Our Team
Kate Sours
Kate Sours founded Empower Strategies after experiencing first-hand the need for effective recruiting, people operations, and leadership development within politics and many other D.C.-based industries.
Kate spent the first part of her career leading innovative digital marketing strategies for political campaigns and organizations before founding Empower Strategies Consulting. Because political organizations are powered by its people, she found many opportunities to help teams grow, transform, and work effectively together.
In her career as a strategic recruiter and people operations leader, Kate has grown and hired the largest digital team in Republican politics, led people operations and recruiting for a team of 185, and trained more than 225 individuals and leaders.
She holds an Executive Certificate from Georgetown University in Organizational Consulting & Change Leadership and is a Gallup-certified CliftonStrengths Coach, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Certified Practitioner, and Society of Human Resources Certified Professional (SHRM-CP), as well as a B.A. from American University.
Her greatest value is in aligning an organization's people and processes to support its strategic goals. She is a proven trainer, efficient recruiter, experienced problem solver, and effective coach.
Ryan Micozzi
Ryan is experienced in sourcing talent, writing job descriptions, building applicant tracking systems, interviewing candidates, creating skills tests, and coaching hiring managers on making hiring decisions.
During the 2020 election cycle, Ryan was a staffer at the Republican National Committee who filled over 100 positions for the following capabilities within Digital: Ads, Creative, Reporting, Fundraising, SMS, Political and Social Media.
Prior to joining Empower, Ryan provided Human Resources Operations support for the Koch Political Network, specializing in background checks, on-boarding, off-boarding, and HRIS management.
Ryan served as a White House Intern in the Office of Political Affairs during the Trump Administration. He is an alumni of the University at Buffalo, where he studied Human Resources Management and Political Science. He is a Certified Professional by the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM-CP).
Sarah Ott
Sarah brings her demonstrated experience in Talent Acquisition and Human Resources to Empower Strategies. Sarah is skilled in sourcing candidates for a wide variety of industries and identifying top talent for growing organizations.
Sarah began her career working at a recruiting agency focusing on the needs of clients and candidates for a successful hiring process. She later gained a valuable skill set in Human Resources and Talent Acquisition with a Louisiana-based Maritime company.
Her background includes full-cycle recruiting, onboarding, writing job descriptions, administering Human Resources functions, and conducting interviews.
She is an alumna of Louisiana State University, where she obtained a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication and Public Relations with a minor in Psychology.
Sarah is excited to work diligently to provide innovative solutions for Empower Strategies' clients and candidates.