Meet Tracy Raetz

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tracy Raetz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tracy, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

My work ethic definitely comes from my parents. Growing up, I always saw them working extremely hard to provide for me. My dad was a commercial photographer for years, and as that industry declined he had to pivot to home improvement and repair work for work. I remember really admiring that he had skills that he could fall back on, and that was something that always stayed in the back of my mind. My mom is a ball of energy and seemingly never stops moving. She worked at the same hospital for nearly 40 years in the blood bank and after she “retired” she even got a part-time job because she loves to be busy and help people. Both my parents taught me that work ethic is something people notice and today I believe it’s something that I hold very highly in my own career.

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?

Ten years ago, I would not have guessed I’d be doing what I am doing today. When I moved to Los Angeles in 2014 straight out of college, I was in art direction school and working as a coordinator at one of my dream ad agencies. I had thought, for years, that I wanted to be a creative director at an ad agency. After only 8 months, I was laid off and my position was eliminated. From there, I got a job at BuzzFeed in the branded post production department. I had no idea what I was doing, but I loved the people I worked with and felt like this was still in the realm of creative advertising that I wanted to do. I eventually moved into a creative roll at BuzzFeed where I directed branded Tasty and Nifty videos for clients. This was way more up my alley than post production and I really loved working on these videos. After nearly 8 years at BuzzFeed, I started to think about what was next. I knew BuzzFeed wasn’t going to last forever, so I started freelancing on the side as a prop stylist. After creating videos for years and years, I realized my favorite part was being on set and making each shot look beautiful. After assisting for a couple of shoots, I started getting hired as the lead prop stylist. I loved getting to be creative and bring in props that reflected both the creative direction and my own personal taste. In March 2024 I was laid off from BuzzFeed after nearly 10 years there. It was very scary and, even though I knew it was coming at some point, it still felt like a shock. Being laid off was the push I needed to call myself a true prop stylist, and I still am happy with the route I chose for my career. I hope as I continue to build my portfolio I get to work with other amazing creatives and brands who value the people behind creative work. You can check out my work on my website at tracyraetz.com and on my IG @traetz.

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?

As a creative, it’s really all about bringing your own vision and unique vibe to projects.
I think my background in advertising and working with clients is super helpful when I’m on set because it teaches me to not be precious about anything. It’s not personal if they don’t love this specific prop I brought, they just have a different take on it.
The second skill I believe you must have as a creative is having “an eye” for things. being able to look at an image and decide what needs to change quickly and having a solution for it is super important.
And thirdly, I believe that it’s all about having a positive attitude on set. Everyone there is working towards the same goal, and it really is about being a team player and going with the flow.

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?

I am always looking for fellow creatives to collaborate with. Photographers, videographers, food stylists, etc, who want to make pretty and weird things. While creative projects don’t pay my rent, they are what truly fulfill me. I love being on set with people who just want to play around for arts-sake and would love to collaborate with new people who like funky and colorful things like me.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Mushroom photography by Liz Ehlers, styling by Tracy Raetz
Jello photography by Maddie Eickhoff, styling by Tracy Raetz
Watermelon photo by Tracy Raetz

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