Meet Marie Andrée Tarot

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Marie Andrée Tarot. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Marie Andrée below.

Marie Andrée, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I believe I found my purpose in life when I was around 6 years old, the first time I held a camera. Over the years, I have discovered that I was placed on Earth to capture people’s life memories that are worth showing through generations. Photography and content creation are my passions, whether if its storytelling someone else’s life through my camera lens or mine through content creation.

I don’t have many clear memories from my early childhood but this one: I was around 4 years old when I was at a birthday party and was asked by the photographer if I could smile for the picture (mind you, at that age I ran away from the camera, I hated posing and smiling for pictures)… therefore I said “no”. Then the photographer told me something so impactful that I still remember to this day: “You will never be able to be a photographer if you don’t like to be in front of a camera”. At the moment, of course, I was confused, I wondered “Why would I want to be a photographer? Like… hello?”. Little did I know that was the start of my journey to find my purpose and passion.

At age 6 I was gifted a small point-and-shoot camera and took pictures of all of my friends, my parents, my brothers, the ant on the floor… everything. My friends carried purses full of littlest pet shops, fake makeup, and kid toys; I carried my camera.

A decade later, I decided to pick up my dad’s point-and-shoot camera, only this one was, of course, more sophisticated than the ones I had before. We traveled around my home country Guatemala and I got inspired after coming back and using his camera to journal our whole trip. Therefore, I decided to invest in my first digital camera: a Canon Rebel T5. This camera boosted my early work and helped me take higher-quality pictures. I was getting hired to take pictures at events until COVID came.

Covid was hard on all of us in so many different ways, I had no inquiries for months until I decided to pick myself up from the ground and reinvent my business for what I wanted to do: portrait photography. I sold my Rebel T5 and invested in what’s my current camera: a Canon EOS R (switching to mirrorless), and created a fashion photography project called “Chapinas con Estilo” (Chapinas means Guatemalan women), in which I would collaborate with emerging fashion brands and help them take high-quality pictures in exchange for social media exposure and post tags. This led me to become a photographer for Guatemala Fashion Week in 2020.

Now, I focus on senior portraits around the Boston area, working with amazing and hard-working people and my next step is going into the wedding photography industry.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Hi all! My name is Marie Andrée Tarot, a Guatemalan college senior majoring in Finance and minoring in Computer Information Systems. I’m extremely analytical and work well with numbers, but beyond the balance sheet, I’m passionate about the creative side of life by photographing people’s best memories and recording mine as well.

I’m a travel enthusiast, star chaser, jewelry shopaholic, podcaster, content creator, Nutella and pasta lover, and finance and computer science girlie, with a brain wired to logic and numbers but a soul connected to creativity and visual storytelling.

Aside from my photography business and finance career, I have a content creation page that focuses on self-growth, development, and love, showing the raw lifestyle of being a college student and the realities behind a life that aren’t shown in social media… basically being the big sister I never had but always was (I have 2 younger brothers). I record my life and post it on social media, advising others, showing outfits, shopping hauls, recommending good products, and I’m now educating finance in girly terms to all those women and girls who don’t understand financial terms.

I also have a podcast, which is an extension of my creator page called Not Feed Content, in which I talk about life difficulties, the experiences I’ve gone through, and what I’ve learned from them. The podcast is in Spanish (since that’s my native language) and I try not to script it so that I keep it raw and real.

I’m currently re-branding my photography page and learning from high-end professionals on how to continue growing my business and potentially become a highly requested and admired wedding photographer.

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?

I believe creativity, authenticity, hard-work, and dedication are the skills that have led me to find my purpose and succeed in it.

Creativity has allowed me to think outside the box, whether it is in photography, content creation, or problem-solving in finance. Creativity is not just about being artistic, it is also about seeing opportunities where others see limitations.

Authenticity has helped me stay true to my values and personal vision to successfully build meaningful connections and a community through social media. My advice is for you to focus on what genuinely excites and fulfills you, rather than chasing external validation. When your passion radiates, others will naturally be drawn to it.

Hard Work and Dedication are the last skills that have been inevitable to my success. The hard truth is, if you are not getting the results you want, it’s because maybe you are not working hard enough and you must keep pushing harder despite challenges. Create a system that you enjoy, become 1% better than you were yesterday, and surround yourself with people who inspire and lift you.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

The most impactful thing my parents have done for me is bring me to college in Boston. My forever dream since I was around 12 years old was to have my college experience in the United States. I saw two of my cousins study abroad and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.
I did everything I could to get admitted to a top university here in the US, I stopped going out to study, became class president, graduated Salutatorian, developed my photography business, did social work… everything that a high-schooler can do to get admitted, I did.

However, universities here in the US are extremely expensive and my parents couldn’t fully cover all the expenses. Therefore, they told me I could study wherever and whatever I wanted, but I had to win myself a scholarship.

I got accepted to Bentley University on March 13, 2020, and got the President’s Scholarship. However, because of Covid, I couldn’t attend that Fall, and my parents decided to defer my application, without knowing if they would be able to pay for my tuition one year later (Fall 2021). Even though I was already accepted to Bentley, it was up to my parents if I attended or not.

Fast forward to 2021, my parents gave me the amazing news that I was going to attend Bentley and I’m now 3 months away from graduating. Without the help of my parents, I wouldn’t have been able to be here and have my dream college experience.

My parents are the true definition of support, love, and breaking through hard times. Even though they’ve had obstacles and other financial priorities, they gave me the opportunity to come to Bentley University, learn from the best professors, and have the best experience I’ve ever had! I wouldn’t have been able to make it without them.

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