We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michelle Evans. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michelle below.
Hi Michelle, 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?
Truly, I think I got my resilience from my mom. My parents went through a very messy, very long divorce when I was around 12. Up until that point, my mom had been a stay at home mom, homeschooling myself and my three brothers for the first 6-8 years of our lives. She was a suddenly a single mom who had been out of the workforce for nearly 20 years and needed to find a way to provide for her family. Can you imagine how scary that must have been?
I witnessed her build up from basically nothing, taking the jobs she could-house cleaning, dental tech sales associate, real estate agent- and still somehow managing to be home to try to take care of her kids. Looking back on that time in our lives, I have no clue how she was able to manage it all even relatively well. We struggled very hard for several years- and trust me, my siblings and I did not make it easy- but she did her best to keep keep positive and pivot when there was an obstacle in the road. Everytime something failed, she was always ready with a new solution. I didn’t realize at the time how much I was learning to keep going and keep trying.
Today, whenever there’s an issue with my business or career, she’s one of the first people I go to. She understands people almost instantly. Knows how to listen past what they’re saying, and always has a creative, outside of the box solution for a problem. But most of all, she never gives up. I couldn’t imagine going 20 years without using my degree and suddenly having to re-enter the job field to take care of my family when I was never planning to do that. But she did. She lifted herself up by her bootstraps, found the deals, the coupons, the school district for us, took the jobs she could, and still took her care her family.
Giving up really just isn’t in my family’s vocabulary. Especially when it comes to careers.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m a wedding and boudoir photographer based here in Memphis, TN. Although I’m originally from Central Arkansas, I moved to Memphis over 10 years ago to get my Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Photography and quickly found myself falling in love with the city.
I think the thing that makes my work SO different from other photographers is the way I work behind camera to impact how my clients FEEL during their sessions with me. My work is all about human connection. So, I work to help my sweet people to leave their sessions feeling more connected to each other and theirselves while also feeling like they were absolutely lively and gorgeous on camera as well. I want them to look back at their photos, their memories they made, and be fully transported back into the feeling they were experiencing there.
As far as things I am excited about, this summer I launched a side boudoir brand, Solstice, where’s I’ve been diving into more and more creative sessions with my clients. The goal there is to help each client- no matter their age, gender, presentation, size, identity or skin tone- to feel fully loved and enabled to genuinely express themselves. It’s been a lovely self discovery for myself and for my clients. Creating a safe space for self expression and self love has really brought so much fun into my work this year.
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 think the three skills and qualities that have been most impactful on my journey, at this point in my career, are: showing up consistently to work, having systems in place to keep myself organized, and being willing to persevere even when things aren’t working the way I want to.
The thing about owning a photography business is that, unless you have an office manager, you hold all the hats. You’re responsible for finances, administration, marketing, and somehow being creative on top of that……..It can be quite a lot at any stage in forming your business. But showing up consistently really helped to focus the growth of my business.
My advice for someone early in their journey would be to keep going, not get sucked into the comparison game, and don’t be afraid to build slowly.
It took several years to get my business off the ground. And I honestly had to find who I was first before I started being even semi successful in this field. But building slowly helped me to have systems in place for when I did finally have a full client load. It also helped me to be able to handle my sweet clients professionally but also personably. The other thing is that this journey never looks the same for two different individuals. No matter what you see trending online, when you mimic someone else, you’re doing a disservice to yourself. So avoid comparing your journey, stick to it, show up even when things aren’t that great, and truly embrace yourself through it. You’ll find perseverance sometimes comes naturally when you do those things.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
This is going to sound weird, but my biggest area of growth in the past year has been relaxing more. Haha. I LOVE working. I have amazing clients. No really. My clients are kind, generous, down to earth creatives, that love being authentic and true to themselves! So, it can, oddly, be hard for me to take a break from that and “clock out” at the end of the day.
But this year, I chose the word “presence” as the backbone to what I do in work and in life. I have a nasty habit of never “turning work off.” It’s hard to do when you love your job not to let it bleed into other aspects. But as much as I love it, I also love the people in my life, my chosen family, and spending time with my partner. Being a photographer often means I’m working when the rest of the world is enjoying their weekend. It’s not uncommon for us to miss vital moments in our peoples’ lives because we were already booked for someone else’s biggest day.
So this year I took many more breaks between gigs. I’ve rested a lot more. I’ve sat on my porch with my phone turned off. Anything I could do to make sure that no matter what “mode” I was in-work or life- I was present and in the moment. It hasn’t always been easy. And I don’t always do it right. But it’s been very helpful for me to help maintain my goals and work life balance.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.michelleevansart.com
- Instagram: @michelleevansart or @solsticeboudoir
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/michelleevansart
Image Credits
Michelle Evans Art
