It Girl Radio Episode #44: Sarah Kaler — Design and Lead a Dream Team

It Girl Radio

If anyone knows about corporate success, it’s Sarah Kaler. Sarah worked in the corporate world for 10+ years before starting her leadership-driven company called Soul Powered. Soul Powered is an inspiring business striving to give women tools to lead, empower and grow their own legacy.

Sarah’s executive career with Lululemon was impactful; she led many dynamic teams. During her time there she propelled many teams, projects and people forward.

Sarah was (and still is) so good at leadership she began to receive requests, outside of work, for advice and mentorship. Sarah’s ambitious spirit took over and she began offering her services part-time, while still working full-time for Lululemon. This gave Sarah a glimpse into an entrepreneurial lifestyle; a lifestyle she’d had a taste of before and a lifestyle she always had some desire to experience again.

Shortly after starting her “side-hustle”, Sarah was thrown a nasty curveball. She began experiencing grand mal seizures. This was completely terrifying for Sarah and her family. She found herself in hospitals, with doctors and specialists. This was a dramatic, scary change for her.

During this tumultuous time, Sarah and her husband began to feel a strong desire to start a family. Sarah always had a clear vision of, not only making an impact, but being a mother. There was a new sense of importance and urgency as Sarah experienced some unfortunate health problems.

Also, during this time, Sarah really began to think about adjusting her lifestyle. She could see her current lifestyle was not conducive to the part of her vision that included having a family. She wanted to find a path for herself, and other women, to be able to have a creative, meaningful outlet, and spend energy on a family.

Sarah hit rock bottom was when she had six grand mal seizures the week before her son was born. I can only imagine being is Sarah’s position; having a newborn baby and not having the ability to care for him.

During her maternity leave, Sarah and her husband knew everything had to change. They moved cities, began focusing on health and added a support system to their life. This was the beginning of a new chapter.

Sarah did return to work after maternity leave, but knew in her heart she was destined to spend her time and energy helping women “have it all”. She wanted to find a way to help women balance dynamic lives as mothers and entrepreneurs.

Sarah felt a great sense of freedom and empowerment as she finished her time in the the corporate world and established her own business. Sarah had great leadership skills and was progressively able to build a business that reflected her vision. Today, we are lucky enough to get some incredible advice from a woman who has found a way to “have it all”.

Some of the most passionate advice Sarah gives about being a leader is to have a deep personal responsibility for ourselves. We must show up as our whole selves and be congruent before we can move to managing a team successfully.

I also love Sarah’s advice on transforming the way we think. Sarah recommends “thinking like a CEO”. This means having a mindset to take responsibility for an entire company.

Another key aspect of building a business and leading is proactively designing your team to support your mission. There is a lot to be said about spending time determining the type of person you want to hire. It’s important to spend time deciding how that person will add to your vision and contribute to the business as a whole.

Sarah stresses the need for leaders to know their vision and continually share that vision with their internal team. This is something that should always be clear to the people you are relying on to help build a legacy.

I truly feel this episode is filled with nuggets of wisdom on leading and overcoming. Sarah provides so many tidbits of information that can transform the way you lead.

This episode also provides excellent guidance for growing into a leadership role, or magnifying the leadership role you have currently. I know I plan to implement Sarah’s leadership advice in my business.

Key Takeaways:

[:49] Jessica gives us the 37 week pregnancy update!

[1:37] Jessica introduces her guest Sarah Kaler of Soul Powered.

[2:10] Sarah is excited to share tips on how to be a better leader.

[4:52] Sarah’s business simply started with referrals, and she started consulting part-time.

[5:15] Sarah was having success in the corporate world, but started experiencing serious health problems and started to question her path.

[7:15] Sarah’s rock bottom was having six seizures in a week, and then giving birth to her son. This was a major pivot point for Sarah.

[7:13] Sarah knew from the time she was young she wanted to make an impact in the world and be a mother.

[8:05] How can women with vision continue to have a meaningful career and embrace motherhood?

[11:58] Sarah makes her decision to break away from the corporate world.

[15:28] From the beginning ,the purpose of Sarah’s business is to grow women into confident leaders.

[16:09] It is amazing how new opportunities in Sarah’s business have helped the business evolve into what it is today.

[17:40] Sarah talks about how to stride into a leadership role; be self-aware and take responsibility for yourself before anything else.

[22:04] The importance of communicating with the people who support us, to build a team.

[25:20] Proactively design teams that support you and what you are growing into.

[27:00] Hire support that can become part of your vision.

[29:00] Shift your mindset to a “CEO mindset.”

[30:00] Be mindful, thoughtful and hire slow.

[32:20] Identify your mission and ensure you are communicating that internally.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Jessica Nazarali Facebook

Sarah Kaler Soul Powered

Lululemon