Our Founder

Sabrina K. Garba is a respected cultural strategist, public speaker and philanthropist who is passionate about creating environments where people thrive and reach their highest potential.

In addition to her role as the Founder of the Women’s Impact Accelerator, Sabrina is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Glass Ladder Group (GLG). At the GLG, Sabrina leads over 2,000 global intercultural experts in the development and execution of cross-cultural training, research and strategy that helps people from different cultures work together to increase organizational efficiency. She is known for her proven track record in designing and implementing holistic programs that reach organizational goals and objectives in public, non-profit and private sector organizations. 

Before starting GLG Sabrina served as the Acting Director of the Intercultural Management Institute (IMI) at American University (AU), a diplomatic and intercultural training center. At IMI, she oversaw all day-to-day operations and budgets including products, programs, services and publications. As Acting Director, she developed critical training programs for U.S. Department of State Initiatives, managed the development and execution of the learning, and development conference for intercultural experts and designed training curriculum, case studies and scenarios. Prior to joining IMI, she managed the International Communication and Media Master’s programs at AU. In this role she created graduate-level curriculum and programming focused on the impact of culture on technology, media, diplomacy, and international education. Additionally, she facilitated strategic partnerships with organizations that allowed scholars to gain media production skills and research techniques that equipped them to lead teams of communication practitioners in creating, shaping and managing information across international media platforms.

Previous to her time at American University, Sabrina served as a consultant for cross-cultural business exchange in Brazil, as well as with United World Communication and Boland. As a consultant she built relationships, strategies and systems that shaped organizational cultures and helped them to tell their unique story. She also worked with the elite Public Affairs firm, the Glover Park Group, where she provided program support, developed collateral material and served as a client-firm liaison for organizations that included Participant Media, Rock The Vote, The White House Project, the NFL Players Association and the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund.

Sabrina served an Adjunct Professor at American University’s School of International Service and has conducted various training workshops on communication, media, intercultural relations, entrepreneurship and leadership. Additionally, she has chaired and served as spokesperson for many initiatives including the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Project at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Ending Violence against Women Howard University (EVAWHU). She is a frequent commentator on the subjects of culture, communication, social justice and women’s rights and has spoken at numerous conferences. 

Sabrina’s work with organizations like the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, the SouthEast Efficiency Alliance, and the National Association for Minorities in Communication has led to shifts in organizational and governmental procedures, systems and policies. She has been recognized for her work through many awards including the 2015 Intercultural Achievement Award by the American University, School of International Service, the 2017 "Woman Who Disrupts" Entrepreneur Award by Lady ReBranded and City National Bank, the 2017 Walker's Legacy Los Angeles Power 25 and a nomination as 2017 Women Business Enterprise Supplier of the Year by Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

In her spare time, Sabrina supports many non-profit efforts. Among her many volunteer efforts, she serves as the President of the Howard University Alumni Club of Los Angeles, a Luminary Circle Member of Step Up Women’s Network, and a Scholar Bridge Committee Member for the Fulfillment Fund. Sabrina is an avid cultural and language aficionado who has traveled to six of the seven continents and fluent in multiple languages.

Sabrina is currently working to achieve a PhD in Business Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She is a certified intercultural trainer and a graduate of the Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business Minority Business Programs. She has a Master’s in Corporate Communications and Public Relations from Georgetown University and Bachelor’s in Communication and Culture from Howard University.