Meet Sarah
Sarah Rodgers is the Principal of iolite consulting, an executive coach, leadership consultant, counsellor, and author based in Canberra, Australia. After building a successful career across finance, human resources, and organisational leadership, she founded iolite consulting to help individuals and teams discover greater confidence, fulfillment, success and lasting growth.
A Career That Was Always About People
Looking at Sarah Rodgers’ career on paper, it is easy to see an accomplished professional who has worked with a number of large global and Australian organisations. Her journey has taken her through accounting, banking, aviation, leadership, and human resources before she eventually established her own consultancy. Yet behind every role was something much quieter that had been guiding her all along.
Long before executive coaching became her profession, Sarah was the person people naturally turned to for advice, reassurance, and perspective. Whether she was working in finance or leading organisational change, she found herself listening carefully, asking thoughtful questions, and helping others navigate uncertainty. Those moments mattered to her more than titles or promotions because they reflected something deeply personal.
Helping people discover what they are capable of has never felt like a job to Sarah. It has always felt like a responsibility she was meant to carry.
Learning Through Every Chapter
Sarah often says her professional story truly began at thirteen years old when she took an after school job at a local pharmacy. It was there that she discovered the value of serving people, understanding their needs, and observing how a business operated from the inside.
That early experience became the foundation for a career defined by curiosity rather than rigid planning. After university she joined KPMG, working in insolvency during a period when many Australian businesses were struggling with debt. The experience sharpened her understanding of financial discipline while exposing her to the realities people face when circumstances become difficult.
Over the years she embraced opportunities that many would consider completely unrelated. She worked at Telstra during the early days of mobile telecommunications, gained valuable technology experience at IBM, contributed to the redevelopment of Sydney International Airport with Lend Lease, and later spent significant years at Citibank and Westpac in senior finance leadership positions.
Each move expanded her perspective. Every industry introduced new challenges, different teams, and fresh ways of thinking. Rather than following a carefully designed career map, Sarah allowed herself to keep learning, trusting that each experience would eventually serve a greater purpose.
Listening to the Quiet Voice Within
Despite enjoying a successful corporate career, Sarah began to notice a growing feeling that something was missing. There was no dramatic turning point or professional crisis. Instead, there was simply an increasing awareness that achievement alone was no longer enough.
While working at Westpac, she had the opportunity to work with an executive coach. During their very first conversation, she was asked a question that many professionals encounter but few answer with complete honesty.
“I want to do your job.”
Those six words surprised even Sarah. They revealed something she had struggled to articulate for years. Beneath decades of finance, leadership, and corporate responsibility was a genuine desire to help people understand themselves more deeply and move confidently toward the lives they wanted to build.
That realisation did not lead to an immediate career change. Instead, it became the beginning of careful preparation. She invested in coaching qualifications, psychotherapy training, and continuous learning while gradually building the skills that would eventually shape her future.
Choosing Courage Over Certainty
Few people willingly leave senior executive positions without a clear plan, yet Sarah chose exactly that path. Shortly after turning forty, she stepped away from Westpac without knowing precisely what would come next.
Looking back, she admits she would not necessarily recommend making such a leap without preparation. Even so, trusting herself became one of the defining decisions of her career.
Her coaching practice began almost accidentally, growing through curiosity, commitment, and genuine care for the people she served. As her expertise expanded, she accepted leadership opportunities that strengthened her understanding of organisational culture, including becoming General Manager of People and Performance at Sydney Airport before later leading People and Culture during a major organisational merger at the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation.
Each experience reinforced the same lesson. Organisations succeed because of people, and when people feel understood, supported, and confident, remarkable change becomes possible.
Building a Practice Rooted in Trust
In November 2016, Sarah founded iolite consulting with little more than experience, conviction, and a belief that meaningful work begins with meaningful conversations. Nearly a decade later, her business continues to thrive, built almost entirely through referrals from people who have experienced her work firsthand. For Sarah, that speaks more loudly than any marketing campaign or business milestone ever could.
Her clients come from different industries and stages of life, but they often share something in common. They are searching for clarity, confidence, or the courage to make an important change. Sarah creates a space where they can explore those questions without fear of judgement. Guided by compassion, curiosity, honesty, and respect, she helps people recognise strengths they may have overlooked and possibilities they may have dismissed.
She believes that lasting change cannot be forced. It grows when people feel genuinely seen and heard. That philosophy has become the foundation of her work and the reason so many clients continue to return or recommend her to others. Some even reconnect years later to share how their lives or careers have evolved, reminders that meaningful conversations can have an impact long after the coaching relationship ends.
Reflecting on her work, Sarah says,
“I’ve been given such an incredible gift; the gift to innately understand others and see the world through their eyes. Once I accepted that it was a gift, I knew that I had to use it to make the world a better place, one person at a time.”
Those words capture the heart of her approach. Success is never measured by the number of clients she serves but by the difference those individuals go on to make in their own lives, workplaces, and communities.
Redefining Success on Her Own Terms
Like many professionals, Sarah once measured success through external achievements. Career progression, financial security, and recognition all seemed like reasonable markers of a successful life. Over time, however, she realised those measures were incomplete.
As she became more comfortable with who she was, her definition of success changed. Rather than asking whether she had reached someone else’s expectations, she began asking a far simpler question. Was she happy?
That shift transformed not only her personal life but also the way she works with others. Instead of encouraging people to chase titles or promotions for their own sake, she helps them discover what fulfilment genuinely looks like for them. Sometimes that means embracing a new opportunity. Sometimes it means finding confidence exactly where they are.
Her own journey taught her that self belief is not something people either possess or lack. It is something that grows through experience, reflection, and a willingness to challenge old stories about who they think they should be.
Looking Ahead with Curiosity
As iolite consulting approaches its tenth anniversary, Sarah remains as curious as she was at the beginning of her career. She recently accepted her first board appointment, opening another chapter of learning while continuing to coach leaders and organisations across Australia.
Outside her consultancy, she is also an accomplished author. After spending almost a decade writing her first novel, she celebrated its publication, proving to herself that patience and persistence often produce the most rewarding outcomes. She hopes to write a second novel while continuing to expand the impact of her coaching practice.
Her future plans are refreshingly balanced. Alongside professional ambitions, she speaks just as warmly about travelling, spending time with family and friends, reading good books, and enjoying well made cups of tea. These are not distractions from success but essential parts of a life she has intentionally designed.
Sarah also hopes her story encourages others who believe they have missed their chance to pursue meaningful work. She knows from experience that some of life’s most important decisions happen well after the careers people imagine for themselves have already begun.
A Life Guided by Purpose
Sarah Rodgers’ story is not simply about changing careers. It is about choosing authenticity over expectation and purpose over certainty. Every chapter of her professional life, from a teenage job in a pharmacy to executive leadership and ultimately founding her own consultancy, has contributed to the person she is today.
She understands that confidence is rarely immediate and that growth often begins with quiet moments of honesty. By helping others believe in themselves, she continues to create a ripple effect that extends far beyond individual coaching sessions.
Her journey reminds us that the most meaningful careers are not always carefully planned. Sometimes they are discovered by paying attention to the quiet voice that keeps asking for something more, then having the courage to follow where it leads.
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