Chef de Cuisine

Sarah began her career in restaurant operations with Hillstone Restaurant Group, becoming one of the youngest general managers at a $10m+ location before transitioning to a corporate HR role. After several years as an HR director, however, her position was eliminated, prompting her to pursue a similar HR leadership role in NYC's bustling hospitality industry. To her dismay, many of the small hospitality businesses she was drawn to simply did not need full-time HR support, despite their struggle with HR. In many of these initial conversations, Sarah instinctively pivoted her interview into a strategy session, focusing not on her career goals but on the HR needs of each business - often offering to complete small HR projects as a freelancer. A few months of working in this capacity was all Sarah needed to embrace her calling to build a sustainable, scalable consulting business. Empowered Hospitality was born.

Sarah earned her bachelor’s in political science with honors from Yale University, and holds her SHRM-SCP, WSET Advanced Certification (Wine & Spirits Educational Trust), and CSW (Certified Specialist of Wine). Sarah was selected as a 2021 Tory Burch Foundation Fellow for her passion for building an equitable, collaborative, and socially-conscious small business, is a perennial speaker at the annual FAB Conference in Charleston, SC, and is a guest lecturer at the School of Hospitality Administration at Boston University.

Ideal Restaurant Experience

Visiting home in Massachusetts always involves a highly-anticipated trip to the local clam shack, where we would go in the summertime as kids. There's no happiness quite like catching up with friends and family over fried clams and 'lobstah' rolls in a place with so many memories!

What does "creating workplaces where people thrive" mean to you?

Creating workplaces where people thrive means fostering growth, transparency, and well-being. It means defining the larger purpose that drives you, and building a team that believes equally in that purpose.

Clidney’s career in HR is what she likes to call a 'really good accident'. While pursuing her undergraduate degree in finance and accounting from CUNY Brooklyn, she worked as a benefits coordinator for a global advertising agency - a job she intended to be temporary. It turned out, however, that working in HR fulfilled not only her love of numbers, but also her passion for people. This experience led her to pursue the intersection of HR and business, driving her to complete her MBA and become an HR generalist. She currently brings her analytical skills, strategic business sense, and love of people to her clients at Empowered Hospitality.

Ideal Restaurant Experience

My ideal restaurant experience would have to be one where I feel happiness and comfort. Some of my favorite memories include family and food, so any establishment that has a family style vibe, serves flavorful food (I'm partial to Afro-Caribbean and Asian cuisines), plays great music, and has an attentive, knowledgeable and professional staff gets an A+ in my book. Extra points if I feel compelled to do a happy dance while I eat!

What does "creating workplaces where people thrive" mean to you?

To me, creating workspaces where people thrive means to foster an environment where people feel seen, heard, empowered and supported. There is a no greater feeling than working alongside people that you feel you can lean on and learn from, and for a company that is fully invested in your professional and personal development and growth.