Meet Meral Kat

We recently connected with Meral Kat and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Meral, 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?

I believe I get resilience from my life experiences. Unfortunately, I think resilience must be forced upon an individual through tough times or traumatic experiences. For me, there were several things throughout my life that each taught me to prepare for the other. Whether it being diagnosed with severe idiopathic scoliosis at the age of nine and having to wear a Milwaukee brace that was basically was a rigid body shell with a neck support for 16 hours a day most of my childhood, or whether it was my father passing away unexpectedly while I was in college, to be resilient I have to constantly remind myself that your worst days have already been behind me, and If I’ve already conquered those challenges I know I can conquer whatever is ahead.

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?

As a teenager, I dreamt of becoming an Entertainment news reporter. I would look forward to the red-carpet interviews before Hollywood award shows and mimic E! news, Juliana Rancic. I studied actors and designers and knew odd entertainment facts about celebrities. I leveraged that calling and decided to major in Mass Communications: Journalism at my university. I worked my way to be the youngest intern in my cohort at NBC Universal. I was determined to make it. I wrote for magazines like Time Out Dubai/Abu Dhabi and ABC’s World New Tonight and worked as a reporter for LMC-TV. My dreams started coming true when I became a reporter for The Knockturnal, interviewing celebrities from Lisa Kudrow to Keanu Reeves.

Throughout life, I’ve always been an opportunist in a humble manner and open to new challenges. During my Junior year, I started reporting for my University’s rugby team to perfect my broadcasting skills; I grew to love the sport of rugby. I was a cheerleader in high school and considered myself an All-American girl despite being an Indian-American Immigrant from a Muslim family. Rugby and the sport-like atmosphere were familiar; it felt fun and exciting.

During this time, I got close to the team I was rugby team I was reporting on — and the package reels I was making for my resume turned into something more when the coach asked me to become President of the Iona’s Men’s rugby team. He wanted the players to focus on playing and all the admin stuff to be offloaded. I, an opportunist and open to the excitement of a challenge and new role, said yes. This decision would positively impact and change my career and personal life for the years to come.

I was a 20-year-old female interning for NBC, freelance writing for editorials, and managing an all-men’s college rugby team. I guess people can have more than one hobby, and I committed to a lot. Around the same time, my father passed away. For some time, I traveled back and forth to India to help take care of a business he left behind until I decided I couldn’t balance it anymore. It’s important to mention because, as traumatic as that time was for me, rugby became my safe haven; having the responsibility of managing a team outside of my managing my father’s business and mourning his passing made me feel secure and supported in a way that I had control over. Many of those boys on that team became my brothers — one is even giving me away at my wedding this May, and another is a Bridesman.

After I graduated undergrad, I went on to Fordham for my Master’s, and as destiny would align itself, I was recognized by their rugby team for the work I did and was asked to manage their team. Another opportunity I jumped at. This avenue of managing rugby teams tapped into my creative skills in ways I didn’t know was possible. I developed engaging graphics, ran social media marketing, and created content to grow the sport and the team’s image. I started taking pictures and slowly falling in love with a camera, capturing authentic moments through my lens. While I was still pursuing a career in journalism, I was realizing that there was something more significant that made me feel more valuable and productive. I realized it when I was covering NYFW for the Knockturnal one year. I sat in the front row next to Trace Cyrus and a few other celebrities from random reality shows. Ray J was the performer in Galtiscopio’s Spring collection. While I was diligently taking notes for the piece I was assigned to write, my head was elsewhere – I was having FOMO missing a rugby game, and it hit me that my interests and priorities were changing.

Fast forward a few years later, I decided to leave journalism and translate my skills into Marketing and focus on photography — mainly rugby because it was my way of helping grow the sport in America. I just loved capturing a tackle at full force and the expressions on players’ faces. Rugby helped me grow my photography career, and later, I lent my eye for events, portraits, and special events photography. Rugby gave me a lot of avenues to develop my own business, where I could help other small businesses outside of the sport and small business owners brand and market themselves. I started working with organizations like Premier Rugby Sevens, American Rugby Premiership, and I love creating content for my home club, Old Blue RFC. I created engaging graphic designs to promote authors and artists, fed my creativity by creating new organic digital content, and was able to utilize photography. I decided to open Meral Kat Marketing and Photography under the same umbrella. Meral Kat Marketing helps brands develop a digital footprint and grow marketing strategies for businesses and organizations. At the same time, Meral Kat Photography can also lend an eye to help promote these brands if needed and serve as a separate freelance entity to shoot for clients whenever requested.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Resilience is an essential skill to have in a professional career or when you are building a business. There will be many times when you feel defeated, or things aren’t going as you hoped. It’s essential to be optimistic and bounce back. Never take feedback personally, always ask for it, and aim to learn from it. Not everyone will like you or your work, but be kind to yourself and see if you can grow and learn from the advice given. Hold yourself accountable, even when you make mistakes. Making mistakes is human. Acknowledging your mistake and asking for support to avoid repeating the same error is vital. Promoting other creatives and giving other photographers opportunities helps build meaningful relationships.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Right now, it’s separating myself as a photographer. I have done a lot of photography in Sports because games have been easily accessible to me. I struggle to find opportunities to contribute and show off my skills in other areas, whether for an engagement shoot or event. I have experience shooting events, baby announcements, couples, etc., but I would like to continue to grow to have a more balanced portfolio.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://meralkatphotography.com
• Instagram: meralkatphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meralkatmarketing/

Image Credits

First Photo Hoiho_Photo
Third Photo : Hunter Sports Media
Last photo (floral skirt) : Brianna Rohlelhr
football pictures : Iconic Sport Imagery