Who Is Sarah Olaifa?
Sarah Olaifa is the Founder of CognifyMe, a London-based HR Tech startup pioneering AI-driven tools that support neurodivergent professionals and help organizations build truly inclusive workplaces. Backed by 100+ Letters of Intent and collaborations with leading corporates, she brings over a decade of experience in program management, stakeholder engagement, and community development. Drawing from her lived experience with ADHD and dyslexia, Sarah is a respected advocate for neuroinclusion, a podcast host amplifying diverse voices, and a mission-driven leader dedicated to reshaping the future of work so every brain can thrive.
A New Framework for Human Potential
The moment Sarah Olaifa realized the workplace was not built for minds like hers was not a single event. It was a pattern, one she had lived through silently for years. As a senior program manager navigating ADHD and dyslexia, she learned to lead complex, high-stakes initiatives while privately managing executive dysfunction, sensory overwhelm, and burnout cycles. But what struck her wasn’t the challenge itself, it was the realization that these struggles were not personal shortcomings. They were symptoms of systems designed for only one type of brain.
This recognition became the spark for a bold entrepreneurial vision. Instead of waiting for the world of work to change, Sarah decided to build the change herself. Today, as the Founder of CognifyMe, she is leading a movement to reshape the future of work around neuroinclusion, executive-function diversity, and human-first design.
As she often reflects,
“These weren’t personal failures, they were system design failures. Workplaces were built around one dominant working style, even though so many of us think, communicate, and thrive differently.”
Her mission: ensure no neurodivergent professional has to shrink, mask, or apologize for how their brain works ever again.
Lived Experience, Leadership, and Purpose
Sarah’s path to becoming a leading voice in neuroinclusion began long before CognifyMe. With a background in journalism, public service, project management, and community development, her early career was defined by roles that demanded precision, communication, empathy, and the ability to navigate complexity.
Her work took her across sectors, from the BBC as an Assistant Producer, to managing housing operations and tenant services, to leading local authority capital projects, and later driving multimillion-pound climate, infrastructure, and health programs. These roles sharpened her ability to understand systems, lead teams, manage change, and build environments where people can succeed.
But beneath each achievement was a quiet truth: she was succeeding publicly while struggling privately.
Masking, overcompensating, and working through burnout became normalized. It wasn’t sustainable, and it wasn’t right. As she later articulated,
“I believe every neurodivergent person deserves to show up without shrinking. My leadership is rooted in compassion over judgment and support over shame.”
This values-driven philosophy would eventually become the cultural backbone of CognifyMe.
Turning Insight into Innovation
The shift from problem to purpose took shape when Sarah recognized that neurodivergent professionals weren’t struggling due to capability gaps, they were struggling because the workplace was not designed with them in mind. Sarah envisioned a solution that offered both personal empowerment and organizational transformation. That concept became CognifyMe, an AI-powered workplace companion created to support executive functioning, burnout prevention, and neuroinclusive culture-building.
As Founder, Sarah leads strategy, vision, product development, investor relations, and partnerships. Her entrepreneurial execution has already generated remarkable traction across the HR Tech ecosystem:
- 100+ Letters of Intent from future users
- Corporate pilot programs (£45k–£50k) initiated with multiple organizations
- SEIS/EIS advance assurance secured for a £270k pre-seed round
- Collaborations with Barclays HQ and leading neurodiversity and workplace inclusion initiatives
- An advisory board of global experts in HR Tech, behavioral science, neurodiversity, and inclusive leadership
One validation moment stands out. During a meeting with a senior HR leader at a major UK organization, she heard words that affirmed the true impact of her work:
“Sarah, your platform gives people language for things they’ve silently struggled with for years. This is exactly what our managers need.”
For Sarah, it was more than praise, it was confirmation that CognifyMe was not just relevant, but essential.
Her innovations extend beyond software. CognifyMe’s Neuro-Inclusive Workplace Pods were intentionally designed for SMEs lacking complex HR systems or large budgets. These Pods quickly gained momentum because they met organizations where they are, with simple, accessible, human-first solutions.
As she explains,
“SMEs told me they wanted to support their neurodivergent staff but didn’t have the tools. So we built solutions that were affordable, practical, and grounded in lived experience.”
Shaping a More Humane Future of Work
Sarah’s impact reaches far beyond product design. She is an educator, advocate, and thought leader driving a global shift in how we understand workplace performance, inclusion, and wellbeing.
Her career has consistently centered on enabling people and systems to work better together. At the Greater London Authority, she supported the Mayor’s Net Zero 2030 agenda and helped identify nearly £500 million in climate investments. At Coding Black Females, she facilitated mentoring programs empowering over 100 Black women and non-binary professionals in tech. Across public health, reproductive services, housing, and community development, her work has been rooted in improving access, equity, and opportunity.
Through Divine Enigma, her neurodiversity-focused podcast, she amplifies stories of resilience and authenticity. Guests describe her presence as grounded and gracefully transformative. As Creative Producer Rayna Lountzis expressed:
“I relished every moment of the experience… Sarah offered profound insights on embracing neurodiversity not as a disability but as a unique strength.”
Another guest, Heather Turner, summarized Sarah’s gift succinctly:
“It was meaningful to discuss how neurodiversity isn’t a challenge, it’s an advantage.”
Sarah’s impact is not only strategic; it is deeply human. She leads through dignity, compassion, and lived experience, creating spaces where others can lead with their whole selves.
Workplaces That Honor the Way People Truly Work
CognifyMe is more than a startup, it is a declaration that the future of work must be inclusive, humane, and neuroscience-informed.
At the heart of Sarah’s leadership is her personal grounding practice. She often shares that her faith and daily rituals sustain her through the demands of entrepreneurship. As she puts it,
“My relationship with God gives me clarity, resilience, and peace. Rest, reflection, and rhythm keep me centered, these practices shape how we design CognifyMe.”
Her long-term vision is clear:
- A world where neurodivergent professionals access tools that honor how their brains operate
- Managers equipped with the language, confidence, and frameworks to lead inclusively
- Organizations that view cognitive diversity as a competitive advantage
- Workplace cultures built on rhythm instead of relentless hustle, clarity instead of chaos, dignity instead of pressure
Sarah is not just imagining a different future, she is architecting it.
Reimagining Workplace Performance, Together
Sarah Olaifa’s journey is a powerful reminder that innovation often begins at the intersection of lived experience and purpose. Her work challenges long-standing assumptions about productivity, leadership, and success. And through CognifyMe, she is rewriting the narrative for the millions of neurodivergent professionals who deserve workplaces built with them—not around them—in mind.
Editorial Note
As Sarah leads the movement toward a more inclusive future of work, her message is a compelling invitation: It is time for leaders, teams, and entire industries to rethink what performance truly means, and to build workplaces where every brain can thrive.
Organizations, investors, and changemakers ready to join this transformation are encouraged to connect, collaborate, and contribute to shaping a world where cognitive diversity is recognized not as an exception, but as an asset.
