Meet Alicia M Brady

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alicia M Brady. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alicia M, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I honestly am not fully sure where I am going… yet, I find purpose in every path I walk; as a child playing in the woods & storm sewers, as a young hacker in trouble with Lincoln Public Schools, as a technology director for a healthcare system… and now as an business woman turned artist.

I wake up every morning and find comfort in knowing the purposes I have chosen to align with the trajectory in life I want. This comfort in purpose helps me wear my goggles of hopeless optimism. With purpose I am lost aloof in life figuring it out as I go. But without purpose, I would be truly lost.

The purpose I seek is independence by my own hands, mind, and eyes though finding beauty everywhere I look and in every face I see.

I work to artistically showcase the beauty of the legends we all live, immortalized in art that is worth printing with the hopes these prints will be cherished by those families for generations to come.

Purpose is so much more than a mission statement and the words that form it. Purpose is tenacity. Purpose is rhythm. Purpose is the music that allows me to be optimistic and creative as I am otherwise drowning from all the work of running a small one woman business. Purpose is to navigate a world and an attempt to humbly master a task… something that I will always move towards but never truly achieve. Purpose is recognition. Purpose is faith.

In an average week I get to spend 4 to 8 hours in studio doing what I love and making art. The remaining 80+ hours a week is spent in office behind a computer… of course doing editing, yet still so much time is lost to all the other essential business activities like accounting, building framed prints, marketing, web dev, selling art at farmers markets, cleaning…etc. I would be lying if I didn’t say I often feel hopeless at the end of the day as the single point of failure OR success. Doing tasks I do not understand, having to learn and research every step. Burn out is hard to avoid, really so when my head is a fog and my body exhausted from it all. Yet, fortunately, burnout still fears my bark—I haven’t had to bite just yet.

When I do get feedback for how beautiful someone felt from their portrait session, recognized in public for one of my art pieces bought from me at the Old Market Farmers Market (Nearly 1000 framed prints sold), or even someone yelling “Urban Alicia!” from their car as I stand alone on a random street corner with my camera …that instantly gives me faith in my purpose and recognition for my effort and purpose of showing the world, everything, and everyone in it for as beautiful we all are.

Only time will really tell how many of my prints remain. Relatively speaking, even if I have brought beauty to only a few generations I believe that will be enough faith in purpose to keep doing what I do.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Five years ago I left a long job as a technology director with a Nebraska based healthcare system. I was there 7 years. I got to that job by being tenacious and figuring out how to build a solution or untangle anything that came my way. I had no college education, and not because lack of funds. My parents made sure I had funds if I wanted college. I snubbed college because from my freshman year of high school I was a technology queen. My intro into technology was a hack against Lincoln Public Schools which resulted in handcuffs and the FBI cybercrimes team coming in to unravel what I did. Since then my confidence proactively problem solving anything would be best phrased up by “We are only limited by the creativity of our own imagination and what we believe we cannot do.”

After the hacking incident, my computer use in school was non-existent. So I started making money through cheesy internet businesses online and worked to build my own IT infrastructure I would be able to access via laptop through the very first mobile dial up services and later fully cellular hotspots. I did affiliate marketing, I did web development, I learned photoshop and did editing, I had a few businesses selling products online. One product was a herbal sexual enhancement product by I formula I made and hired a FDA certified supplement company to make, which included drop shipping so I never even had to even get physically involved.

One of the classes in high school I was able to take without any restrictions was photography. This was 2002-2006, so back when film and prints were still king. I enjoyed photography. I excelled at photography. Unlike with computers, I got recognition that was positive and won some awards. I ended up buying a Canon 30D, some flashes, lenes… my first two amazing art pieces was a long exposure of a train as night, and an abandoned prison. Which, lol, I broke into that prison with my grandma. Despite being a bullheaded young woman, I was too scared to ask the other kids in high school where the “Asylum” was. My grandmother helped me track the building down. We snuck in there… along with getting actual permission a handful of times from the State of Nebraska.

