Sarah Pomeranz, the 27-year-old CEO of Consultants for Impact, leads an ambitious nonprofit dedicated to helping consultants from firms like McKinsey tackle society’s most pressing challenges. Recently named a 2025 Rising Star by Consulting Magazine for her leadership excellence, she started her career as a strategy consultant at Accenture. While in college, Sarah founded Sulis, a patent-holding social enterprise that earned her recognition as one of the Top 3 American Student Entrepreneurs.
Recently, in an exclusive interview with CXO Outlook Magazine, Sarah shared the inspiration behind establishing Consultants for Impact and what sets it apart from other market competitors, insights into the future of social entrepreneurship and consulting, her future plans, pearls of wisdom, and much more. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.
Hi Sarah. What was the inspiration behind establishing Consultants for Impact? What sets it apart from other market competitors?
When I think back to the earliest glimmers of Consultants for Impact, I remember my first consulting internship at Accenture – the excitement, the anxiety, the sense that I was about to step into something meaningful. I think every ambitious student wants to make a difference, and those corporate opportunities are sold to be the perfect pathway.
But something wasn’t quite right. Many of us who started with big dreams found ourselves gradually drifting away from our original passion. Investment banks and consulting firms offer incredible learning opportunities, but they can also become a default path that slowly moves us away from our deepest aspirations.
Consultants for Impact emerged from a simple observation: talented professionals want to do work that truly matters, but they often need support to make that transition. We’re not a traditional recruiting service. We don’t charge organizations to find talent, and we don’t charge consultants for support. Our only currency is genuine, measurable impact. We’re building a community of professionals who refuse to accept that “success” means sacrificing purpose.
Think about the most pressing challenges of our time – preventing pandemics, climate change, protecting democracy, and addressing emerging technological risks. We need brilliant problem-solvers working on these issues, and many of the most talented strategists are currently spending 60+ hours a week working in corporate environments. Our mission is to bridge that gap. We understand the professional landscape intimately because our team has walked that path. We know the long hours, the golden handcuffs, and the seemingly impossible challenge of charting a new course.
When we first meet many of our consultants, they’re overworked, burned out, and struggling to find meaning. Now, they’re shaping U.S. biosecurity policy, transforming our food systems, and leading organizations at the forefront of ending extreme poverty.
To us, this work isn’t just about changing jobs. It’s about reimagining what a purposeful career can look like.
Can you share your thoughts on the future of social entrepreneurship and consulting and how you see the industries evolving in the next 5-10 years?
AI is about to fundamentally disrupt consulting in ways most people aren’t fully grasping. The traditional consulting model – armies of junior associates creating slide decks and running complex analyses – is potentially obsolete. Large language models and AI can now generate strategic recommendations, financial models, and complex analyses in minutes that would have taken teams weeks to produce.
For consulting firms, this will be an existential challenge. I expect dramatic headcount reductions. The value proposition will shift from armies of analysts to a small number of high-level strategic thinkers who can prompt AI effectively and provide nuanced, contextual interpretation.
Social entrepreneurship, however, I suspect will be quite a different story. AI can serve as an incredible democratization tool for entrepreneurs seeking to address the world’s most pressing problems. The technical barriers to entry have collapsed. Now, someone with a great idea and basic communication skills can leverage AI to prototype, develop business plans, create marketing strategies, and even build initial product mockups, capabilities that would have previously required significant technical expertise or expensive outsourcing.
What excites me most is the potential for young, bright individuals to have unprecedented freedom in choosing and solving problems. Imagine a world where a 22-year-old can identify a critical global challenge, use AI to rapidly prototype a solution, and actually build something meaningful without needing years of technical training or massive capital investment. We’re moving from a world of “Can I build this?” to “What should I build?”
The entrepreneurs who I suspect will thrive aren’t those with the most technical skills but those who can ask the right questions, understand complex human problems, and use AI as a powerful amplification tool.
What was your experience co-founding a cleantech start-up and presenting a TEDx Talk on “How Not To Ruin the World with Your Good Intentions”?
