Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Carson.
Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I run three businesses: A financial advisory business; a private investigation business, and an acting business. I got into the financial advisory business when I was still working in corporate America (I’m one of the first women to get an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Some of my less financially literate friends would ask my advice, so I started doing more of that even while working full-time in a big corporation. Today I’ve scaled this back to the clients who were with me from the start.
I got into private investigation when I was on leave from my job with a big company due to family problems. I saw an ad in the paper for the Nick Harris Detective Academy. So I enrolled in their training. It seemed like a frivolous thing to do, but I was in need of something fun due to the stress in my life. I liked it so much I never went back to my job with a big corporation. I instead got a job with the State Bar of California to get the hours I needed of paid investigative work to get licensed in California and New York.
I started acting 9 years ago. I would meet people, and they would be sure they had seen me in some television show or movie. Finally, when I met an actress who said the industry would love my loo, I enrolled in an acting class.
So today, I still have the scaled-back advisory business, the private investigation business that specializes in fraud and locating difficult to find people, and the acting business. I had to join SAG this year because there are only so many union jobs one can book before the union stops clearing you to work. I produced a couple of productions on my own with me as the central character.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been a lot of hard work, which I haven’t minded. In fact, it’s going to be a hard adjustment if the day comes I don’t have the health to work. I was the only woman executive in a multi-billion dollar company, and the private investigation business was pretty male-dominated when I got into it. I can’t say, though, that I faced a lot of discrimination. I people I’ve worked with along the way were pretty much willing to believe about me the same as I believed about myself. Since I didn’t have any doubts that I could do the job, I don’t think anyone else has doubted it either.
The acting endeavor has been a different story. There are far fewer roles for senior women than their share of the population, and the industry tends to default to those veterans of 35 to 50 years in the business when selecting who will be cast in these senior roles. It’s a much more risk-adverse industry than I’ve been used to dealing with.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve been acting now for nine years. Maybe you can say eight years since 2020 was pretty much a loss. I was the age my mother was when she died that I started. Some of the efforts has been a kind of healing. When I entered corporate America, the conversation hadn’t gotten to the point about “equal pay for equal work.” It was whether women were too emotional to do the job. So I had to be the last person in the organization to cry. That effort created a lot of armor. So acting has given me more emotional access. Somedays, when I feel I’ve made no progress, I look at what level of work I did when I started. After joining the union, I’ve had fewer auditions and bookings, except the bookings have paid so much more that I’m having a net inflow now after years of a net outflow.
What sets me apart in the acting business is that I have actually done many of the roles for which they are casting. I know them from the inside, as I have actually done them. What makes me most proud is that considering all endeavors together, I am recognized as a pioneer by many young women in the earlier stages of their careers.
How do you define success?
Success is being able to do every day what you love doing and in keeping the standards one’s values tell you should be kept.
Pricing:
- $200/hour for private investigation. I do a thorough vetting of potential new clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: For acting: www.sarahcarsonactor.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/castsarahcarson
Image Credits
Brian Parillo; Jeff Lorch
