People Ops first. Fractional second. Yours for the long run.
Sarah studied industrial-organizational psychology at Northwestern, spent twelve years in-house at Stripe, Lyft, and a Series A startup as VP People, and went fractional in 2022 after watching too many founders rebuild the same broken HR program from scratch. If you want the calm one in the room, that’s her.
SO
Sarah OkaforSHRM-SCP · est. 2022— I run your People program
The Path
From Onboarding Decks to Operating Systems
Northwestern
M.A. I-O Psychology
Northwestern ’13. Thesis on early-tenure attrition signals. Still cites it in onboarding redesigns.
2013–2017
People Ops at Stripe
Four years inside Stripe’s People team during the 200-to-1,200 ramp. Owned onboarding, HRIS, and the first multi-state expansion playbook.
2017–2022
VP People · Series A
Built the People function from scratch at a Series A infra startup. Stayed through the 5x headcount ramp, the IPO scare, and the first comp committee.
2022 →
Fractional founder
Earned the SHRM-SCP, founded Meridian People Partners, and quietly built a practice around early-stage founders who deserve grown-up HR.
Recognition & Memberships
Sarah is a member of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, and a SHRM Recognized Provider for continuing education credits. All work is conducted under her SHRM-SCP certification #SP-2017-4421 through Meridian People Partners LLC.
2024
Builders’ Council Top 50 People Leaders
Industry recognition for fractional People practices serving Series Seed–B tech founders.
2025
Clockless “Built With Care” Partner
Selected partner for Clockless’s concierge People program, serving early-stage tech founders.
MEET YOUR PEOPLE TEAM
Meridian People Partners
A small, deliberately low-roster practice. Sarah leads every engagement personally and is backed by a partner consultant and a specialist bench for the heavy lifts — multi-state payroll, comp benchmarking, and visa support.
SO
Sarah OkaforFounder · Lead practitioner— I read the statute first
PA
Priya AnandPartner consultant— I run your calibrations
JP
James ParkOnboarding specialist— I make Day 1 work
MC
Maya ChenComp & leveling— I draft your bands
DM
David MoralesMulti-state payroll— I keep payroll clean
HOW I WORK
01
No surprises
A real People program isn’t built in a sprint. Sarah’s monthly cadence, written remediations, and check-ins are paced for the year of work this actually takes.
02
Everything in one folder
Each founder team gets a private portal with their program, roster, handbook, and billing — so nothing lives in a lost Notion page or a forgotten Slack DM.
03
Operator’s eye for detail
Sarah reads the offer letter, the FLSA classification, and the state notice list herself. You get a plain-English summary before you sign anything off.
LET’S TALK
Let’s talk about your People program
Whether you’re pre-Series-A or about to cross 50 employees, it starts with a conversation.