Sulis began with four university students from different backgrounds, united by a shared mission to address water access challenges. We were an unlikely co-founder team – with academic disciplines ranging from industrial engineering to social justice – but our diversity became our greatest strength. From the start, we knew that solving a complex global challenge wasn’t something we could do in isolation. We partnered closely with universities in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, embedding local context into every stage of our design process. This wasn’t about parachuting in with a pre-designed solution but about genuine collaboration. Our university partners weren’t just advisors – they were co-creators who helped us understand the intricate social, economic, and environmental dynamics of water access in their communities
The most valuable lessons I learned founding Sulis weren’t about our technology but rather about our approach. We quickly realized that the most powerful innovations don’t start with a solution looking for a problem. They start with a deep understanding of the actual problem, relentless feedback, and a willingness to pivot based on real-world evidence.
Our approach became almost scientific in its rigor. Every prototype, every field test was an opportunity to gather data – not just technical performance metrics but qualitative insights from the communities we hoped to serve. We weren’t just building a product; we were building a solution that needed to work in real, complex human environments.
My TEDx Talk, “How Not To Ruin the World with Your Good Intentions,” was really borne out from these insights. It was never meant to be a critique of impact-driven innovation but rather a passionate call to approach global challenges with humility, curiosity, and a commitment to evidence.
To me, the most exciting entrepreneurs aren’t those with the most impressive tech but those who can identify truly meaningful problems where a business win is simultaneously a win for humanity. For us, that meant not just creating a water sterilization device but understanding the intricate ecosystem of water access, community needs, economic constraints, and long-term sustainability.
This approach – setting our sights on big, meaningful problems and then relentlessly gathering and responding to evidence – is the real art of impactful innovation. It’s about being ambitious enough to tackle massive challenges but humble enough to know that the solution will look different than you first imagined.
What are your thoughts on diversity and inclusion? How important is it to have authentic conversations with leaders, professionals, and changemakers to create more acceptance across the globe?
Diversity and inclusion are not boxes to check — they are a core part of strategic advantage. In my work with both Sulis and Consultants for Impact, I’ve seen how teams with varied backgrounds solve problems more effectively. That’s why we’re so proud to have consultants in our network from over 40 countries, ranging in seniority from summer analysts to partners.
At Consultants for Impact, one of our driving motivations is to increase the diversity of thought and experience on high-impact teams — particularly those that are predominantly made up of technical, policy, or research specialists. These teams are doing vital work on some of the world’s most complex challenges, but they’re often missing key capabilities in areas like stakeholder coordination, project execution, strategic communication, and adaptive leadership. That’s where consultants can add enormous value. They bring a toolkit that complements deep subject-matter expertise — and we’ve seen time and again how the right mix of perspectives can transform a team’s effectiveness.
That belief extends beyond team composition — it informs how we approach collaboration more broadly. To me, authentic conversations equate to genuine collaboration, not performative inclusivity. It’s about creating environments where different perspectives aren’t just heard but meaningfully integrated into how we solve problems. For example, when we were developing Sulis, we didn’t just consult local communities — we embedded them as co-creators, ensuring our approach truly reflected their needs and lived realities.
Ultimately, the future of impact work depends on bringing together people who can approach complex challenges from multiple angles. At Consultants for Impact, we’re contributing to a social impact workforce that reflects that vision — one that includes researchers, operationalists, engineers, creatives, and consultants alike. Inclusion isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s how we design smarter, more equitable, and more effective solutions to the world’s most urgent problems.
How do you see your recognition as a Rising Star of the Profession impacting your work and goals moving forward?
I was deeply touched and humbled to receive the Rising Star recognition from Consulting Magazine. More than a personal achievement, this award is an opportunity to amplify our mission at Consultants for Impact.
Our goal is clear: reach 3,000 impact-driven consultants in 2025. Let people know what we’re about and how we can help them. The urgency is real – we have organizations like the Lead Elimination Exposure Project, Rand, and GiveWell in our inbox every week, desperately seeking board members, COOs, co-founders, and chiefs of staff. These global problems can’t wait. Whether it’s mitigating AI risks, addressing global health challenges, or reimagining governance, we’re connecting talented professionals with organizations tackling the most critical issues of our time.
This recognition gives us a platform to connect more talented professionals with meaningful work that can truly move the needle on critical challenges. To me, it’s really not about the award itself but about the doors it can open for our community of changemakers who are ready to transform their careers from incremental corporate work to high-impact problem-solving.
