We’re thrilled to introduce you to Sarah Filman, Topknot’s newest team member.
What Sarah thought her bio “should” say: Sarah works on product & people where she brings a coaching lens to Topknot’s external product and internal team development. She also coaches leaders who are playful at heart and serious about transforming their lives, work, and teams. Her top values are growth, connection, compassion, equity, and play, and she is excitedly bringing her experience as a people manager, leader, product manager, certified coach, and improv comedian to the team.
What Sarah really wanted to say: Sarah is playful and silly but often quiet, serious, and swirling in her own thoughts. She loves to organize ideas, and is also surrounded by piles of paper and last week’s laundry. She loves deep connective conversations with humans and is at her happiest snuggling in her hammock with her cat, Olive, under one arm and a book in the other. In terms of personal growth, she is most proud of her work redefining her relationship to anxiety, learning to rest, and discovering that there’s actually some joy to be found in having no idea what you’re doing with your life.
We asked Sarah a few questions in the spirit of the work that happens on Topknot.
Meet Sarah
What brought you to Topknot?
So many things!
- People: Put simply, Brook, Claire, and Daphne are wildly wonderful people who I admire and learn from every day, The opportunity to spend more time with them was too good to pass up. I’m also excited to work with them to continue creating our culture and team — to build a tech company that is always asking the question of how we can better center equity, intentionality, and growth in our work.
- Purpose: One of the reasons that a coaching conversation can feel so transformational is that it is incredibly empowering to be honored as the expert of your own life. The coach is there to draw out that expertise and invite you to explore possibilities, not give advice and tell you exactly what to do. Working one-on-one with a coach, however, is just not financially accessible to many. Working at Topknot offers me the opportunity to help scale many of the benefits of coaching that I believe in so strongly in a way that will be financially accessible to more people.
- Growth: I’ve never been at a company that’s this new where you can’t really take any process or decision for granted because in many cases it hasn’t been made yet! So there’s tons of opportunity to learn, create, and iterate, which can be scary (in a good way).
What do you need to feel fulfilled in your work?
Relationships with my coworkers that feel relational rather than transactional. I want to both care for and be cared for by my teammates as a complex person with thoughts that might be half-baked, emotions that might not appear rational, and experiences that don’t all revolve around work.
I feel most fulfilled during collaborative discussions where it’s satisfyingly obvious that the solution you created was dependent on each person being super present, engaged, and bringing their unique lens.
What are activities you value outside of work?
I’ve been managing chronic and yet-to-be-diagnosed pain for about 8 years that makes it hard to sit or stand in one place for more than a few minutes. So, a good chunk of my time outside of work right now is doing physical therapy exercises, walking in the woods, and meditating as a way to gently ask my body to relax and relieve some tension. I’ve come to really value this time both for my physical health as well as my mental health.
On a totally different note, I fell in love with improv comedy a few years ago. Beyond being filled with laughter, good puns, and great people, it became an amazing personal growth laboratory for me to practice taking risks, failing joyfully, and sitting with the discomfort of not knowing what was going to happen next. Since the pandemic started, we transitioned to practicing on Zoom, which was wonky at first, but we figured out how to work with the quirks. Last week, for example, I thought someone said “look out for the meat-eater!” when they’d actually said “look out for the meteor!” What could have been an action-filled post-apocalyptic scene turned into a conversation about tofu. But that’s the joy of it.
What’s a goal that you’ve set for yourself?
Can I do three?
- “Doing”-oriented goal: Push myself to do 2 public speaking opportunities on behalf of Topknot and our work in the next 3 months. It turns out I am comfortable pretending to be the world’s leading expert on fishing bobbles in an improv show but not as much talking about my team’s impact and vision.
- “Feeling”-oriented goal: I want to feel a deeper sense of acceptance and love of my body especially when it’s telling me it’s hurting.
- “Being”-oriented goal: Be more boldly vulnerable when I need emotional support from my friends or teammates.
Want to meet more Topknot team members?
Daphne Larose: Founding Engineer
Miah Sanchez: Software Engineering Intern
