Meet Alicia Watley

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

Hi Alicia, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

There are so many questions here that I wanted to answer but I felt this one fit me the best. It wasn’t an easy journey for me and I still fight to overcome it every single day, but I am so grateful for where I mentally am now and knowing what my purpose is..

I am the youngest of 8 and I’ve always known I was different since I can remember. I’ve always known I didn’t want a 9-5, or a desk job. I got bullied as a child for having freckles, glasses, being overweight, not being able to speak Spanish, and more. Being confident and maintaining a healthy self esteem has been important for me to address for my self over the last few years and helped me find my purpose because I know what it feels like to let your self go. I know how it feels to break down and cry because you may be tired, or not feel worthy or beautiful enough,. There have been years of my life that I felt isolated and invisible, as if no one could see me but I was wrong. 2020 was a life changing year for me. Getting ready to graduate from Gateway Community College in New Haven, CT, with my associates, COVID spread and the world shut down. It lead me to buy my first camera, and start doing what I liked to do. Over the last few years I entered the entrepreneur world and I had to go through, address, and overcome mental, physical, and emotional blocks for me to process and understand that I needed to love and prioritize myself. I was the one hiding after believing what others said for so long. Man, I didn’t know this was going to bring up more tears, but thats what this journey is about. Healing, and being confident to live the life YOU want!

Learning how to be a business owner, helped me realize that I wasn’t alone and others have felt the same. Now, I try to bring that confidence out in everyone that I meet, because its true, confidence does lie within YOU. I learned so much over the last few years and its important to me that I am there to show up for others, and help remind them that they are not alone and to help them see how beautiful they are. And in return of learning how to be confident and create a healthy self esteem with my self, I have found my purpose: to remind every single person that they are amazing and unique in their own way, and they don’t need to be changed, they in fact need to be shown off and CELEBRATED in beautiful artwork that will remind them every single day how amazing they are <3

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity!

My name is Alicia and I own a Full Service Photography studio in Hamden, CT that specializes in creating artwork and wall art for you and your loved ones to enjoy. Whether its helping entrepreneurs with Business Branding or families with their Portraits, I love getting to know my clients and help them be confident both in and out of the camera! Each session is created and designed together during our consultation. Once the session happens, we offer our professional guidance for your in person viewing and ordering appointment to help you relive the magic again.

I love being involved in the community and giving back as much as I can in different ways. I am a Chamber Ambassador for the Nutmeg State Chamber Alliance, and Co-Chair for the Hamden Chamber of Commerce Women in Business committee. I volunteer for different organizations in the State and try to help others as much as I can. We just finished our Pooch Playoffs Pet Portrait competition and raised over $1000 for the animal shelter we partnered with. We deeply care about every person that we work with and pray for the very best for them!

I am getting ready to host my 3rd annual tween empowerment event called “Empower ME” on October 12, 2024 from 10-3pm. Empower ME is a tween empowerment event for girls the ages of 9-13 that will feature special guest speakers, yoga and breathing techniques, life skills, written affirmations, self empowerment activites to help them learn different ways to boost, establish and/or maintain a positive self esteem, and more! Early bird registration ends Sept 22nd. We are also looking for any business sponsors who want to be apart of our event and donate items for the grils swag bags, lunch, volunteer, etc!

We just launched our Photo Booth business a few weeks ago so if anyone is having a party, or celebration and wants to know of a fun way their guests can have fun, let us know at AliciaWatleyPhotography.com/Photo-Booth.

We are also gearing up for Fall minis and Christmas sessions! If anyone is interested in either of the events or sessions I have spoken about, you can log onto our website at AliciaWatleyPhotography.com or message us on our Facebook and Instagram pages: AliciaWatleyPhotography

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Consistency, Confidence, Emerge

Consistency: Do the thing you don’t want to do, FIRST. Get it over with and then you can move on to the other things.

Confidence: Have confidence in what you do, and what you say. Believe in wh you are and know your purpose. Think about a time where you could tell someone wasn’t confident in what they were doing, but trying to recruit you to buy it and be apart of it, or experience it? If you stand for nothing, you fall for everything. There is no room to fear, just have faith and it will happen because you will MAKE it happen.

Last but not least, Emerge. Go to that networking event and emerge into that social butterfly, and travel the room. Let everyone get a chance to meet you, no matter how shy you think you may be. Because once you continue to emerge out of your shell and into the rooms you were afraid of, the more others will recognize you and await your arrival.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Yes! I would love to partner or be collaborating with others! I am also always interested in helping other photographers and business owners with my knowledge! I am looking to collaborate with others who are interested in growing and scaling their business and hosting different events like a paint and sip in the studio, or someone looking for space to host their event, we can offer you an hourly/daily rental for our space! I am beginning to create content classes and marketing for social media, I would love to connect with a fashion designer to get tips for my clientele and help them elevate their wardrobe for their sessions, and more! I love working with others and the only limitation is our imagination!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

All portraits were taken by Alicia Watley Photography

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