Being a calculated young lady I never even slightly humored photography as a potential job. I was conditioned to only see college and a corporate job as my future. And that is one of my biggest regrets in life, for all the other patterns I found and broke through… I was naive in accepting a traditional job.

My first real job was tech support for a healthcare system and then later advance tech support for the railroad BNSF. After leaving that I moved to Hillcrest Health, a medium sized Nebraska based healthcare system. That job worked me nearly to death, in the end I wasn’t willing or able to sell my soul to a corporation. Yet, I learned so much about what it takes to run a small business. Without nearly a decade spent in that purgatory I don’t think I would have what it takes to run this business – accounting exposure, advance tech, advance leadership, marketing exposure, legal exposure, and executive level “schmoozing” …etc.

So to be quite frank… eight years ago I would have never seen myself not being in the technology industry, let alone being a self-employed artist and photographer. That change showed me I am somewhat lost, yet I mean lost more as I am not fully sure where I am going to end up… Today I have much greater purpose than I once had. I am lost, yet, I have more faith in where I am now.

After leaving Hillcrest I made a good attempt to do IT consulting. While waiting for business to start picking up I filled my downtime managing our home/haunted mansion AirBNB and picked up my ol’ 30D and started shooting. A friend I met that was also on a journey of starting his own music event company suggested I try and sell some of my art at some of his shows… I did. And like back years ago the recognition and connection with people was instant. People loved the images I made and the stories behind every image. I didn’t have to fight people. I didn’t have to outthink people. I didn’t have to set alone barking orders and problem solving every second. Rather, I found peace through beauty within this world immortalizing moments and instant connections to people built out of artistic expression.

I continued selling my art as prints and framed prints at any market event I could find. I dropped my IT consulting business like a bag of Covid masks. And I set work finding beauty and making art. The first two years I did amazing. My home market became the Council Bluffs Farmers Market and the Old Market Farmers Market. People simply loved what I was doing. To keep sustained growth, now realizing this was my purpose, I started transitioning from cityscapes and “art” to “art portraits.”

Five years into this business a bulk of my work is now portraits. Art photography still drives my business and new clients yet portrait work is now the base of my income. Plus I get amazing satisfaction from showing people, everyone, for as beautiful as they are… almost to the point I want to tear up. Every body type comes for my work, seeking out the style I bring, the connection, the experience, and my ability to get them to open up/feel comfortable while capturing their essence.

A major reason why I take so much pride in showing everyone for how beautiful they are is because I too have had my own journey of self-acceptance. I’m six foot tall and eating, I swear, is harder than running a marathon. I’ve never before seen myself as beautiful. Five years in I have been my best and worst model. Shooting yourself via a handheld remote has given me time to really see how to pose the body and talk up my own confidence. And then seeing results in prints over this journey has truly lead to a love for my body, despite those tiny flaws that only ourselves will focus on.

To keep my skills developing, driving new clients, and offering a one of a kind experience I always continue to push myself creatively while also focusing on packages I can recreate for family that just want amazing pics… or gals and guys that just want amazing pics and to see themselves for as beautiful as they actually are. As I am rounding out professionally I’ve started honing in on a series of art photography projects which include…

Beauty in Decay; Urbex is what this is. For those who do not know that phrase, it’s abandoned buildings. I go all around the Midwest and get legal access to buildings left to decay away. I’ve been in countless schools, churches, factories, and homes. For my art work, this is the highest volume of art I move and it literally stops people in their tracks at the Farmers Markets, hypnotized by the elegance and beauty of decay, restoring chaos to order. And then secondary, people love to know the story behind the building… often a budling in their own community.

Selfies in Reflection; a series dedicated to me and mirrors reflecting me, or the scene, or the background… or me within a mirror, within a mirror, within a set, of the camera reflected out of the set into another mirror. Always making sure to show the remote so people understand the fact it is a selfie. I get a kick out of people insisting are photoshopped and Facebook hard flagging them as “AI Generated.”

Art in Motion; this series is myself or other models frozen in still motion. With my favorite being including pigment powders and ballerinas; notable performers include Jovani Furlan, Victor Leo Smith, and most recently Elena Carter.

