How One Woman Reinvented Her Career & Now Helps Hundreds Of Others To Choose Health And Freedom Over Hierarchy
When Sarah Hamilton-Gill walked away from her HR career working with high street giants like Sainsbury’s and Dorothy Perkins, she had no idea she was about to spark a movement. Today, she’s an award-winning author, mentor, and the founder of Leap into HR Consulting®, a thriving consulting movement that has helped over 250 HR professionals break free from corporate constraints and build businesses on their own terms.
Now aged 61, Sarah divides her time between the New Forest in the UK and a sleepy seaside village in Corfu, Greece. It’s the kind of lifestyle many of us dream of: mornings swimming in the Ionian Sea, afternoons coaching clients online overlooking olive groves, and evenings spent sailing with friends. But Sarah is the first to say this life didn’t simply fall into her lap.
Her journey has been shaped by resilience and reinvention. A single parent to two sons, she built her first 7-figure consultancy during a period when flexibility wasn’t a corporate buzzword—it was a survival strategy. “When I started consulting in 1994, there was no LinkedIn, no Google, and no business plan,” Sarah recalls. “I didn’t know it then, but I was designing a life that allowed me to be there for my children while building a career on my own terms.”
Her latest book, Leap into HR Consulting®—recently released in its expanded second edition—offers a step-by-step guide for those ready to leave corporate life behind. Built around her proven 5 Cs framework—Confidence, Clarity, Credibility, Collaboration, and Courage—the book combines practical tools and templates with candid insights from her own experience. Since launching the first edition in 2020, she has guided over hundreds of consultants through the leap from employee to entrepreneur, many of them women over 40 navigating redundancy or burnout.
For Sarah, Corfu isn’t just a holiday destination; it’s a second home she first fell in love with as a teenager. Six years ago, just before the pandemic hit, she made the move more permanent, securing Greek residency and joining a thriving community of expats and digital nomads. “The beauty of my business is that I can run it from anywhere,” she says. “I can have a lie-in, start my day later—because Greece is two hours ahead—and still be at my desk before most of my UK clients are even contemplating going online.”
But she’s quick to balance the postcard-perfect imagery with the realities of remote entrepreneurship: fluctuating energy levels due to fibromyalgia, navigating time zones, and the occasional curveball of international travel. Twice during the pandemic she found herself stranded in the UK, unable to get back to Corfu.
Her story resonates strongly because it’s grounded in both aspiration and honesty. She’s built a life that blends work and pleasure, but not without acknowledging the grit required along the way. “Reinvention doesn’t come with an expiry date,” Sarah says. “Midlife can be the perfect time to take control, to work in a way that fits your values, energy, and passions. You just have to start.”