HPE, Eighteen Zeros — Sarah Sherman

SARAH SHERMAN

About

I’m not the SNL cast member. I’m a multidisciplinary creative director, strategist, and writer with a nonlinear background. I come from film, journalism, advertising, and New York City.

I started in documentaries, built the video team at The Atlantic's award-winning content studio, and developed brand, comms, and creative strategies for start-ups and legacy brands, including Playboy. Now, I run creative strategy at a hyper-innovative little agency called SpecialGuest. We make campaigns for brands like Bumble, Google, Meta, and Ray-Ban.

When I’m not working, I’m reading New York restaurant reviews from my house in San Francisco, dressing my toddler like Jeff Daniels, and petting every pitbull I see.

Coaching

“Coaching” is a silly word, but I do work that a lot of people would describe as coaching.

What I offer: (1) Counseling through work challenges and transitional moments, e.g. managing tough relationships with colleagues, navigating negotiations, advocating for role growth or change. (2) Developing and refining the story you tell about your work experience and aspirations. (3) Tactical job search support, e.g. networking strategy, materials review (resumes, portfolios, cover letters, work samples, etc.)

Who I support: I'm field agnostic, but I will have a particular edge with people coming from media, creative industries, advertising, etc. I have the most experience with early and mid-career women, but I'm open to working with anyone.

Clients

Ray-Ban, Meta, Googles, OpenAI, Lyft, Filmhub, Oatly, Bumble, Google, Jaguar, Porsche, Playboy, The New York Times, TikTok, IBM, Foundation, Instagram, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, CNN, Dyson, Kohler, Boeing, AT&T, VMware, Cove, Marriott, Cathay Pacific Airlines

Some Awards

Indie Top 40 Independent Agency (SpecialGuest), Cannes Lion Silver (SpecialGuest), Small Agency of the Year (SpecialGuest) , AdAge Silver Addy (Shortlisted), Shorty Awards, Vimeo Staff Pick (Moral Code), Folio Class of Top Women in Media in the Up & Comers, 100 Significant Women in Native Advertising, OMMA finalist, Emmy nomination: Investigative Journalism, Webby nomination: Best Branded, OMMA Finalist, Folio Awards

Films & Shows

Fault Lines (Big Sky Film Festival Official Selection, Apple TV, Amazon Prime), American Pathogen (narrated by Jeffrey Wright) Chicagoland (CNN), Freeway (Al Jazeera America), Letters From Baghdad (Amazon Prime), (Dis)honesty (Amazon Prime, PBS), Gainesville (CMT)

Select Work

Bumble, Finally
HPE, Eighteen Zeros
Ray-Ban Meta, Live All In
Cove
Lizzo x Meta
Dogchurch
Bumble, Voices

Substack

HPE, EIGHTEEN ZEROS

HPE came to The Atlantic to help tell the story of their most transformative innovations. My team created a ~7-minute mixed-media film about exascale computing and the impact it could have on humanity. The film, Eighteen Zeros, was so well received that HPE came to us to create a follow-up film, Moral Code, focusing on the ethical questions we’ll grapple with as we develop AI (this was in 2019).

For both films, I led research, story development, and casting of experts, including Tim Urban of Wait But Why. I worked closely with our directors to develop the visual approach, oversaw our shoots across New York and the Bay Area, and played a key role in the edit.

Moral Code, Vimeo Staff Pick

Agency: Atlantic Re:think