Trailblazing in Color is a leadership and organizational development firm. Through staff, leadership, and board retreats, coaching, and organizational design, we help nonprofits and mission-driven organizations grow the people, relationships, and structures their missions ask of them.
- arrive as you are
- name what’s true
- imagine what’s possible
- design it together
- leave with a plan
big missions need people—and organizations—built to carry them.
We help nonprofit leaders, teams, and boards strengthen the conditions that let good work last: clear and grounded leadership, trusting relationships, smart structures, and the courage to try something new. Every engagement is designed around where you are and where you’re headed.
Retreats & facilitation
Staff retreats, leadership retreats, and board retreats, plus strategic planning sessions and hard conversations, designed so every voice can shape the outcome.
Leadership coaching
One-on-one and team coaching for leaders navigating growth, transition, and complexity.
Organizational design
Structure, roles, decision-making, and change strategy that turn intention into how work gets done.
The Trailblazing in Color Podcast
For changemakers ready to embody their voice and grow their impact: conversations with equity builders across fields, sharing lessons that create shortcuts to equity.
three dimensions. one connected practice.
Change at one level tends to move the others. Choose a dimension to see how we work there—and where it connects.
Leadership & Culture
We help leaders grow their capacity to lead with clarity and care, and help teams build the trust, shared purpose, and practices that make culture something people can feel.
- Staff retreats and leadership retreats
- Executive and leadership coaching
- Culture, values, and team agreements
- DISC and emotional intelligence workshops
- Facilitation of hard and important conversations
Organizational Design
We work with you to align structure, roles, decision-making, and strategy with your mission, so the organization can carry the weight of the work and grow with it.
- Board retreats and board–staff alignment
- Strategic planning with staff, leadership, and board
- Structure, role, and decision-rights design
- Change and transition management
Broader Systems Change
We support coalitions, networks, and cross-sector partners as they build shared vision and coordinated action on the conditions that shape their communities.
- Coalition and network facilitation
- Collaborative and cross-sector design labs
- Systems mapping and shared strategy
- Learning communities, cohorts, and course design
retreats, by design.
staff retreats
Reconnect your whole team to purpose, to each other, and to the work ahead.
leadership retreats
Space for leadership teams to align, make real decisions, and strengthen how they lead together.
board retreats
Strategic planning, governance, and board–staff alignment, facilitated so every voice is heard.
how change rises.
Our mark is our model. The stripes are the ground we work from. What rises from them radiates outward—from individual leaders to the systems around them. Learning circles all of it.
When we lead with imagination, connection, collaboration, and practical action, leaders, teams, and organizations grow stronger, and so do the systems they’re part of. Select any layer to explore it.
partners in the work.
Our work takes many forms, from multi-year organizational strategy engagements to immersive leadership experiences. Each partnership is grounded in the people, priorities, and possibilities that make an organization unique.
“I found Sarah phenomenal and left our strategic planning feeling excited and confident for our future.”
Sarah is a fantastic facilitator. As a first-time board member for a nonprofit with a decent staff size, I was curious to see how strategic planning that involves ALL team members — not just executive leadership and board members, but all staff — was going to be facilitated. In a single day, she was able to pull out sharp, thorough, and intentional planning that would serve as the blueprint for the organization for the next couple of years. I was impressed with how she was able to ensure every voice was honored and each input incorporated into our process. She was successful in creating a collaborative space that was rooted in equity, justice, and community-centered values throughout the session.
“We left feeling energized, having a focused direction, and knowing more about each other’s strengths.”
Sarah facilitated an excellent Strategic Planning session with our Nonprofit Solutions Board of Directors. She brought enthusiasm, critical inquiry and fun to our sessions together. What stands out is the extra layer of personalization that Sarah brought to our team. We left feeling energized, having a focused direction, and knowing more about each other’s strengths. I highly recommend her services!
“Sarah made it engaging, interactive and uplifting for everyone.”
Working with Trailblazing in Color for our virtual strategic planning was an incredible process. Sarah’s work to prepare us was above and beyond. Sarah developed the questions to get the responses we needed. She was flexible with our needs to do things a little differently. It can be challenging to do strategic planning in a virtual setting, but Sarah made it engaging, interactive and uplifting for everyone.
“Really knows how to take very heavy topics and make them less daunting.”
Sarah provided excellent support to our senior leadership team as we worked (virtually) to better define what Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion mean to each of us individually as well as a Board of Directors. With limited time, Sarah was able to kick-start discussions with solid ground rules to create a safe environment to discuss our different perspectives and provide a flexible roadmap and tools for how we can continue to maintain our focus despite all the other challenges the year brought. She handled curveball questions with grace and clarity, is an all-around wonderful person to engage with, and really knows how to take very heavy topics and make them less daunting.
