I first crossed paths with Sara Ramos while advising The New Digital School. From the start, I noticed how she created the conditions for others to learn in open, human ways. She wasn’t loud about it, but her presence shaped the space. It was clear she was mission-driven to the core.
If you’ve met Sara, you’ll remember her big eyes and big smile — always open, always curious. She listens deeply, asks sharp questions, and approaches people and ideas with humility, no matter how much experience she brings.
Over the years, I’ve found myself always eager for the next conversation with her. Not just to catch up, but to learn a little more about life.
In this conversation, we follow her path from a traditional upbringing in Coimbra to her many reinventions. As a facilitator, learning designer, freelancer, and community builder. From Learning Day to WORK TO GATHER, what runs through everything she does is a deep care for connection, meaning, and change.
Get ready for a conversation that’s honest, layered, and full of quiet strength. Just like Sara.
Gus
Bird’s Eye View
Can you give us a glimpse of your life story?
I was born into a very traditional family and spent a long time trying to fit in. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.
First, I wanted to be a nursery teacher, then a fashion designer. Neither happened, but I ended up as a learning designer, so maybe the essence of each — learning and creating — found its way through.
I grew up in Coimbra and moved to Porto for university, looking for freedom and independence. For four years, I explored what it meant to be myself, sang, played guitar, and studied Business Management in my free time.
My first job was as a financial auditor at PwC. I knew I hated it after six months, but still stayed for two years.
Then I joined a small company as the only employee working with three founders. The shift from corporate to small business wasn’t hard. I’ve always thrived in variety, novelty, and a little chaos. I did everything from organising international events in Spain, Switzerland, and Bulgaria to digital marketing, project management, business operations, and the occasional babysitting!
Later, I moved to the UK for a master’s at Hyper Island. That experience changed my life. I was surrounded by people from 26 countries and saw how powerful learning can be when it’s rooted in experience and care for the humans in the room. That’s how I discovered learning design and facilitation: not by studying them, but by experiencing how the programme was built. I wanted to do that.
My plan was to stay in the UK for years, but life had other ideas. I moved back a year later to join The New Digital School (TNDS) in Porto. I tried to say no, but the pull to create something like what I had experienced, in my chosen city, was too strong.
Those two years helping build TNDS were exhilarating and deeply challenging. It takes a mix of naivety and madness to break all the rules of traditional education without knowing exactly what will replace them. Still, I hold that time and the people I met — students, guests, partners — very close to my heart.
Remember how I said I thrive in variety, novelty, and chaos? Freelancing brought all of that and more. For the past eight years, I’ve worked with clients around the world, designing and facilitating learning experiences that help people shift mindsets, build trust, and take meaningful action.
Alongside that, I’ve launched personal projects focused on self and collective development. Learning Day is a podcast and community exploring how to learn from everyday experiences. WORK TO GATHER is a series of pop-up coworking events for people seeking connection, inspiration, and productivity.
Outside of work, I’m a partner, friend, daughter, and aspiring musical theatre actress.
What’s next? I don’t know, but I’m excited to find out.
(That’s a very long glimpse 😅)
What’s a metaphor for your journey so far?
Writing the books I want to read.
The script I was handed didn’t resonate with me, so I’ve been writing my own.
Learning and Reinvention
What does learning mean for you? And how do you learn?
Learning is being alive. It is my energy source!
I learn by observing others and then applying it myself. The crucial part is experiencing it. Whether it’s a skill to practice or a concept to discuss, I need to externalise it, I need to see it interact with the outside world to grasp it. I love thinking and reflecting, but until something isn’t outside my head, I haven’t fully learned it.
The process of learning is the goal for me. I don’t learn to know everything about something; I come alive when new connections are made in my brain, when I can connect two ideas together, but I don’t strive to be an expert. The fun is in being a beginner.
How did you come to define yourself as a learning designer? And as a facilitator?
I just did :)
When I joined The New Digital School, the founder asked me “So, what will be your role? What should we call it?”. I answered “Learning Designer” and so I became one.
As for facilitator, I can’t remember the specific moment, but it was a similar case of faking it until you make it!
What have you unlearned that made all the difference?
That I should be ashamed of my privilege and feel bad for having it easier than a lot of people. Once I flipped that on its head, life became lighter and more purposeful. Nowadays, I feel the responsibility to make the most of my privileges — to take the risks others may not be able to take, to take the time to reflect that others don’t have, to speak up for myself and others who can’t afford to.
What’s a hard lesson you’ve had to learn more than once?
No-one is coming to save us, we have to do it ourselves. There is no right answer hiding somewhere, we have to create our own.
As AI perfects personalized learning, what beautifully messy human elements must we protect at all costs?
The ability to look outside the window and let our mind wonder. To interact with ideas and people that weren’t curated by the algorithms. To look inwards for answers and ideas. To look each other in the eye, laugh, cry, say ‘I’m sorry’, ‘I don’t know’, and ‘I need help’.
