The goal of this scholarship is to recognize and support a professional Photo Manager with a passion for helping clients preserve their legacy, whether they are facing life transitions, chronic illness, or simply wish to document and celebrate their stories and memories. The project can be in progress or completed. The desired outcome is a Legacy Project, for example, a memorial slideshow, a photo collection that has been organized, scanned, backed up, and made accessible, a photo book, or a compilation of letters.
Sharon Wunder passed away peacefully on October 8th, 2023. This scholarship honors her legacy and her desire to impact professional photo managers offering legacy services.
Apply for the 2026 Legacy Impact Scholarship
AMOUNT: $3,000 USD to one (1) recipient
USE: The Photo Managers Conference in Boston, MA, including registration, flights, hotel room, additional meals, and expenses.
GOAL OF SCHOLARSHIP: The purpose of the scholarship is to reward a member of The Photo Managers who can demonstrate a passion for and expertise in creating a legacy project that honors and preserves the stories and memories of their clients, whether their clients are navigating life transitions, dealing with chronic illness, or simply seeking to document their legacy. The project can be in progress or completed. The Photo Manager should be able to demonstrate a connection with the family or client as part of the process.
REQUIREMENTS: An active member of the Photo Managers who is either working towards certification or has obtained certification.
SELECTION COMMITTEE: Cathi Nelson (CEO), Isabelle Knudsen, and the TPM Advisory Board.
DATES & DEADLINES: Applications are due no later than November 30th, 2025. The recipient will be announced by December 17th, 2025.
About the Legacy Impact Scholarship
Sharon Wunder joined The Photo Managers in January of 2021 with excitement and dreams of success. She loved engaging in daily chats about business planning ideas and, like many, organized her photo library as her initial training. Yet during that time, she started experiencing health issues, and she was scared. The story below, written in 2023, is in her words and her vision for a scholarship as a way of giving back.
I was grateful and inspired to have a new set of very cool “virtual” friends that seemed to get me, kindness that was not forced. This WAS refreshing and unique. And the support offered by our CEO, Cathi Nelson, was unheard of. Professionalism. Ethics. Education. Something you did not run across every day anymore.
Cathi made it feel safe to go grab those dreams. Anything could be possible in this new field that had not been fully built yet, A Blue Ocean for sure. As a creative - I was excited to be a part of building my empire. Building my community such as this one.
Finally, I’d found my home. Then came the diagnosis. Brain cancer. And not just any kind - stage 4 “incurable” Glioblastoma. The most aggressive incurable cancer is also served up without a plan to release the disease. Terminal. Tears. Fears.
Fast forward to today - I am choosing no more chemo, no more choices that drain my energy, no more surgeries. I know my life is fleeting fast. I feel it in my body. I understand that surgery does not stop tumor growth. I understand doctors will do anything to try and give me more time, but I refuse to live in a hospital. I want to live out the good days I’m being offered.
My goal is to leave a gift, something magical. Something that gives back and can keep on giving. I’m so very grateful that I now have my legacy photo library set up for my future generations to enjoy and to be able to find efficiently to set up my celebration of life slide show and to help my kids remember the good times I was there for them in their childhood.
Donations are handled by our fiscal sponsor, Compass Rose Legacy Foundation.
2025 Scholarship Recipients
This past year has been quite transformational for myself and my business. Although I have felt the legacy bug for some time now, it wasn’t until this past winter that my journey truly began. Sparked by a Zoom conversation with Nancy Jean Rose, I could finally see the birth of the path to what I wanted to accomplish.
This path began with Guided Autobiography Instructor training and an end-of-life doula course. The former provided a unique perspective on moving from reminiscence into storytelling and legacy writing. The latter fostered my desire to help those at end-of-life find meaning through legacy work and planning.
I began volunteering with Prairie Hospice, where I’m paired with individuals who feel a strong need and limited time to complete their legacy work. One client, a 68-year-old woman with stage 4 breast cancer, has been the family storyteller but lacks the technical skill and energy to preserve her memories. She told me, “I don’t even know where to start!” I smiled and said, “No worries, I’ve got you covered.” Together, we’re creating a mini-documentary using photos and audio, and she’s recording personal reflections, including a video legacy letter to her granddaughter.
Legacy work has become the primary focus in my business—so much so that I officially changed my business name to reflect it. I’m applying for this scholarship with hopes to continue my legacy journey and provide clients and patients with more ways to share their stories.
