Sarah Weber is everywhere. As the founder of Pittsburgh-based sweb marketing, the young professional can frequently be found jumping from one local small business to the next as she and her team of five employees work to highlight the various capabilities and services offered by some of the smallest players in the region’s economy. She launched sweb in 2020 to fill a void she said existed at a local level, a void that lacked a personal touch and understanding of marketing. She has since gone on to launch the cohort, a group of about 250 Pittsburgh-area social media influencers with some having up to 5 million followers on various social media platforms, to better improve upon the role that online personalities can have in marketing efforts. The Pittsburgh Web, another marketing venture from Weber, is an Instagram account she manages with over 72,000 followers who turn to her insights on where to eat, drink and shop in the city.
What’s the story behind how you ended up launching your own marketing firm?
The short version is it was on accident. I never had any dream or intent to be an entrepreneur. The longer version is I started out in corporate health care right out of college and very quickly realized the corporate world wasn’t for me and struggled with the politics and the red tape and not being able to innovate and make progress quickly. So I left the corporate world and went to the agency world and really thrived in that environment but struggled with the lack of intention on the agency side of things to listen to businesses and what their goals were for marketing. And so two days after I gave notice to leave the agency world, I had a former client reach out to me to see if I could do some consulting work. A week later, I had another past colleague reach out to see if I could do some consulting work. And, unintentionally, sweb was born. It started as this one-person consultancy and this year alone, I’m about to make my third hire for a team of five.
You’ve been outspoken in the past about how creating this type of content can feel isolating and the importance of trying to break out of that state. Why is this something you’re passionate about?
I would say there are two things. One, because of the female-driven population of the creator economy, I am very passionate about women in business and women in business being able to succeed while still creating a family and prioritizing a work-life balance. And two, through The Pittsburgh Web and coming out of the pandemic, I really care about being able to stimulate our local economy and give back to the places that we’re living and working and create or ultimately offer that opportunity to local businesses to be able to scale what they’re trying to say in a larger footprint.
What is your favorite part of the day?
My favorite part of the day is my status meeting with my team. Those are every day from 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., and it’s where I’m setting them up for success for the next day before they sign off.
What is something that has been unexpected along this entrepreneurial journey for you?
What I did not expect from my career was to care so much about the local businesses and local economy. That wasn’t something that I ever grew up thinking would be a mission of mine. But meeting so many of our business owners based in Pittsburgh during the ingenuity of what they’re doing with their business and how they’re connecting with customers is something that I think is important and needs to be heard. And I’m trying to play my part as best I can in helping that happen when they don’t always have the resources to do it themselves.
You’ve produced marketing efforts around the city for different restaurants and bars. Which city street do you think overall has the best scene for these places?
I’d say lately Butler Street is really kicking some butt. I love Driftwood Oven; their “cruffins” are one of my favorite things in the city. There’s also The Parlor Dim Sum. Another great institution is Umami, a hidden gem that you just wouldn’t even know existed up a sketchy flight of stairs. There are just so many good cocktail bars as well. One of my favorite places to start or end any night really is Grapperia. A bottle of wine there or a glass of grappa is 10 out of 10.
What’s your go-to fun fact about yourself?
When I travel, I also love to hike, and that’s something that has been a new addition to my life in the last 10 years. I was bedridden with a health condition for about three years in my 20s. I never knew if I would be able to thrive in the business world coming out of that, let alone create something for myself like sweb and the cohort. And as soon as I was able to get myself back up from that, I said I’m going to do as much as I can do from an activity standpoint. I can now hike things that I never thought I would. I’ve done The Enchantments out in Washington state, and I also just did Switzerland and Ireland, some of their biggest peaks.
ABOUT SARAH WEBER:
Title: Founder, president and chief strategy enthusiast of sweb marketing; founder and chief influencer enthusiast of the cohort; architect of The Pittsburgh Web
Age: 33
Education: B.S./B.A., marketing, University of Pittsburgh; certificate in public and professional writing
Residence: McCandless
Family: Mom, grandmother, the best aunts and uncles, cousins and friends who are like siblings, and, as a result, several honorary nieces and nephews
Hobbies: Trying new restaurants, hiking and traveling as much as humanly possible
Causes: Dysautonomia International, Alzheimer’s Association, local and small business advocacy, women in business
