I’m Sarah Green.
I’m attracted to work that leads to new, better futures and positive change. I’ve been fortunate in my career to learn from and experience different sectors and approaches. My favorite projects have always been a little experimental, sometimes a lot risky. I love meeting someone with a vision, someone who might apologize for their clear excitement. Too much excitement is exactly the right amount!
I love to design projects, meetings, and opportunities that are exactly tailored to a moment or a desired outcome. I draw on my professional experiences to help shape a plan of action for the work that needs to be done. I take a proactive approach with loads of encouragement along the way. I’ll ask questions to help you reflect, challenge you to dream, and help us clarify the path forward during our time together.
My Approach
I love to work with groups grappling with big questions. Some of the challenges I’ve helped organizations tackle recently:
We need to make some decisions about our organization’s present and future. How should we do it?
How do we develop an inclusive strategy, across different sectors and groups, to conserve and protect a disappearing natural resource?
Our funding is suddenly uncertain. How can we shift our approach to stay true to our mission and help our team work better?
In each instance, there was a problem or a challenge that was important but didn’t come with a clear solution. The people involved were committed to a strong outcome - but that outcome wasn’t decided.
Together, we came up with a creative, appropriate approach - a meeting, a report, a process - that was flexible enough to capture different perspectives but focused enough to elevate the challenge at hand. We set and met timelines and deadlines. Each organization owned the issue and the product. I stayed true to the process and the purpose, asking questions and checking in along the way.
Collecting data and information through stories and experiences adds layers of possibility when the path forward isn’t clear. Working in these uncertain spaces requires a level of trust and the ability to have honest conversations and patience. Building and sharing trust can be an overlooked part of a project; I work to illuminate, encourage and include it as a process and an outcome wherever I can.
Wherever there is conversation, there is hope.
— Wendell Berry
The practice of asking powerful yet respectful questions has been the core of my career, regardless of the professional space I’ve occupied. Inspired in many ways by my background in journalism and public service, I enrolled in an intensive course offered through the Kansas Leadership Center in 2022 to help me figure out if I wanted to become a leadership coach.
Coaching can take different names and stripes. To me, it’s an authentic way to hold confidential space for someone to explore different ideas. The person being coached owns their story. They’re encouraged to come to their own conclusions—and to watch someone make a connection within themselves for the first time is to watch a human form of power generation. As a result, I’ve chosen to incorporate coaching practices into virtually all of my work.
Client Community
I’ve been fortunate to work with a wide variety of organizations in different capacities. Whether working as a consultant or employee, serving as a board member, or volunteering, here are selected and recent groups with whom I’ve worked:
The Hutchinson News
Kansas Health Institute
KHI News Service
Kansas Department of Agriculture
Kansas Association of Conservation Districts
Heartland Strategies
Kansas Food Action Network
Sunflower Foundation
Kansas Health Foundation
Kansas Sampler Foundation
Kansas State Fair
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas
CAPS Network
Kansas Department of Transportation
KU School of Medicine-Wichita
Community Engagement Institute at Wichita State University
Kansas Rural Water Association
Rock Paper Feather Press
Radically Rural
Rural Assembly
Kansas Rural Communities Foundation
I’m drawn to projects that connect to the often-unseen systems that shape the quality and health of our lives. These projects typically include objective communications, community engagement, agriculture and food systems, water and natural resources, and systems that involve health, usually public health or health care.
Based in Kansas
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Working Everywhere
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Based in Kansas ❁ Working Everywhere ❋
I chose the name Prairie Meadowlark in honor of the plants, animals, and symbols of the place I’ve always lived. A prairie is an amazingly interconnected system of plants, animals and organisms that work together. Notably, these grasslands benefit from the occasional disruption from fire or the hooves of grazing animals in order to stay healthy. The push and pull between disruption and growth is both poetic and symbolic.
The western meadowlark is the official state bird of Kansas and has a loud, vibrant and recognizable song for such a little creature.
I have chosen to live and work in Kansas, though I am eager to explore opportunities across the nation and world. No matter where I land, I carry the value of “no space too small, no conversation too big” wherever I work. I am committed to working in spaces and communities that have been underrepresented and even perhaps misunderstood by traditional approaches and systems.