Bold Brand Shoot in Liverpool for Work Less Strategist Ilaria Sambi
- Sep 1, 2023
- 5 min read
Brand shoot spotlight on Work Less Strategist and AI/Automations Specialist Ilaria Sambi.
Since 2019, Ilaria's been on a mission to empower entrepreneurs to boost their earnings through streamlined, behind-the-scenes strategies, without feeling like they need to exhaust themselves with over-promotion.
If you're constantly battling tech headaches and feeling overwhelmed, she's your go-to person.
Ilaria earned her Master’s in Industrial Biotechnology from the University of Milan, then made the leap from Italy to the UK in 2010 to kickstart her career as a research scientist in a leading FTE100 company.
Despite honing her problem-solving skills in the lab, she craved a change. Transitioning to a role in market research, she gained valuable insights into marketing, project management, and consumer behavior.
Turns out, science wasn't her passion. It was just all she knew, leaving her feeling trapped in a career where she couldn't truly shine because of her quieter nature. "Speak up more in meetings" became a frustratingly common criticism, shutting out introverts like her from opportunities for success.
Despite pouring her heart into her work, she never felt truly valued, and eventually, she burned out.
When she welcomed her daughter into the world in 2019, Ilaria knew it was time for a change. She wanted her to see a happy, fulfilled mom, not one stuck in a job that made her feel miserable.
She yearned to be a present parent and a thriving entrepreneur without sacrificing her well-being.
Discovering the online world sparked new ideas for her career path. She could blend her knack for systems and tools with her project management expertise, all from the comfort of home, allowing her to be closer to her kids.
For the first time, she realized she didn't have to compromise who she was to succeed. In fact, Ilaria made it her mission to show fellow introverts that success doesn't require loudness—it thrives on the power of quiet efficiency and strategic automation.
Now she helps overwhelmed entrepreneurs organize, simplify, and automate their businesses so they can free up 10+ hours every week. Whether it's a VIP Day, a 3-month consultancy, or done-for-you automations support, Ilaria's work is built around one core idea: you should be able to work less without earning less.
On this shoot, our goal together was to uplevel her business away from selfies so she could attract higher-earning entrepreneurs to invest in her services. She wanted to highlight her VIP Days and how she works with her clients, as well as touch on her home life and her why, so we started with her kiddos in their lounge in Liverpool, then moved on to a lovely cafe on Lark Lane, followed by a gorgeous walk in Sefton Park. It was a super full, stunning day in the city, and the results speak for themselves.
Ilaria has used her new brand photos ALL over her content, across her website, and throughout masterclass slide decks she's created. I'm so proud of how hard she's worked to grow her brand and build her business.
Have a scroll through to see how we brought this Work Less Strategist's upleveled brand shoot to life!
INSTAGRAM:
THE WEB:
When your brand photos need to grow with your business
Ilaria's shoot is a great example of something I see often: a business owner whose work has evolved significantly since their last set of brand photos.
When we shot together, she was known primarily as a ClickUp and email automation expert. Today she's positioned as a Work Less Strategist helping entrepreneurs save 10+ hours a week through AI, automations, and simplified systems. Same skills, sharper message, bigger vision.
Brand photos have a shelf life. Not because the images stop being beautiful, but because you stop being the same person. If your positioning has shifted, your niche has narrowed, or you're now attracting a different level of client, your visuals need to catch up. Ilaria's images still serve her well across her website and content because we built them around her story and how she works, not just what she does. That's the difference between photos that last and photos that date.
If you're asking yourself whether it's time for a rebrand shoot, it probably is.
Brand photos for introverts and quiet experts
You don't have to be loud to be a proud business owner...
One of the things that made this shoot so meaningful was Ilaria's relationship with visibility. She's an introvert who spent years in corporate environments being told to speak up more, to be louder, to take up more space. Her business was built as a direct response to that, a way to succeed entirely on her own terms.
That context shapes everything about how I approach a shoot like this. The goal was never to make Ilaria look like someone she isn't. It was to show the version of her that already exists: focused, warm, quietly confident, deeply capable. Candid moments at a cafe table, walking through Sefton Park, working alongside a client. Images that say "I know exactly what I'm doing" without shouting it.
If you're an introvert who's been putting off brand photos because you're dreading being "on," I want you to know that a good shoot doesn't require performance. It requires presence. And that's something quiet people are often brilliant at.
How to plan brand photos around the way you work with clients
Ilaria's shoot was built around her actual client experience, which is one of the most valuable things you can do with a brand shoot. Rather than generic "woman with laptop" images, we created content that showed exactly how she delivers her services: the intimacy of a 1:1 VIP Day session, the focused problem-solving energy of working through systems together, the warmth of a real working relationship.
Here's how to think about this for your own shoot:
Start with your signature offer.
What is the one thing you most want a potential client to understand about working with you?
For Ilaria it was the VIP Day experience — a full day together that transforms how a business runs. Build at least a third of your shot list around that offer specifically.
Show the before and the after.
For a systems and automation strategist, that meant capturing the overwhelmed-business-owner reality (sticky notes, open laptops, a full coffee cup) alongside the calm, in-control version that comes after working with her.
Your shoot should tell the story of the transformation you offer, not just the service itself.
Include the human behind the work.
The lounge shots with Ilaria's children weren't just nice-to-haves.
They were central to her brand story and why — a mom who built a business that fits around her life, helping other entrepreneurs do the same. Don't edit out the context that makes your work meaningful.
Think about where your images will actually live.
Ilaria needed content for her website, her masterclass slide decks, and her social media. Those are three very different formats with different aspect ratios and visual needs. Planning for end use before the shoot means you come away with a genuinely usable library rather than a beautiful set of images that only work in one context.
Shooting in Liverpool: Lark Lane and Sefton Park
For the location-based portion of Ilaria's shoot, we chose Lark Lane and Sefton Park, two of my favorite spots in Liverpool for a relaxed, lifestyle-led session.
Lark Lane is one of those streets that just photographs beautifully — independent cafes, warm interiors, plenty of texture and greenery. It's ideal for working shots, client-facing content, and anything that needs to feel real and lived-in rather than staged. Sefton Park gives you the opposite: open space, natural light, the kind of backdrop that makes portrait shots feel editorial without trying too hard.
Together, they gave Ilaria two completely different visual worlds on the same day. That range is exactly what makes Liverpool such a strong city for brand photography — you can shift the mood dramatically without going far.
If you want to explore what Liverpool has to offer for your own shoot, I've put together a full Liverpool Locations Guide with shoot spots across the city.
Please forgive the banding in some of the images -
had to compress to get them nice and small to share!
