About Athru Communications

Your trusted partner for a better-connected communications team

a CQ communications consultancy business

Meet Sarah Black

Sarah founded Athru Communications in 2018. With a wealth of experience and 30 years of communications expertise, Sarah has worked in-house, within agencies, and as a consultant and has lived and worked in many countries including Ireland, Norway, Texas, England and now Scotland.

She has built strong expertise and credibility in communications, PR and now cultural intelligence, with decades of experience in leading teams and working across organisational cultures from tiny start-ups and groundbreaking, grassroots peacebuilding community groups to some of the biggest consumer brands in the world. Sarah is certified in cultural intelligence and has worked with many clients on applying CQ frameworks and assessments.

Sarah’s ethos is to “always take the work seriously but never myself”. She is straight-talking and known for her empathetic and supportive approach, focusing on empowering clients rather than criticising them. Sarah is approachable, funny and full of of positive energy.

Sarah is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and currently serves as the Events Chair for CIPR Scotland. She previously served on CIPR’s Board and Executive Committee.

Testimonials

What our clients say

"We worked with Sarah on an intercultural organisational diagnosis project, looking at how a client's corporate values were interpreted and applied across multiple global sites. Sarah's contributions were critical to the success of the project; she pays incredible attention to detail in her analysis while simultaneously being able to see the big picture. She constructed a cohesive narrative, analysing a multitude of data from multilingual focus groups, and considering important cultural differences in her interpretations and client recommendations. We appreciate Sarah's professional eye, availability, and ease of working together. Look forward to the next project!"

athrú

Noun, Irish word meaning change, alteration

Get Started

Why Athru Communications?

Athru Communications is a small but mighty communications consultancy with a positive attitude and a big heart. Through our experience in-house and in-agency, we’ve seen the power of inclusive and culturally intelligent communications at work. Now, we’re on a mission to spread the good work of cultural intelligence and empower communications teams and leaders to be better, inclusive communicators.

Our Team

Meet our team

The team at Athru Comms all bring different perspective and insights to communicating across cultures and difference. We each combined lived experience of living across cultures and countries with deep expertise in our specific areas. We work as a collective to bring you the range and depth of support you need.

Cath Brew

Cath Brew is a global LGBTQ+ education facilitator, mentor and artist, who supports allies as they navigate LGBTQ+ issues at home and at work. She is founder of the Embodied Inclusion System, creator of Rainbow Roo – a weekly LGBTQ+ cartoon for allies, and host of the pocast, Drawn to a Deeper Story. Cath is also an intuitive coach and sees private clients both online and in-person. Cath helps parents, schools, and businesses to see queerly, and get confident with navigating diverse genders and sexualities cross culturally. She offers a range of professional LGBTQ+ awareness training, 1:1 support, talks, workshops and public speaking. Australian by birth, Cath lives in the UK’s south west.

Ema Naito

Ema Naito (she/her) is a plurilingual scholarly editor who loves clear, plain English and its power to promote accessibility and inclusion. Ema helps multilingual authors around the world write effectively for international development and in the social sciences. She is based in Bangkok.

Gradiola Kapaj

Gradiola is an Intercultural Trainer and DEI Consultant who has managed cross-cultural teams and consulted for multinational organizations on tailored intercultural education and DEI strategies. She has lived in several European countries, speaks six languages, and lectures on Intercultural Communication and DEI at FH Wien der WKO in Vienna. As a certified CQ trainer, Gradiola support potential clients by delivering customized intercultural training that enhances cross-cultural understanding and communication within their teams. Her expertise helps organizations navigate cultural differences, fostering more inclusive and effective work environments. Gradiola is based in Albania but frequently works from other locations across central Europe.

Trisha Carter

Trisha is an Organisational Psychologist, with a curiosity and drive to help others see different perspectives. Her expertise in cultural intelligence, her experience in coaching and training thousands of global executives combine in training coaching and consulting – and as a podcast host – to continuously go deeper and share more about how we think in order to build global bridges of understanding. She has a Masters Degree in Organisational Psychology and has achieved the highest level of cultural intelligence accreditation as a CQ Fellow. Trisha hosts The Shift, a podcast dedicated to exploring those moments of seeing things differently or our cultural metacognition. She is currently based in Sydney, Australia.