Conversations with Sarah Caleb

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Caleb.

Sarah, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I think you could call me a rogue nurse turned mindset coach. I came to LA on a travel nursing assignment and couldn’t bring myself to leave. I kind of stumbled onto coaching by accident. I had been working through a string of tragic patient outcomes and my morale was low. I’m really passionate about helping people, but the nature of disease and the healthcare system as we know it isn’t always conducive to that. I was trying to get more into self-care, so I went through a workshop through a coaching company called The Bold Leader Collective (formerly Revenue Tribe). I loved the health and the outcomes I saw in myself in the people who went through it with me so much that I decided to start working for them. I really just did it so I could have a “fun job” to help me take my mind off of the hard things I was seeing at work. Surprisingly my fun job started making more than my “real job” and, although I still love much of what I do as a nurse, it didn’t make sense to turn my clients away so I could go work at the hospital for less money and less fulfillment.

Even though my background is medical, something came alive in me when I started helping people in media and entertainment. There is truly nothing like this industry. It requires vulnerability, courage, and tenacity in a way that no other industry does. I have never witnessed something that is simultaneously so public and so personal. In other industries, someone can reject the service or the product and it might be disheartening, but in media and entertainment, it’s sooo personal because the people ARE the product. To get back up every day in a world where schedules, paychecks, and opportunities are in constant flux and to put your most personal self out in the world where the response can range anywhere from being worshiped to being despised is an incredibly unique art form that deserves all the respect and support I can give. They say, “he who controls the media controls the world.” I believe that is partially because to make it in a medium that is made up of such contradicting forces is such a feat, it demands attention.

I had an amazing time working with the incredible team at Bold, but as time went on, it became clear to me that it was time to branch out on my own so I could use my unique voice even more and serve the LA community more fully with a coaching and mental health company that was designed to specifically meet this city’s culture and needs. I’m just getting started in the solopreneur world, but I’m surrounded by so many pioneers and trailblazers that I’ve never felt so connected to others while doing something all on my own.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the main things I do with my clients is help them overcome burnout and imposter syndrome. They both often come from the same root cause which is usually people not taking risks. This is typically either by not letting their most authentic self/story been holistically seen or not venturing out into something that is super scary because it is deeply meaningful to them. It’s easy to excel at things we don’t really care about, but to dive into what matters most to us can be terrifying.

I thought it was the scariest thing in the world to transition from letting my nursing job (the one with the stable income and benefits) become my side hustle and my side hustle (the one with no guarantees) become my primary focus. That was scary, but what was terrifying was making the decision to branch out from a company and a team that I love to do something on my own. I can no longer hide behind the branding and workflow of a larger entity. I have to do what I help my clients do and put myself, my whole self out there. If someone doesn’t like my business, it’s me they’re rejecting, not my team or my company. That is not easy work. It’s also not easy leaving a team that has helped build my foundation. I think I used to believe that you live your life, you find the right people and the right job, and once you do, you stick with them and things don’t have to change anymore. That’s actually not true. If you’re really surrounding yourself with the right people, they are going to make you continuously grow, and that means a lifestyle of change. It’s much harder to leave a team and a place that you love than one that you hate. I wasn’t prepared for that, but the right people and places will empower us to embrace the uncomfortable for the sake of what is meaningful.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a mindset coach and I specialize in helping people in media and entertainment overcome imposter syndrome and burnout to find their competitive edge and to face the challenges in their lives. A lot of personal growth companies can either paint things with a lot of false positivity that doesn’t equip people to deal with the difficult aspects of life, or they focus so much on the negative things people are dealing with that people can get more consumed with fixing what’s wrong with them than moving forward with what’s right. My philosophy in the work I do equips people to face the mountains and challenges in their lives but to approach scaling them through a spirit of adventure instead of drudgery.

I do what I do because I believe media impacts every part of our lives. If we can get people in media healthy and thriving, that is a gift that will have a ripple effect on the world. I am most proud of the health and courage I have seen come to the clients I work with and the risks I have seen them take because of it. I feel incredibly successful just to see them living confident, fulfilling lives, but when I also see that expressed through them creating media that is healing rather than damaging to the world, I feel like the luckiest person alive to do what I do.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I LOVE the creative spirit and endless possibility that embodies this city. It’s a city of risk-takers and pioneers, and it constantly makes me believe that anything is possible. When I moved to L.A. I felt like I could finally inhale and exhale fully for the first time cause there was no one that was going to tell me how I should or shouldn’t breathe. While there will always be haters, it feels like everyone out here is just too busy working to live out their full potential than to waste precious time criticizing someone else. I am constantly inspired and challenged by living in a culture of creatives who are always pushing the limits and working hard to bring new, fresh things to the world.

What I like least are the areas of instability and the lack of humanity that have been made normal and acceptable in the industry. It ranges from big things to small things. It’s not ok that after putting their heart and soul into an audition, people don’t get the human courtesy of being told they didn’t get the part. It’s not ok that creatives and crew members have to work hours and in conditions that are oftentimes worse than the medical industry when no one’s live is depending on a whole group of people exhausting themselves and pushing their health to the breaking point. It’s one thing for a group of surgeons and nurses to stand on their feet for 36 hours straight to keep someone’s heart beating, but for an entire crew to stand out in the cold away from their loved ones for the same amount of time just to keep from going over budget is unacceptable. I used to think marriages in Hollywood don’t last because there are so many beautiful people around it makes monogamy difficult, but the schedules alone are enough to make the strongest, healthiest of people and relationships get isolated and crumble.

Even though it upsets me, these conditions continue to drive me to stand my ground in L.A. as a continued presence to make health and wholeness a cultural norm for this city and to cheer those on who are fighting for change.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @sjcaleb

Image Credits:
@truemoxieimage; @tiffanyalysa