Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Nelson.
Hi Sara, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I guess you could say I spent the first three decades of my life following the blueprint society told me would make me happy, earn the college degree, get married, build a successful career, buy the house, have the kids. By all traditional standards, I had “made it.”
But at 35, that version of success I was sold, began to crumble. I was battling postpartum depression after the birth of my second child while grieving the sudden loss of my 16-year-old niece. I spent a year trying to outrun the pain, keeping busy, numbing, doing anything to avoid feeling. Eventually, I found myself in the back of a dark yoga room, desperate for something I couldn’t yet name. Those 60 minutes in that first class were so uncomfortable; it felt like a lifetime of pushing everything down was bubbling to the surface. I wanted to run, but I stayed. I kept returning to that mat and gravitating towards these rooms and with people who were speaking the truth.
Over time, that mat became a place of reckoning and renewal. Yoga helped me reconnect with myself and uncover the deep mind-body connection that was guiding me through grief and transformation. I made a promise to myself that as I learned these tools, I would one day share them with others. That promise eventually led me to become a yoga teacher in 2018 and to lead my first women’s retreat in 2021.
For more than two decades, I had also been working in the nonprofit sector, on issues like child welfare, affordable housing, rural health, mental health, and addiction. My frontline work revealed both the depth of injustice in our communities and the fragmentation within the very systems meant to help. Collaboration too often gave way to competition, and I saw how burnout and disconnection in the non-profit industry mirrored what I was feeling in my own life.
Those two worlds, my professional life in social impact and my personal journey of healing, eventually came together. Today, through coaching, consulting, retreats, and women’s circles, I support people and organizations doing transformational work, in their personal lives and the world around them.
This work led me to co-found Meet Us on the Frontlines, a non-profit built on the idea that most people care deeply about the future we’re creating, but often feel overwhelmed about where to begin. We connect those who want to get involved in some of our most pressing issues, with the organizations on the frontlines doing the work. I truly believe everyone holds a vital skill, story, or solution that’s needed right now—and I’ve witnessed the incredible transformation that happens when people feel seen, heard, and valued in community.
In many ways, my story has come full circle. The path that once looked perfect on paper ultimately led me back to myself and to a calling that weaves together healing, justice, and collective care. Because in the end, I’ve learned that healing ourselves and healing the world aren’t separate journeys, they’re one and the same.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh my goodness, no and honestly, I wouldn’t want it to be. The most challenging and even tragic moments in my life have also been the portals for the greatest transformation. I’ve learned that when we allow ourselves to fully experience the hard emotions instead of running from them, they can become incredible teachers.
When I left behind more than 20 years in a stable career to step into the unknown world of entrepreneurship, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It took a solid year just to start finding my footing. As humans, we naturally want to rush to figure things out, to move from the unknown and uncomfortable to the known and comfortable. I’ve discovered that all the good stuff happens in that in-between space. That’s where we learn who we really are and what we’re truly capable of. It’s where resilience is born.
Growth is one of my core values, which means I spend much of my life living in the uncomfortable. Whenever I’m offered an opportunity and my first reaction is fear or the thought, “I could never do that,” I take it as a sign that it’s usually the next thing I need to do.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Nothing lights me up more than supporting people and organizations in realizing their own power to create change. Whether it’s through individual or group coaching—especially supporting women in those transitional, in-between spaces where they are no longer who they were and not yet who they’re becoming—or through consulting with small, grassroots nonprofits tackling some of the biggest challenges we face as a collective, my work is deeply rooted in transformation.
I believe these liminal spaces aren’t just personal, they’re collective. They mark a moment in time when old systems are dissolving and new ways of living and leading are emerging. My role is to help people and organizations navigate that space with courage, clarity, and purpose.
Through the nonprofit I co-founded, Meet Us on the Frontlines, we work with individuals to identify their personal values, uncover the one or two causes that matter most to them, and recognize the unique skills and gifts they bring to the frontlines. We’re living in a time of profound transition, and it will be up to each of us to help shape the world we want to leave for future generations.
What I’m most proud of isn’t a title or milestone, its witnessing transformation happens in real time. It’s watching someone rediscover their confidence, take brave action, and begin creating a life or organization that feels truly aligned.
What sets me apart is that I don’t just teach growth, I live it. I continually choose to step into the uncomfortable spaces where real transformation happens. My clients and collaborators know that when they work with me, they’re not just getting strategies, they’re getting someone who has walked through her own seasons of uncertainty and come out stronger, ready to walk beside them through theirs.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Weaving joy into my work is at the root of everything I do. My dad, a distinguished college athletic coach, always told us that when you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. I finally understand what he meant because my work truly makes me happy. Helping people and organizations discover their own power to create change fills me with a deep sense of purpose and joy.
Outside of work, being in nature and live music are two things that ground and energize me, so I make them a priority whenever I can. But nothing brings me more happiness than being with my family and friends, and watching my kids grow into their own unique selves.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.meetusonthefrontlines.com and www.thesoljourney.com
- Instagram: @saraconnienelson
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-nelson-90a49077/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MeetUsOnTheFrontlines
