scale. Our focus is on supporting the “firsts” and the “onlys” to thrive in and change systems that were not designed by them or for them. 

Supporting leaders and innovators from historically excluded communities, our services include one-on-one and group coaching, peer advisory groups, and a community of trailblazers hell-bent on amplifying our collective impact.

If anyone is interested in learning more, I’d be happy to connect: https://calendly.com/trailblazing-in-color/discovery-call

You are raising two daughters and you shared that the pandemic was/has been difficult to handle with regard to navigating the restrictions. How are things going now?

Nothing is ever perfect, but we make it as joyful as possible. We hold onto the small moments. I’ve been doing a little bit of business travel lately, after almost two years of staying put, and whenever I come back home from a trip, they each hold me in hugs far longer than we ever did before the pandemic, like a full minute at least. It makes me really appreciate the close bond my daughters, my partner, and I cultivated by spending so much time together. They make me feel like the luckiest every single day.

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Thank you so much, Sarah. Your personal ethos and professional integrity shines through, and I’m so glad to know that you’re out in the world making it better. Make sure to check out the website of Sarah’s new business, Trailblazing in Color.