About

writer | photographer | STRATEGISt | filmmaker

Oh, you want the long version? PICTURE THIS: It was THE other FINANCIAL CRISIS WE all lived through, the one IN 2008….

I was young, happy, and my career trajectory was on the upswing. I was a Sales Manager for a Fortune 500 developer, winning awards and feeling pretty great about it. Then, I unexpectedly got pregnant. With twins. As a single mom.

Returning to work after my maternity leave was like returning to another planet. The work environment and structure that I had loved so dearly felt transformed, and not for the better. Work had always been my escape, and just when I needed that escape the most, it had become its own brand of pressure-cooker hell as the market collapsed.

With much trepidation, as the sole provider for my two sweet baby girls, I left my comfortable job to start my own real estate team (the chutzpah! the naïvete!). I figured, ‘hey, while I build this thing and am totally broke as a 100% commissioned realtor, I may as well go back to school’. And so I did. I became a full-time student in 2010.

Between then and 2012, I wore a lot of hats as I struggled to find a surefire way to support the three of us. At different points I waited tables, worked for a private bartending service, worked for an attorney, did marketing for another real estate agent, did content writing for a number of local publications and online services, and began to learn photography. PHEW! It was a grind, but the hardest part was that nothing in my life was certain or stable.

But something incredible happened. All of those seeds I’d been sowing? Well, one started to bloom a little ahead of the others. Within my first year of photographing weddings, my work was published in print internationally, in a magazine called Rock N Roll Bride. I was entirely self-taught, and because of my limited resources, I had to work entirely with rented equipment. Pretty much every penny I made, I put back into the business for the first two years, living off of student loans (do not recommend). In 2012, I filed LLC paperwork and became the owner of AGPcollective.

My career absolutely took off, and while I had never intended to focus on weddings, that is where I saw my greatest success, so I ran with it. From 2012 until today, it has been my full-time career. I’ve never advertised, I have done all of my own PR and social media, and I’ve never had investors. In 2018, I photographed the wedding of Eagles player Jason Kelce. Fresh off the team’s Super Bowl win (and his memorable speech at the parade) Jason was, at that moment, the most famous person in Philadelphia. Things only picked up from there.

All along, I’ve carried with me a secret: it’s never been weddings that nourished me the most or gave me the greatest satisfaction. My true passion has been contributing to projects that lift my community and my neighbors, and working as a mentor for other business owners. I was born to HELP and to lead, to counsel and consult. I feel most fulfilled when I can use my skills with purpose to better the lives of those around me.

So today, as I write this in the midst of our latest financial crisis — one more layered and devastating with the many tragic losses of life around the globe — I realize it’s undeniably time to build in a new direction. A clearer, more intentional path that enables me to apply everything I’ve learned in a decade of scrappy self-employment, of successfully crowdfunding passion projects, and somehow hitting an income milestone I never dreamed of, to help my fellow business owners reach their potential. As a strategist that no obstacle has ever stopped, I see each ending as the opportunity for something better. I can see the path forward for my clients even when they cannot.

In the years ahead, I hope to spend more time writing engaging content for your brands, representing you on social media, creating images that fit your personal style and tell your future clients you’re the best fit for the job. I want to be the resource that helps you define your vision for your business and be sure your social media platforms are set up to maximize your profits and reach your dream audience.

I can take you there, whether you’re starting from the bottom of the mountain, or you’re halfway through your trek and lost in the woods. I’ve been to the summit and know the way.

Sarah freaking Alderman you are magical writer. I don't even have words. I’ve never seen my story shared in a positive way and I don’t feel embarrassed when it’s presented the way you wrote it. I got choked up — that’s huge! There aren’t enough ‘thank you’s. The amount of talent in that brain of yours is amazing. What can’t you do???

- J.K., website content writing client