About your friendly neighborhood systems gal
I’m Sabrina, and my mission to make things easier—for the people I work with, their teams, and the people they serve.
Whether that’s a client I’m supporting as an operations consultant, or a team I’m joining as a permanent employee, the work is the same as its core: I take a high-level look at how an organization runs and I build (+ maintain) systems that help it run better.
There are three ideas at the center of how I work:
Systems thinking:
An organization is an ecosystem, not a pile of disjointed projects and initiatives and services. I believe the key to long-term, generative solutions is to take a step back and study the relationships between these interplaying elements (not just the parts currently on fire).
Trauma-informed care:
Before anything else, “stakeholders” are human beings. That’s why I bring principles of informed consent, transparency, collaboration, inclusion, and accessibility into how I approach to operations and projects. This framework took root during my years at a local rape crisis center (more on that below), and it’s shaped every system I’ve built since.
Evidence-based operations and project management principles:
The behind-the-scenes infrastructure may not be the sexiest thing about business, but it’s what makes values-driven work sustainable. We’re talking: automated workflows, standard operating procedures, project plans, client journeys, information systems, digital task tracking, and more! I’ve been told that my enthusiasm for the “tedious” can be infectious.
Whether you're looking for operational support for your organization or you're building a team and think my background might be a fit, I'd love to talk!
Fill out an inquiry form here or send me an email at hello@sabrinajoan.com.
The skills I bring
Systems auditing and process improvement
Program, project, and operations management
Cross-functional team coordination
Stakeholder and vendor communication
Thoughtful workflow automation
SOP and training materials development
Project management tool setup and maintenance
Grant compliance and reporting
Invoicing and financial tracking
Website page design and maintenance
Logistics, agenda-setting, and meeting facilitation
Public education and community outreach
Marketing email and internal newsletter writing
Digital marketing asset creation
Trauma-informed customer service
My Origin Story
Before I’d ever heard the term “systems thinking,” I was deeply fascinated by it.
Here’s what I mean:
I often say that I was “raised by the Internet.” I was lucky and privileged enough to get my first laptop in the sixth grade, and then spent the next six years in my bedroom, editing and posting music videos for my favorite TV shows on YouTube and absorbing endless hours of political and fandom discourse on Tumblr.
When it was time to go to college, I chose to major in Film and Media Studies because I was captivated by how media has the power to both INFLUENCE and REFLECT cultural values. My favorite classes explored the intersection of politics, representation, and media.
At UC Irvine, I also began focusing my labor on the movement to support survivors and prevent sexual assault, abuse, and harassment. I became a peer educator on campus, then a program coordinator. When I graduated in 2016, I landed a job at my local rape crisis center, where I spent five years as a Prevention Educator and Program Coordinator.
Confessions of a nonprofit program coordinator
The public health approach to sexual violence taught me to think “upstream: to explore root causes and interconnected systems rather than isolated symptoms. It also showed me what trauma-informed care looks like within one-to-one communication and on a structural level.
Not only have they shaped my understanding of social movements’ inherent interconnections, I carry both lessons into the way I approach projects and operations management today.
By 2020, I’d expanded my role as a program coordinator further than I could sustainably hold (a less fun lesson I also carry with me now). And a global pandemic didn’t help.
Plus, the Welsh Protestant work ethic of—as my family says—“making life harder for no reason” just lives within me.
So I flung myself head-first into burnout.
Managing people, processes, and projects for small businesses
When I went looking for what came next, the job search felt like more of the same: bureaucracy, misaligned values, and sinking hours into a job application only to end up sitting dejectedly at my laptop and wondering, “Do I even want to work here?”
So in January 2022, I made a different choice. I left my full-time role and built a business dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and organizations I believed in. That year, I did anything and everything as a virtual assistant: created social media content, booked flights, wrote marketing emails, responded to customer service inquiries, provided tech assistance, and served as an accountability partner for my clients.
The “systems thinking” corner of my brain finally came back online, and I started building the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that helps good people follow through on good work.
I’ve managed up to 9 client organizations at once, built documentation systems that cut onboarding time by hours, and helped organizations move from reactive chaos to steady, trustworthy processes—all while staying grounded in trauma-informed values.