My future goals include offering workshops and speaking engagements on legacy writing and preparation, inspiring others to start now, and honoring those we’ve lost by keeping their stories alive. I plan to grow my clientele, build a YouTube channel, and appear on local TV to reach a wider audience. One day, I’ll give a TED Talk and maybe inspire others as I have been inspired.
I’m applying for the Impact Scholarship because my work centers on meaningful legacy projects that preserve and celebrate individual stories. With a background in history and women’s studies, I’ve been especially drawn to projects that honor women—from cookbooks and memory books to retirement tributes.
One project especially close to my heart is the Heart Project, a tribute to Dr. Revathi Chennabathni, who dedicated 18 years to Sathya Sai School. What began as a small bulletin feature grew into a red linen-bound book filled with photos of students and staff making heart gestures—a powerful symbol of love and gratitude. Capturing nearly 300 portraits and reflecting on Dr. Revathi’s journey made this experience deeply personal, especially as I was also preparing to leave the school myself.
That project led to another—an 8×8 photo book for a retiring teacher, filled with heartfelt notes from each of her students. These experiences affirmed my passion for helping others preserve memories through storytelling, photography, and design.
Looking ahead, I hope to expand my offerings, teach others how to create legacy projects, and inspire more people to celebrate the lives and stories that shape us. This scholarship would help me grow professionally, connect with like-minded peers, and bring even more legacy projects to life.
I’m currently working on a photo book collection for four foster children—two sisters and two brothers—who entered their foster home between 1.5 and 2.5 years old, with little memory of their early lives. Their foster mother reached out with a heartfelt goal: to give each child a tangible connection to their childhood through personalized photo books.
Initially overwhelmed by the volume of photos, she handed over the curation process to me. I selected meaningful images for each child and designed the books in chronological order, providing a framework for her to add written stories. Each child has now received their book as a birthday gift, and a final family book will be ready for Christmas.
To make the project financially manageable, we spread out the production costs over a year. This collaboration has been incredibly rewarding—combining her storytelling and my design skills to create something lasting and meaningful.
Inspired by a past scholarship recipient, I would love to one day dedicate funds to help a family facing loss preserve their photo legacy. My mission is to empower those who want to create their own photo books and support those who need someone to do it for them. Photo books are my passion, and I hope to continue using this work to bring joy, connection, and lasting memories to others.
2024 Scholarship Recipients
I want Tapestry Life Stories to be resource people go to preserve their legacy. I want to educate people on the importance of leaving a legacy whether they have family or not; their story will resonate with someone in the future. Telling one’s story through words and photos is a treasure for those who receive it, but maybe even more, it is a gift to the storyteller.
Workshops, oral interviews, and slideshows/video montages are my passions. I have been putting together narrative stories, photos, music, and creative transitions to create storytelling slideshows. I am collaborating with a filmmaker to include video, and together, we want to approach hospice and retirement communities. Honestly, when I began, I was not sure I could work with individuals with terminal illness. But through experience and education, I see it differently.
My heart is also with parents who have experienced loss, caregivers, and seniors. Through my own personal experiences and working with clients, I know the healing power of photos and stories. It can be healing for any loss, and as I recently discovered, even the loss of a pet. Stories tell the stories behind the photos, and photos help to tell the story. While focusing on the areas I most want to serve, I want to outsource more of my other services to other photo managers. I am excited to be back on the path I began.
When I read about the Impact Scholarship, I knew I wanted to apply because my business was born out of loss. In 1995, almost a year after the loss of our newborn daughter, I knew that the photos and movies we had of her life were irreplaceable treasures and I had to find a way to create a remembrance we would always have. Of course, that led me to preserve my family’s other photos and memories and evolved into helping others do the same.
Even as an experienced photo manager, I look forward to attending the annual conference and seeing new products and old and new friends. I’m always looking for ways to expand my business, handle the business side of it better, and serve clients better. Conversations with other Photo Managers are an important part of what I take home with me. If I am awarded the Impact scholarship, I plan to create my own scholarship fund for families in crisis so they can enjoy their memories sooner.
I want to continue working with families who have gone through a loss or serious illness because those are the families that need us the most. They need us to coach them on the importance of not just photos in a book but the legacy storytelling that goes along with it. I want to be able to create a safe space for these families to talk or just be quiet as they remember their loved ones. Even though we don’t want to admit it, we all need to create a legacy because none of us will live forever. I want to be a legacy photo manager who gives people comfort, understanding, and peace of mind as they share their memories and create a legacy for future generations.