We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sarah Awad. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sarah below.

Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

One of my taglines is “Rendering Systems Useless”. The standard in our culture and now globally is to give birth in the medical system. And through my journey of motherhood, I have come to a place where I supported myself through pregnancy, birth, and childcare completely outside of the medical system. No tests, no doctors, no visits, no doulas … just life as it was meant to be. This wasn’t how I used to operate or view birth. But though 5 years of deprograming myself from the fear based narrative I came to a place of unshakeable trust in my body, intuition, and nature.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have been an artist my whole life. Professionally I became a photographer to make a living. This opened up my work to so many experiences, weddings, portraits and even photographed a hospital birth. This opened my eyes to what it was like to be in a delivery room exactly one year before I became a mother. I have always been one to carve out my own path, and step one foot after the other into the unknown. I never planned on owing my own photography business, or becoming a birth coach, or leading women’s circles… life just took me here. And it feels right and exciting.

When it comes to photography, what I offer my clients is an opportunity to feel safe enough to be themselves, to not pose or think too much about the camera, but to ease into the moment. This allows for a more organic and authentic photo. As a wedding photographer what I love most is supporting my clients and their families emotionally, so much so that capturing the day can almost feel like an afterthought. Yes, I am there to take photos, to guide the day along, and allow the couple to look back on these moments forever. But additionally, I am there to witness their emotions, offer subtle support. This can look like making sure the bride has had enough hydration, to easing tension and acting as a liaison between the couple, their families, and the venue.

As a birth coach (or birth keeper as I prefer to call myself) and a circle leader, I lead by example. I know what is possible, because I have been there. It isn’t from a book or a course, it is my visceral experience. I believe transformation is possible, because I have watched myself transform. Women are craving this inner knowing, and I am here to simply illuminate what is already inside of them. For example my first pregnancy I was far to terrified to even consider giving birth outside a hospital, and the second birth, I did on my own without ever interacting with the medical system before, during, or after. Reclaiming the ancient knowledge of our bodies continues to change my life and the life of my whole family.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

My whole life I was known as an artist… This was my lane, and the box society, and myself, put me in. When I finally got comfortable (after 10 years) as a professional photographer, life started to call me in a different direction. Into the self development, wild leadership, coaching, birth, and all things motherhood space. I had to expand. I relate it to being a hermit crab, and the “photographer” shell, became far too small for my new vision of life and how I was being called to serve my community. I had become known as “Sarah Ginder Photography”, now Sarah Ginder Photography is just one branch in my larger brand “Somewhere Grounded”. This rebrand will hopefully continue to grow and hold the wide variety of offerings (women’s circles, birth coaching, community hikes, events, ceremonies, and beyond).

Shedding this skin is scary, and seemingly endless. But I have become quite familiar with this discomfort and the unknown. I will always choose the risk of failure over the fear of not trying.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I took a corporate job for Barneys New York doing Photoshop for their website. I felt like a sell out… an artist, suck at a desk, staring at a computer for endless hours day after day. A job with a boss who parroted orders from up top. All of it was soul sucking to me. I noticed that all of my coworkers were talented artists who had let go of their dreams, their craft, and stoped creating… All for this pay check and the “benefits”. I would not let this be my story. At the hight of it, I worked 90 hours a week to build my photography brand and experience in the nights and weekends.

I had the courage to charge my clients a decent rate, because if they didn’t book, I still had my corporate income. I didn’t need the gig to survive. But the clients would book! And after some time, I didn’t need the corporate job because I had my own business! This allowed me to stand up form myself in the office, and not get pushed around and silenced like my coworkers.

Still the idea of quitting and fully betting on myself felt unrealistic and irresponsible. But who was I becoming? The culture of my day job was seeping into my sense of self. It was hard to trust my creative instincts when 5 days out of the week I was not aloud to think for myself. I had to blindly trust authorities, then turn around and shoot a wedding, and be my own boss. So … I quit! And I never looked back!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sarahginderphotography.com/ https://www.somewheregrounded.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somewheregrounded

Image Credits

Sarah Ginder Photography