“She understands how to pack in knowledge, engagement tactics, and simultaneously send a clear message in a safe environment.”
Working with Sarah on a DEI workshop was simply a pleasure. She understands how to pack in knowledge, engagement tactics, and simultaneously send a clear message in a safe environment. My entire team agreed that she was approachable, easy to understand, and had a killer presentation. She is also just a dream to work with, very professional, has a growth mindset, and caters to her clients. I loved working with Sarah and would recommend her workshops to any organization looking to deepen their inclusionary practices.
“She’s as good as a coach as she is as a trainer and consultant.”
Sarah is extraordinarily knowledgeable, has a wealth of talent and skills in the areas of DE&I, EI and OD, and truly understands the needs and complexities of the C-Suite in large companies as well as startups and non-profs. She has served our clients expertly, with grace and calmness. She’s as good as a coach as she is as a trainer and consultant. I can’t recommend Sarah Bacerra highly enough.
“Sarah ran one of the best DISC facilitation and education sessions I have ever attended.”
Sarah ran one of the best DISC facilitation and education sessions I have ever attended. It was a personalized, engaging and valuable session with senior executives and senior managers in the room. Overwhelmingly positive feedback for Sarah, her material and her craft! Such a champion — keep doing what you’re doing Sarah!
“Sarah’s guidance has positively impacted both my personal growth and the future success of my team.”
I had the pleasure of attending Sarah’s “Becoming a Trusted Advisor Workshop,” and it was a transformative experience. Sarah’s expertise in using DISC Dialogues as a tool for interpersonal effectiveness and self-reflection is remarkable. Her coaching style encourages you to reframe your thinking and consider alternative perspectives, which ultimately broadens your vantage point. As a result, I was able to identify my strengths as a leader and learn how to bring out the best in my teams.
“A fantastic product that continues to equip young people with the knowledge and skills to make change in their communities.”
I worked with Sarah on an asynchronous digital course for young advocates based in over 138 countries. Sarah was great at understanding the unique learner needs that these advocates faced and helping their expertise shine through the content. My team and I learned so much from her about instructional design and we recently collaborated with her on the 2.0 version of the course for our program’s newest cohort. Her attention to detail, flexibility, and curiosity about diverse audiences made for a fantastic product that continues to equip young people with the knowledge and skills to make change in their communities.
“Sarah added so much fun to very vulnerable and heavy topics.”
Sarah is really an exceptional facilitator. Sarah added so much fun to very vulnerable and heavy topics while always centering around equity, diversity and inclusion. She also is a delight to be around as a very open, positive and warm person. I would recommend Sarah for anything requiring comradery and teambuilding. She is truly one of a kind!
“A warm, affective listener with deep expertise in public speaking and storytelling for impact.”
For anyone needing clarity or guidance in finding their voice and communicating their purpose clearly, I can’t recommend Sarah highly enough! She is a warm, affective listener with deep expertise in public speaking and storytelling for impact. Thanks for all your help Sarah!
sarah chapman bacerra
“Bold organizations are built by people brave enough to tell the truth and kind enough to tell it with care.”
Sarah Chapman Bacerra is an award-winning leader in learning and culture and the founder and CEO of Trailblazing in Color, an organizational design and development firm. For more than 15 years, she has helped leaders, teams, and boards build the clarity, connection, and courage their work asks of them, drawing on human-centered design, behavioral science, and a deep belief in what people can do together.
Sarah has partnered with community organizations, public institutions, and global companies alike, from City Heights Community Development Corporation, Dreams for Change, the San Diego Community College District, Women Deliver, and SEIU to NOAA, Stanford University, Google, Facebook, Morgan Stanley, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Her work spans strategic planning; staff, leadership, and board retreats; leadership development; and change initiatives, blending learning design, intercultural competence, and facilitation that makes room for every voice.
Sarah also hosts the Trailblazing in Color Podcast, an intentional space for changemakers. In each episode, she sits down with equity builders from different fields to trade the lessons that travel, creating shortcuts to equity we can all benefit from.
- LGBTQ+ Leader of Influence, San Diego Business Journal, 2024
- Top Professional & Humanitarian, Marquis Who’s Who, 2025
- MA, Organizational Management
- Certified High Performance Coach
- Certified DISC Facilitator
- IDI Qualified Administrator
- Advisory Council, The Center for Respectful Leadership
- Past President, Women’s March San Diego
let’s build something bold together.
Navigating a leadership transition, rethinking how your organization works, or bringing partners together around a shared goal? Tell us what you’re working toward.