About Sarah

About

Dr. Sarah Trocchio is an equity-driven consultant and nationally certified coach specializing in leadership and organizational development that supports amplification, access, and opportunity for professionals from traditionally underrepresented groups. 


Sarah received her M.S.W. from Boston University and her doctorate at Rutgers University. Prior to becoming a consultant and coach, Sarah was a professor of Sociology and Criminology. While in academia, Sarah’s teaching, research, and advocacy focused on how institutions like the higher education system, and workplaces, may operate to compound or mitigate systemic injustices. 


She has published, presented, and taught widely in the fields of sociology, criminology, and social work, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She is a skilled social scientist whose work has been featured in peer-reviewed outlets such as The Journal of Research on Crime and Delinquency, Latino Studies, and Substance Use & Misuse. She is also fiercely dedicated to democratizing access to research. 

Equity Advocate & Consultant

From her early days as a social work student, Sarah has been committed to advancing contemporary equity issues across institutional contexts. She has taught graduate students tools for effective social advocacy at Simmons University, collaborated with the Massachusetts' Cannabis Control Commission on how municipalities in the state could advance equity aims following cannabis legalization, presented keynotes for legal organizations on integrating social science into public defense strategies, and continues to speak out publicly on pressing matters pertaining to ethnic, racial, and gender equity in higher education & beyond.


Sarah leverages her people-centered skills + training in social science research to amplify the voices of marginalized constituents in higher education, workplaces, and society at large through high-impact, people-science and strategic development. She has consulted across diverse sectors, including tech, small business, and government.


Sarah became a nationally board-certified coach in January 2022 and works with diverse leaders from traditionally underrepresented groups to identify and doggedly pursue empowered purpose. 


She is also the owner and operator of the Square Peg Club, a career coaching and strategy firm for academics looking to stir things up professionally.

Get In Touch

Publications

Rider University Magazine

High Stakes

Winter 2021

What Sarah's Clients Are Saying

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  • As the head of Research and Development (RD), at a San Francisco-based startup studio, I worked with Sarah in her capacity as a market research consultant on a new business concept from January to March 2022. She produced two products for the studio in that time-- a slide deck with an audio guide and a detailed word document. Sarah leveraged her prior experience in the tech sector as well as her expertise as a social scientist to help the team successfully identify customer pain points so that we could draw meaningful insights about the market segments we were actively exploring. In addition to her impeccable research and content creation skills, Sarah worked to ensure that we were considering these market issues from an equity lens and was responsive and collegial. I highly recommend her.

    Daniel Case, PhD

  • In the spring of 2021, I received Sarah’s name from another colleague who had collaborated directly with her on an extensive speaker series on Race in America the previous summer. That colleague recommended Sarah for a 2-hour program I created for white people in academia who want to be an ally called, “Being White, Being An Ally: Racial Equality in Academe.” The online program featured Sarah as one of the four speakers. For her contribution, Sarah put together an amazing slide deck and 40-minute recording of her walking through the slides she prepared on a topic of her choosing, which was on successful recruitment and retention of employees of color. 


    Both in terms of content and style, Sarah’s presentation was highly impactful and she was a pleasure to work with. She is clearly a passionate subject-matter expert who is committed to making workplaces more equitable. 


    I would highly recommend her for any DEI-related projects and speaking engagements!

    Dr. Sheena Howard - Power Your Research

Coaching

Sarah is a nationally-board certified coach through the Center for Credentialing and Education. In addition to completing her coach-training at the Institute for Life Coaching Training (ICLT) in 2021, Sarah is an experienced social worker - she received her MSW in 2011. 


Leadership Coaching


I offer high-impact leadership coaching for fellow equity-driven leaders who crave a bit more pep in their steps as they navigate ever-complex professional contexts amidst their own needs and desires. We work together to effectively tackle pressing workplace issues while making lots of space for you as a whole human being to explore how your identity intersects with the systems in which you are embedded. We name and then claim what features of your professional experience can get you feeling a bit freer and a bit more fully seen for who you are. 


Career Coaching and Strategy


With over two years in practice as the founder and owner of the Square Peg Club, I specialize in helping academics and other higher education professionals at critical junctures in their careers get real about their core values and how they can best be activated to prompt greater professional freedom & fulfillment. As an ex-academic who has worked as a solopreneur, full-time consultant, and tech employee in addition to being on the tenure track, I apply lots of honed expertise to guide and uplift you as you explore what lies within and beyond higher education


Focus Your Future