My evolving education
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B.A., Film and Media Studies
University of California, Irvine
GPA: 3.84
2012 - 2016 -
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
Project Management Institute
In Progress, Projected Dec. 2026 -
CULTIVATE Trauma-Informed Space-Holding Training
Katie Kurtz, MSW, LISW-S
Completed June 2024 -
Influencer Online Business Manager Academy
Alex Porterfield and Sam Whisnant
Summer 2025 Cohort -
Notion Essentials & Advanced Credentials
Notion Academy
Completed March 2026 -
California Sexual Assault Crisis Counselor
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services
2017 - 2022 -
40-Hour Domestic Violence Advocate Training
Laura’s House
Completed July 2020 -
Wilderness First Aid
Emergency Care & Safety Institute
Completed May 2024 -
Building Change Together: Prevention Core Competencies Training
California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
Completed March 2020 -
The Interweb, An Online Community for Building a Business without Social Media + Big Tech
Off the Grid
with Amelia Hruby
Member since May 2026 -
The Study, An Online Business Community for Creative People
Pretty Decent Internet Café
with Lexi Merritt
Member since October 2022
My scope of practice:
It feels important to me to stay within my scope of practice so I can provide services with integrity and of high quality. And I want to be super transparent about my limitations!
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While I incorporate resource management into my approach to coordinating projects, implement tech stacks that work with your budget, and can provide some basic financial metrics tracking and forecasting, I can’t manage your taxes, payroll, or salary.
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I love to write a job description, but I will always recommend you have a legal professional review your policies, practices, and documentation for compliance.
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While I love to strategize about marketing + sales plans and support digital marketing initiatives, I don’t have expertise in (but for have trusted referrals for):
Website creation and building
Branding and aesthetics
Google, Meta, and program ads
I’m more of a “jack of all trades,” and will never stop you from hiring a person who SPECIALIZES in a handful of services like copywriting, sales pages, email marketing, social media management, blog-writing, video editing, or another specific dimension of digital marketing and content creation.
Obviously, someone who spends 100% of their time focused on YouTube is more equipped to help you launch and grow a YouTube channel. Hire that person!
That being said, I’m always curious to learn and excited to collaborate with these specialized experts.
Tech I’m most familiar with:
Project management: Notion, Asana, ClickUp, Monday.com
Client management: Honeybook
Website: Squarespace, Wix, Showit
Email marketing: Flodesk, MailerLite, Kit, Klaviyo, MailChimp
Sales: ThriveCart, Squarespace, Stripe
Course hosting and online communities: Teachable, Circle, Mighty, Squarespace
That being said, I’m always curious to learn more and I don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions. I want to help you find the right setup for you!
Kind Words from Past Clients
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![Close-up of a smiling woman with long, wavy dark hair, wearing a white sleeveless top, against a white background with a small shelf and some books or items partially visible.]()
"It was an incredibly stress-free process whereby I felt listened to and supported throughout."
“Sabrina was amazing to work with! She is incredibly thorough, responsive, and thoughtful in her process. She really took the time to listen to what I needed, and asked lots of questions to help refine along the way to ensure that what was being created would work for me. Plus, the final product was so much more than I could have even imagined. I will definitely be working with Sabrina again!”
– Dr. Chrissy Chard
Leadership + Parenting Coach, Consultant, and Trainer
Founder of Courageous Parents -
![A woman with long dark hair, wearing an off-the-shoulder white lace dress, holding a leafy branch, standing outdoors in a lush green setting.]()
"Sabrina has fundamentally changed my business and my life."
I am completely in awe of her each day. She is always one step ahead of me, anticipates my needs, and has created such solid foundations from a trauma-informed lens to support the healing work we do. She is incredibly hardworking and passionate and truly knows how to evaluate what is and isn’t working within your business model and create systems to bring you more joy and focus on what you do best.
She will transform the way you do your work and free up time for you to actually pour into yourself. If you have the opportunity to work with her, you will be amazed by all the ways it will change your life.”
– Zabie Yamasaki
Founder of Transcending Trauma through Yoga -
![A woman practicing yoga outdoors, standing with hands in prayer position, smiling, with green foliage and flowers in the background.]()
"I feel like she always has very thoughtful ways something could be more accessible or inclusive. "
“I could not recommend Sabrina more. I feel like every time we have a meeting, it turns into a small therapy session where I feel like she really hears me, listens, and no matter what project I have her do or help me with, the results of what she gives back is so much better than what I even envisioned or planned. And I literally just could not recommend her services, her work, and just her as a person more.”
– Harpinder Kaur Mann
Yoga Asana, Pranayama, & Meditation Teacher -
![A woman with curly red hair smiling, sitting on a wooden chair with one arm resting on the backrest, wearing a graphic T-shirt with rock band design, blue jeans, and jewelry, in a bright indoor setting.]()
"Sabrina swooped in, organized, and streamlined my business with such care and laser-focused detail."
“Talk about the missing piece…. Everyone needs a Sabrina to help run their businesses and their lives. She is your troubleshooting, problem-solving, systems gal. She has a seamless and organic way of understanding your needs better than you do… she steps in and just knows what’s needed. She brings not only an unprecedented level of knowledge and expertise, but creativity and heart into everything she offers. Her steady, grounded, thoughtful, hands-on professional support was a gift.”
– Dr. Azita Nahai
Holistic Trauma Therapist and Spiritual Life Coach
