We recently connected with Mario Campbell and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mario, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
My resilience goes all the way back to the age of three. At three years old I was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, which is a rare childhood cancer that forms in the soft tissue and/or your organs. In my particular case it had wrapped itself around every organ in my entire body. Even then, even as bleak as things looked at that time, I’m always told how I was always the most courageous three year old anyone had saw. Going through chemotherapy, constant radiation and doctors visits, I still believed that God was able to completely heal me from such a rare illness. And that’s exactly what he did, but it didn’t stop there, at 6 years old my mom went to have surgery and that was the last time I would ever see her, she passed away in the hospital from a blood clot and life would never be the same. Imagine losing your mother, your protector, your safe place at the young age of 6. As if that wasn’t enough at 12 years old I wanted to play football, when I went to get a physical, the dr let my grandmother know that I had an irregular heart beat and after further tests, it was decided that I would need to have immediate open heart surgery, because instead of pumping blood directly to my heart, my aorta was pumping blood to another blood vessel, which in essence would have caused me to fall dead at any moment from not getting enough blood supply to the heart. The combination of these things put so much resilience in me because I saw how much I was able to make it through with the help of God and that spilled over into my adulthood, I’m as resilient as they come, one heartache, one disappointment, one setback, although it may hurt me, it never breaks me or makes me quit. I love the journey, I love the process, and I love being able to overcome whatever adversity that comes my way. With God on your side, I truly believe there is NOTHING you cannot make it through to see what’s on the other side.
That resilience is what helped my business survive through things like covid-19, there are a lot of people and businesses that folded and understandably so, it was a very tumultuous time. But I’m grateful that even through that I was able to be a light that still brought people happiness, still brought a smile to people’s faces, still continued to persevere even when it seemed as though there was no recovering from certain loses. Resilience has to be in you and it has to be cultivated by something, I’m grateful to have experienced what I’ve experienced, because it has given me a strength to keep going that can’t be matched.
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?
So being a photographer/creative there are so many aspects that play into your career. Being locked in and focused on continuing to evolve is super imperative. My goal and objective is to continue to grow and expand as a photographer, being that, you have to physically be present in order for my specific profession to excel. Next for me is being able to branch out and become more of a travel photographer which will allow me to create, meet, and build with people all over the world.
Every day I get to do exactly what it is that I love to do in more than one way. I not only get to take photos of people from all walks of life, but I also get to meet and inspire every single person that walks in front of my lens. What’s most exciting about that is that I get to wake up every day with a mindset of not only how can I get better, but how will me getting better at my craft make someone that much happier knowing they’ll have a lifelong memory and they’ll always remember what was going on in their life at that time and how no matter what was going on, at that moment they felt special!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three most impactful qualities for me was number one having the drive to be the best at whatever it is that you do. I’ve learned and mastered the art of staying in my own lane, while continuing to develop in the areas that will set me apart. There will be a lot of people that do what you do so you have to figure out what sets you apart? Chic fil a may not have the best food to some, but a lot of people go back because of how they were treated, how someone made them feel, how someone greeted them when they may have had an awful morning. Sometimes it’s the little things that add up to big things that can be the differentiator between you and someone just as good as you.
My spiritual background and upbringing is something also that has been extremely impactful in my journey. Life has a way of throwing curveballs, things happen sometimes that you could have never imagined. You can save up for a rainy day only for a tsunami to come if that makes sense. So for me just my faith in God has been my biggest source of strength. Hard times, bad times, covid-19, good times, I’m always rooted in the fact that God will never leave me nor will he forsake me. I’m always rooted in the fact that I know he’ll supply my every need. So my faith even though at times may cause me to question things, I know that with him by my side he has never and will never fail me. That alone has gotten me through many difficult seasons in business that once I got to the other side I was grateful that I never gave up.
Lastly, being able to be genuinely nice to people as well as having your character in order. It doesn’t matter how talented one may be, character is what first enters the room…. not talent! The most influential people have mastered the art of charisma. They light up the room and automatically command respect from people the moment they walk in. One thing that sets me apart is my tendency to not follow the conventional norms, which can be always be spotted in my body language, tonality and presence.
When you’re early in your journey I believe it’s extremely important to be completely comfortable being your authentic self, that’s where the confidence comes in that breeds success. Entrepreneurship is both a challenge and a great opportunity, and it takes certain qualities to be successful. There’s no right or wrong way to be an entrepreneur. Characteristics and behaviors like experimentation, persistence, faith and innovation can be developed with time, experience, and training. As long as you possess the entrepreneurial spirit, and the desire to be great at what you do, you’ll be able to seize opportunities and overcome challenges throughout your journey.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
Easily the ability to take risks. For me I was born and raised in Michigan. My mother passed when I was 6 so the closest person to me is my sister and her 4 children. They are very dear to me. It was a great risk to take everything that I’ve tried to build in Michigan and leave them to relocate to Atlanta, but that’s exactly what I did in September of 2022. That has allowed me to grow exponentially in business. Seeing how much of a grind it is to excel here is totally different from what I was used to seeing. I’ve had to rid myself of bad habits and create more of a just go get it by any means necessary mentality. Initially it was a tad bit hard for me if I’m being honest, but I’ve grown tremendously in marketing and pushing my photography business. Trusting that I’m good enough, I’ve put in the hours, I’ve studied, and that now I’m prepared for this has been one of the greatest areas of developments for me and the results are finally showing!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: MarioJaurellPhotography / Mario J Campbell
- Facebook: Mario Jaurell Photography / Mario Campbell
- Other: Email: [email protected] Business phone: 404-594-3178
Image Credits
Brandon Rashad Photography (Photo of myself) Mario Jaurell Photography
