photography courses, coaching & mentorships

I definitely didn't start here.

I'll be honest with you: I never thought of myself as particularly creative. I didn't have a cool, artsy personality. I scratched my head at my college friends who chose art degrees instead of something practical. Never, in a million years, did I see myself ending up as an artist.

I earned a computer science degree and a career in software engineering. I'd chosen it for practical reasons — stability, opportunity, a paycheck that made sense. And I liked a lot about it. But it didn't take long to realize that part of me was suffocating. The human connection I needed was completely lacking. And when I welcomed my first baby, I simply couldn't bear leaving her for a job that drained me.

But we needed some extra income, so I picked up a camera right before welcoming our second baby — quite literally just because it sounded like one of the more enjoyable ways to make money. That's honestly it! I figured if other people made money taking pictures, I probably could too. Photography was supposed to be a fun and flexible way to bring in something extra while we grew our family.

What I didn't expect was to fall in love with it. Or to discover that talent isn't always something you're born with — it is something you can learn, practice, and build. That realization changed everything for me, and it's the foundation of everything I teach.

No surprise, the road wasn't actually easy. Chronic migraines, two more tough pregnancies, a mid-career move that forced me to start over from scratch, so much self-doubt, and more than a few seasons of seriously considering quitting. Eventually, however, things shifted: I learned and grew and thrived. And my winding journey is exactly why I do what I do today.