It is about how we show up when the way ahead is unclear.
Executive coaching, mentor coaching and leadership development for leaders, teams and individuals navigating change, complexity and responsibility.
Start a conversation →It requires the ability to make decisions with incomplete information, navigate competing perspectives, manage uncertainty and remain effective under pressure.
Coaching creates the space to step back, examine what is happening more clearly, and make more intentional choices about how to lead.
I work with leaders who bring different experiences, values and perspectives. My work is to help you think with rigour and choose with awareness.
That means questioning assumptions, weighing alternative perspectives, understanding the impact of decisions, and arriving at choices that are genuinely your own.
Coaching is a space for inquiry, not assumptions.
Each begins in the same place — a confidential space for rigorous reflection — and takes a different shape depending on who you are.
For anyone navigating transition, greater responsibility, complex decisions or a changing environment — whether you lead a team or contribute as an individual. A confidential space to think strategically, challenge assumptions, strengthen your presence and gain clarity around decisions and priorities.
Explore →For coaches who want to deepen their practice, develop greater confidence and strengthen the quality of their coaching. Combines reflection, feedback and professional development, while remaining grounded in the coach's own style and strengths.
Explore →For organisations strengthening leadership capability and building healthier, more effective working cultures. I design and facilitate learning experiences around leadership, decision-making, communication, trust and how teams work well together.
Explore →International work gave me a wider view. Coaching added a closer, more personal one.
My approach is informed by more than 25 years of international work across human rights, law and organisational development.
Working in different countries, institutions and contexts has shaped how I understand leadership: not only as an individual capability, but as something that takes place within systems, relationships and organisational cultures.
It has also taught me to pay attention to how decisions are really made, how organisations work beneath the surface, and how intentions translate into impact.
Built on the P.O.W.E.R.S. Model developed by the Institute for Coaching Innovation, drawing on cognitive-behavioural science, neuroscience, shadow work and structured goal-setting.
When priorities shift and the picture is not yet clear, values give us something to come back to.
I work with clients to name theirs early, because values become a compass when the way forward is uncertain — they help us decide what to protect, what to let go of, and what matters most when there is no perfect answer.
A clear compass matters more than a fixed map.
Pressure doesn't leave at the door — it shows up in the work, and in what's left at the end of the day.
I don't coach the role in isolation. Energy, focus and mindset are part of how someone performs, and they belong in the conversation — even when the work itself stays the focus. Growth that holds up through change is never just a performance question.
The whole person shows up. Not just the title.
An executive coach, mentor coach and human rights professional with more than 25 years of international experience across law, human rights and organisational development. I began my career as a legal officer in the Portuguese Navy, went on to practise law and advise the Portuguese government, taught law at university level, and today work as a consultant with the United Nations.
I have worked with institutions including UNICEF, UNDP, UNHCR and the World Bank Group, and have trained more than 4,000 people across Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Timor-Leste and the United States. I hold a Master of Science in Law, am a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation, and a certified conflict mediator.
Across all of it, I have stayed with the same questions: how people make decisions, how leadership operates in complex systems, and how greater awareness leads to better choices.
Start a conversation →Sara is a powerful coach, with such an accurate and clear capacity to guide us through the journey of self-awareness, towards our goals for change.
Sara is an excellent coach. She is able to listen deeply and she is very clear while conducting the session. She asks questions that are difficult to answer, because they force us to think truly. I had never experienced coaching, and I really liked it. Thank you, Sara.
I had three sessions with her, and I was immediately put at ease and made to feel comfortable trying my hand at learning the coaching lessons. I really appreciate all her feedback, time and patience, and she never acted like she was too busy or bored or rushed. She really is one of those fine people you hope to meet in life, with a genuine passion for working with others.
Complex situations rarely have simple answers.
A good conversation can create the clarity needed to decide what comes next.
Start a conversation →