Leadership, Team Dynamics & Coworking
How do you see leadership today? And your role in it?
Complexity seems to be pulling leadership into two opposite directions.
One that recognises that leadership is a responsibility, not a role and that it needs to be distributed throughout the organisation, community or system.
And the other which promises oversimplified answers and solutions often personalised in an all-powerful leader who brings followers a false sense of certainty and security.
I hope my role in leadership is to support myself and others develop the agency and perspective needed to not fall trap to the second one and to build and practice the skills and courage to be able to exercise the first.
What team dynamics light you up? And which ones drain you?
The team dynamics that light me up are openness to new ideas, possibilities and ways of doing things, working through problems together with a sense of perspective that most likely no one will die as a consequence of our decisions, understanding that work is only a part of our lives, and sense of humour in the team!
What drains me? Office politics, hidden agendas, authoritarianism, over-competitiveness, seeking profit for profit sake.
What hidden needs did your co-working project uncover — in others and in you?
When we started WORK TO GATHER, we knew we were meeting the need to break isolation for people working remotely or as freelancers. Our purpose was to create experiences that brought connection back to people’s work days.
What we didn’t expect was how much people needed to feel inspired, productive and supported!
Although I’ve experienced and designed for it many times, I’m still in awe every time strangers get together and realise they have very similar problems and feel less alone for that reason. There’s a certain magic in sharing the burdens of life with people who don’t know you very well.
For me specifically, WORK TO GATHER uncovered the need to imagine new ways to design for connection. This is a place where I can be creative without limitations, where I can bring whatever recently inspired me and try it out without the pressure of answering a client’s brief.
Belonging & Community
When did belonging hit you hardest, and why?
Somehow, for most of my life, I felt a bit lonely, like I had to figure everything out on my own and that I didn’t have much of an emotional safety net to fall on.
Adding to that, as a lonely child of much older parents, I always worried about the time when they would depend on me. And it happened last year. Both my parents got very ill at the same time and managing that was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
That’s when I felt real belonging for the first time. I felt part of a support network that was there to help me take care of my parents and also to take care of me. Being held in that way was transformational. Now, I don’t feel lonely anymore.
But that’s not the only thing that happened last year.
At the same time, I was planning my wedding. We chose to do it our way instead of following the catholic tradition. In that moment, I felt a different kind of belonging: I invited others to be a part of our world and saw them take the invitation and let their preconceived notions go. We all belonged to that ceremony: we laughed, we cried, we sang, we hugged, we listened, we spoke. Isn’t it interesting that I felt belonging when I stood out the most? This brings me back to my first answer when I told you I desperately tried to fit in for years — I clearly was looking for belonging in the wrong places.
What’s gone missing in how we build community today?
This is a hard one. I’ll share a few of half-baked thoughts that came to mind.
Firstly, perhaps the understanding of what a community is. Hint: it’s not your followers on Instagram.
I like Carrie Melissa Jones’ definition of community: “a set of people who share mutual concern for one another.”
With the proliferation of online communities managed by brands and “gurus”, I sense that there’s less focus on mutual concern for one another, but rather an opportunistic attitude to get something out of these spaces (both from participants and leaders).
Secondly, maybe we’re spreading our “community attention/relational span” too thinly? Because these spaces are so easily available, maybe we’re joining too many of these spaces and struggling to build real connections? I know I’m guilty of this.
And finally, what about in person communities? I recognise the beauty of connecting online with people from all over the world, particularly for those living far from central hubs or with certain disabilities, for example. However, have we gotten too comfortable behind a screen? I certainly see a movement towards the return of IRL communities, and I love that shift.
What does true belonging feel like in your body?
Unclenched jaw.
Relaxed shoulders.
Clear mind.
Past and Future
Can you share some of the major lessons you’ve learned in life?
I’m not alone.
My mental and physical health are much more important than any shiny job.
Simple solutions can be meaningful solutions.
Humour and perspective solve half of life’s problems.
I’m the first person I should keep promises to (this is work in progress).
Which big questions do you have on your mind currently?
How can we stay hopeful? How can we see the world as it is and still hope for and commit to a better vision for the future?
How can I contribute? How can I put my strengths to work to build that future? How can I do that while building financial wealth? Can I and we be a part of and use the systems that created the problem in the first place? Or is that the definition of madness?
How do you face the future? Do you make plans for it?
I’ve tried many times to make long term plans, but I struggle to stick to them. My natural inclination is to work with what emerges: I get energy and focus from rolling up my sleeves and solving problems.
This can be quite frustrating, though. I often feel like I’m on someone else’s path, when I lose sight of where I’m heading. So, my focus is on nurturing a vision of where I want to go and who I want to be. How will I get there? Life will tell.