Omaha; I’m a Midwest girl born and raised in Nebraska. Lots of people throw hate at the Midwest… till they see this collection. Like my Beauty in Decay collection, these pieces will stop people in their tracks at Farmers Markets. Taken in by seeing our community in a light and vision they’ve never seen (Or more accurately never noticed).

My Car & I; a series of my AMG (Bought with my once glorious non-artist tech money) where I take my racecar to weird places. I get up on the tire and jump off through a pretty intense process of holding a pose as I fall to give the appearance I am floating. Always making sure to show the remote so people understand the fact it is a selfie.

From the Roof of my Victorian; in this series I go up on the roof of my little haunted mansion and take a photo during our glorious Midwest sunsets.

I am super excited to be where I am. I have no idea where I’m going… but I am not lost. I’ve been honored to be awarded 1st Place in Best of Omaha for Family Photography. And officially I’ve now been awarded Omaha Choice Awards Best Portrait Studio two years.

I am also super thrilled I got my first piece into the Pottawattamie Arts, Culture & Entertainment (PACE) Center in Council Bluffs. That piece sold opening night of that exhibition.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The biggest areas I believe have helped me get to where I am today is a Childlike belief in that any issue can be resolved with tenacity to do the work needed and always trying to act in good faith. Tenacity and good faith will take us half way to the moon.

Collaboration, with everyone, at any level of skillset, and in good faith. I hold bi monthly Art and Nonsense parties, anyone is welcome who is there to have fun, make art and learn. We can’t all win it all… so I want to try and ensure we can all take home a win.

Listening, not to hear what I want, but rather good faith intent to hear the message being relayed to me. Because without understanding how can I move forward? Heck, how can I even respond if I’ve not heard the message. This also includes being able to appropriately articulate a message back to somebody to ensure that they hear my message.

Being kind and being an engaging leader… we are only as good as the team around us, whether that is an actual team we’ve hired (Such as my past life in corporate) or the dear friends, family and my diehard supporters that surround me today.

Engaged problem solving – I have yet to find a problem I cannot overcome, except personally putting on weight. That alludes me. Otherwise, everything else can be solved!!! We are only limited by the creativity of our own imaginations and what we believe we cannot do.

Acting to try and find the equilibrium between what is fair, what is right, what is just, what is legal, what is moral, what is ethical. Not every decision is right, not every decision is ethical not every decision is fair. Some stuff that is ethical and or legal may not be what’s right or what’s fair. So understanding through hearing, to truly grasp every perspective of a situation is key to making sure we find the equilibrium between all these potential areas.

And as for everything else… a trial by fire working in the trenches and at the leadership level in a medium sized locally owned corporate system. Running a successful business, in my personal experience, is not about what your business actually does. Rather, it is about your ability to effectively manage a business and everything that this entails. Accounts, receivable, accounting, marketing/community engagement/leads, technology infrastructure/web dev/SEO/security/integrations, LEADERSHIP & team management, schmoozing like an executive, and civil & legal knowledge. I hated my time in the corporate world, and I swear it was nearly the death of me. But without knowledge of how to run a business, I would be nowhere near as successful as I am today. Many of my competitors that have been at this for double, triple the years… or even longer than I have been alive cut their own Achilles’ heel by not having the slightest idea how to operate their business. Not to mention if you play your cards right the corporate world will pay financially. Without that degree of financial stability I had, again, I would be no where near as successful as I am today.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

I believe the biggest obstacle facing my business today is continuing to generate recognition and new business, while attempting to streamline my processes, and hiring a bonafide team. I’m hitting my physical and mental limits. Yet another year of 80-100 hour work weeks is starting to take a toll on my health. I don’t want it to wreck me worst than the corporate world tried to. I love what I do. People showing support and love for me/my business gives me faith it will be okay, we’ll figure this out, and my purpose of showing this world and all in it for as beautiful as we all truly are will not be lost.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.urbanaliciaphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urbanaliciaphotography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UrbanAliciaPhotography/

Image Credits

Urban Photography by Alicia M Brady, Alicia M Brady