Our Alumni Columnist, Summer K. had the opportunity to interview Port Alum Sara Weinstein, Partner, WCPG, about her experiences attending Weber Middle School, as well as her very successful career as an award-winning agency executive in New York City.
SARA WEINSTEIN, Partner, WCPG
Award-winning Philanthropy and Marketing Executive
Carrie Palmer Weber Middle School – Class of 1994
Paul D. Schreiber High School – Class of 1998
CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR AGENCY?
WCPG is an impact agency with the goal of helping good causes grow. We work with companies on their impact efforts. We also work with big non-profit charities and help them form more impactful marketing partnerships. We also work with talent and help them with their charities.
CAN YOU SHARE SOME OF THE CELEBRITIES, MUSICIANS, AND ATHLETES YOU HAVE WORKED WITH AND WHAT THEIR CAUSES ARE?
We work with some of the world’s greatest nonprofits and companies including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Academy Award winning actor and filmmaker Sean Penn and his charity CORE; ESPN’s V Foundation for Cancer Research; and Tony Hawk’s Skatepark Project. The goal is always to help the clients grow their impact work.
One of our biggest clients is Elton John and his charity, The Elton John AIDS Foundation. We help them form corporate partnerships. Over the years, we have partnered Elton John with Saks Fifth Avenue and EBay, and both partnerships included large donations to his charity. I’m proud to also share that Academy Award / Emmy Award / Golden Globe winner Patricia Arquette is a long-term client. We support her charity givelove.org. We work with a lot of great people who are uniquely called to a specific mission, and we have been able to help them raise money, organize campaigns, host events, and essentially grow their causes.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB AND CAREER?
I’m so proud of my business partnership with WCPG Co-CEO Harrie Bakst and that we were able to create a company from nothing. We had a vision, and we understood it when others didn’t at first. We stuck with it. Over time, we built a company that employs people in our NY and LA offices and that does good work. Every day that we go to work, we make a real difference. Charities are impacted and people’s lives are better because of the company we created together.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN PHILANTHROPY WORK? WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO WEBER STUDENTS INTERESTED IN PHILANTHROPY?
When I was young, I knew that I wanted to do something in the community. I thought my career was going to be in politics. I knew I wanted to do good positive work, and I tried something other than politics. I think it’s important to try things and get experience. You learn just as much gaining experience and learning what isn’t for you as what is for you. The best advice I can give Weber students is to work very hard and to know that your career is a very long one. Relationships matter. Be good to people in every job you ever have from internships to CEO. You will have a long career, and you will always meet people again and again along the way.
No matter what charities people support, it’s important to know that every little bit helps whether you can give money or time or awareness – every little bit helps. I encourage students to get involved in any cause they care about.
WHAT CAUSES DO YOU PERSONALLY SUPPORT?
I have been very involved with my college Hamilton College. I served on the Board of Directors. I also started a scholarship fund to send NYC public school students to Hamilton College. Over the
years, I’ve remained very involved with my college. WCPG is very lucky to always have college interns from Hamilton working with us. For me, giving back to my college is my charity of choice because I can pay it forward to a place that was so wonderful to me and that gave me so many opportunities.
WHAT WERE YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECTS AT WEBER?
I always really liked Social Studies and English. I loved classes with communications and debate as part of the curriculum.
WHAT WEBER SCHOOL CLUBS, ACTIVITIES OR SPORTS DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN?
It’s an honor to be interviewed for the Weber newspaper because I was part of the newspaper club when I was in school in Port Washington. I was the Entertainment Editor, so I covered the school plays and community events. I went on to be Managing Director of The Schreiber Times. I was also very involved in the debate team in school.
WHAT WAS YOUR MAJOR AT HAMILTON COLLEGE?
I was a Women’s Studies and Government major.
WHAT IS YOUR PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT?
Starting a company from nothing but an idea and growing it into a business that employs people and does good work. But my proudest personal accomplishment is my family and my friends.
HOW CAN MY READERS SUPPORT ANY OF YOUR CLIENT’S CHARITIES OR CAUSES?
Readers can visit www.wcpg.co or follow www.instagram.com/wcpgoco/ to learn more about the charities that we work with.
Sara Weinstein is an award-winning philanthropy executive currently serving as a Partner at WCPG since October 2010. WCPG is an award-winning agency that specializes in marketing partnerships, brand activations, and campaign creation rooted in culture and purpose. Sara is an alumna of Hamilton College.