How do you prioritize your own well-being and self-care given the demands of your work?
To be honest, it’s a journey and I’m trying to get better at this, but I’m far from perfect at self-care.
I’ve developed three key strategies that help me maintain balance. First, I proactively schedule evening non-work commitments and treat them as non-negotiable. Whether it’s taking classes, sports leagues, dinners with friends, or time with my partner, these pre-booked commitments force me to log off and create real boundaries.
Second, despite our team being globally distributed, I prioritize human connection. I try to cowork at least one day a week with someone else in our high-impact nonprofit ecosystem. This face-to-face time, even if it’s just a few hours, helps prevent the isolation that can come with remote work.
Finally, I invest in my mental health through therapy and leadership coaching. These aren’t luxuries, they’re essential maintenance for someone doing emotionally and intellectually demanding work. They help me process the weight of the challenges we’re tackling and enable me to show up as my most effective self.
It’s been said a hundred times, but impact work is a marathon, not a sprint. I don’t view taking care of myself as separate from our mission; it’s fundamental to sustaining the impact we want to create.
Is there a particular person you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are?
There are too many people who played an important role in my journey to single out just one. From my co-founders at Sulis, to the advisors and mentors at Rutgers University, to the colleagues who championed me at Accenture, and the many inspiring professionals I’ve worked with in recent years through Consultants for Impact – every piece of this journey has truly been collaborative.
Each person brought a unique perspective, challenged my thinking, or offered support at critical moments. Any success I’ve had has by no means been a solo achievement but rather a testament to the power of collective effort and shared mission. Whether it was a late-night brainstorming session, a moment of critical feedback, or simply someone believing in me when I doubted myself, these interactions have been the real currency of my professional growth.
This collaborative spirit is exactly what we’re building at Consultants for Impact – a network where professionals lift each other up, share knowledge, and collectively work towards meaningful change.
What do you hope to achieve in the next 5-10 years, and how do you plan to get there?
In the next 5-10 years, we hope to contribute to a fundamental shift in the cultural norms around professional success. Right now, too many talented people equate success with corporate ladder climbing or financial accumulation. We want to redefine that narrative – showing that true professional success is about solving meaningful global challenges.
Our goals are ambitious but clear: eradicate extreme poverty, mitigate catastrophic global risks, and end industrialized farm animal suffering. At Consultants for Impact, we’re building the infrastructure to make this all possible. By connecting top talent with organizations addressing these critical issues, we’re creating a new paradigm of purposeful professional work. We’re not just matching skills to opportunities – we’re building a movement of professionals who see their careers as vehicles for global impact.
The plan is to continue scaling our network, deepen our partnerships with world-leading organizations, and create increasingly sophisticated pathways for professionals to transition into high-impact work. Our goal of reaching 3,000 impact-driven consultants this year is just the beginning!
What advice would you give to individuals looking to break into the consulting or social entrepreneurship fields?
Start by getting clear on your motivations — not just what you want to do but why you want to do it. Both consulting and social entrepreneurship are demanding paths, and the people who thrive are often the ones who are deeply curious, resilient, and committed to learning fast.
In consulting, your value comes from your ability to structure ambiguity, communicate clearly, and get up to speed quickly on unfamiliar problems. You don’t need to have all the answers, but you do need to be able to ask the right questions, build trust with clients, and work well in high-performing teams. Look for opportunities to develop those muscles, whether through internships, student leadership, or other fast-paced work environments.
Social entrepreneurship, on the other hand, often rewards a bias toward action. You’ll need to wear many hats — strategist, fundraiser, operator, storyteller — and be comfortable iterating in uncertainty. Don’t wait for the perfect idea or moment. Start small, test things, learn quickly, and stay close to the people you’re trying to serve. The best social entrepreneurs I know are humble enough to change course and bold enough to keep going.
And for both fields: surround yourself with people who push you to think bigger and act more intentionally. Seek out mentors, peer communities, and networks like Consultants for Impact — not just for opportunities but for honest feedback and support.
Finally, don’t be afraid to take the non-obvious path. Some of the most impactful people I’ve worked with didn’t follow a straight line — they followed their values, stayed open to new information, and chose courage over comfort again and again.