About Us
Sarah's
Story
Sarah is a proud first-generation Mexican American who grew up in Pennsylvania and lives in the greater New York City area with her husband, Luis, and their daughter. She's held executive leadership positions at companies like NBCUniversal, Disney's Maker Studios, and Buzzfeed International. Sarah also has deep expertise in the U.S. Hispanic market - working in branded content and integrated marketing roles focused on creating impactful marketing programs across web, TV, print, events, and social media targeting U.S. Latinos, at companies including Latina Media Ventures, Meredith Hispanic Ventures, and the Telemundo Media Network at NBCUniversal.
Sarah is also an NYU Certified Coach (ICF-acreditted) and has supported hundreds of professionals across the globe to help them achieve their personal and professional goals.
She has worked at companies that focused on employee mental health and well-being, creating and facilitating programs for professional growth and wellness. She's coached professionals from companies like Meta, Google, Uber, LinkedIn, and more. She's had additional coach training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT-I, and Culturally Responsive Care.
Growing up, Sarah witnessed first-hand the effects of not having awareness or tools to manage her mental health. Her single mom worked all the time, trying to make ends meet for the family, which left little time for her mother to take care of herself, including her mental health. Over time, Sarah witnessed the impact of not having the proper coping skills to deal with stress and anxiety. She went into adulthood without this skillset and began to feel its effects in a short time.
In early adulthood, Sarah went through a journey of examining her mental health more closely. She recognized unhealthy coping skills within herself, like workaholism and avoiding dealing with difficult emotions. In her late 20s, she began therapy and in her early 30s, discovered coaching. Through her work with therapists and coaches, Sarah uncovered unhealthy patterns holding her back and began to prioritize her health and wellness. In time, she was able to have healthier relationships, create better boundaries, and manage stress much better! With this newfound knowledge, Sarah's life started to be different. She wasn't merely surviving but thriving.
Sarah believes with the right tools and support, anything is possible! To learn more about Sarah's professional background, check her out (and connect with her!) on LinkedIn.
Patricia's
Story
Patricia is the daughter of immigrants, first-generation Mexican-American, the first person in her family to go to college, and the first person in her family to go into entrepreneurship. Through much internal work, Patricia realized the impact that being "the first" had created, both positively and negatively. Being the first at things often meant feeling lost and confused, wondering what was attainable because there was no example to look up to. Despite this, Patricia saw an opportunity for continued growth through knowledge and education. Patricia has allowed her past experiences to be an example for future generations to come, not only within her own family but with colleagues alike.
As a daughter of immigrants, and growing up with a single mother, Patricia now reflects on the challenges that were present due to the lack of mental health services. The idea that you don't share family secrets and you don't ask for help was something that was very much engrained early on. Taboo and stigma were real especially because it felt as though she had to know when to be quiet within her family, which was often a common theme. It took much unlearning and relearning new skills to be comfortable with asking for help and openly sharing fears, triggers, thoughts, and feelings.
Currently, Patricia is a licensed psychotherapist and the owner of Alvarado Therapy, a group mental health practice based out of California. Her and her team service clients both in California and New York. She is a Certified Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapist and an EMDRIA Approved Consultant in Training. Through her work, she focuses on trauma and trauma healing, primarily within the Latino/a experience. With this, she has thoughtfully noticed how identity plays a major role in all of her work. Now, she continuously shares messages on healing on her social media platforms.
Patricia is also an author, creating a journal focusing on healing from PTSD and a coloring book that includes journal prompts to help heal through color and continued reflection. She is the host of a mental health podcast called Therapy, Etc. allowing her to further conversations on all aspects of mental health. Through this, along with her own therapy work, she has begun storytelling through speaking engagements to give voice to what has felt like a continued stigma or taboo. She creates space to allow for continued insight to help shine the light on uncomfortably comfortable topics. She has worked with both large and small organizations sharing insight on identity, vicarious trauma, and continued healing, to name a few.
As she continues learning and growing day in and day out, she often reflects on this idea of being "different," a concept that only came to her when she was in college. At the time, the differences bought shame and guilt. Now, Patricia sees these differences as what makes her unique. She is fluent in Español, a proud Latina, and a proud Mexicana.
To connect with and learn more about her professional background and experience, check her out on LinkedIn. Patricia can also be found sharing insightful messages via her Instagram account @alvaradotherapy