An Interview With Personal Brand Mentor And Photographer Peggy MacSweeney
- Jul 9, 2021
- 4 min read
Peggy is a personal brand mentor and photographer. Passionate about the power of visual storytelling, she helps women entrepreneurs who want to differentiate themselves to get visible confidently and attract their ideal clients with their own uniqueness and with scroll-stopping brand images.
Coming from a corporate background as well as being an introvert, Peggy struggled to put herself as the face of the business at the start of her business. Having overcome her own visibility challenge, her bigger mission is to help introverted women launching their businesses to craft a standout personal brand and visibility strategy so that they can be seen and known as experts in their field.
Peggy MacSweeney, Personal Brand Mentor and Photographer
What’s your story?
I am originally from Hong Kong and spent the early part of my childhood there. When I was 12, I moved to Sydney, Australia, with my family until I finished university. After working a few years in Hong Kong, I was relocated to London with my job then. Prior to my relocation, I’d never set foot in London and knew absolutely no one here. It was an adventure of a lifetime! Fast forward 19 years, London is now my home with my hubby and my 6-year-old.
So how did you start your business?
I’ve worked in the corporate environment all my life since I’d graduated from university. A few years ago, I was made redundant from my job out of the blue. It felt like the end of the world at that very moment. But then realized it’s the best opportunity for me to finally pursue my dream and at the same time free myself from the childcare stress. I’d always wanted to start a business but was never brave enough to. Losing my job gave me the reason to take that leap.
Photography has been my beloved hobby for 17 years, so I decided to follow my passion. But before I launched my business, I took time off to explore which photography genre I wanted to pursue. I am passionate about storytelling and was fascinated and inspired by other entrepreneurs that I decided to launch my photography business in storytelling personal brand photography. As I learned more about the different aspects of business, my interest in marketing and online visibility grew.
In the past year, I’ve gone through a period of self-reflection during the global pandemic as photography being an “in-person” service was hugely affected. I diversified my business into the virtual world, helping new business owners in their online visibility and marketing strategy and offering virtual photoshoots. I’m embracing the new way of working. I feel that online business is the way forward!
Who are your clients? And how can you help them?
In the photography part of my business, I help online woman entrepreneurs to get visible confidently and consistently by providing them with a library of scroll-stopping on-brand images so that they can grow their tribes and building that known, like, and trust fast. Because I’m specialized in personal branding, in addition to the actual photoshoot, I also help my photography clients to improve their online presence, teaching them how they can use their visuals effectively in their day-to-day marketing activities. On the mentoring side, I help new service-based entrepreneurs to differentiate themselves from the crowd and be known and be seen as experts in their field with a stand-out personal brand and visibility strategy. I particularly love helping introverted women. As being an introvert myself, I understand the challenges of being an introvert navigating into the noisy marketing world.
What are the ways that people can work with you? For entrepreneurs who are ready to hire a professional photographer, I offer both in-person personal brand photoshoots as well as a virtual photo shoot. For business owners who are not yet in the position of hiring a photographer, I offer a virtual workshop to teach them how to take scroll-stopping photos with just their phone camera. There’s absolutely no excuse for using bad-quality photos on your social media posts! On the mentoring side, I work with my clients through a bespoke 1 to 1 program. You mentioned virtual photoshoot. Does that mean you can take photos remotely? How does it work?
That’s right. I can take photos of you without being in the same location as you. You can be at the comfort of your own home anywhere in the world while I am at the comfort of my own home in London. Technology is so amazing these days. Basically, through an app, I can take photos of you remotely. If you want to know more, do get in touch.
Finally, what is one interesting fact about you that others might not know about?
Besides photography, I also love anything to do with music (and food ). I used to sing in the school choir. But when my teacher discovered I played the piano, she asked me to accompany the choir instead!
