We recently connected with Mo Lima of Mo Lima Photography and have shared our conversation below.
Mo, 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?
Finding my purpose took many years and was built upon experiences gained over time. I’ve had multiple careers in my life that led me to embrace purpose within them. I’m grateful for those experiences. They have allowed me to gain perspective and focus on how to appreciate each one, the good or not so good.
As a young girl, I was fascinated by human psychology – I didn’t understand what that meant at the time of course. But I always wanted to understand what motivated people and I begged my mom for a subscription to Psychology today – I had seen it at a friend’s house and loved the cover. I couldn’t really understand what it was saying, but I know it held important information about people.
I went to The High School of Music and Art for art and attended the Art Students League in NY. Art through photography had been a hobby for many years. About this time my mom bought me my first “real” camera (with changeable lenses).
I ended up getting a degree in Psychology years later. My first real job was with a Career Counseling agency, administering Myers Briggs tests. I loved helping people find out more about themselves so that they could find a meaningful career/position. I fell into Marketing years later and continued in the field for large corporations like NY Life, and UPS. A career in marketing allowed me to blend my love of art with psychology. Understanding enough about customers/clients to attract them to what our company had to offer was very interesting to me.
Upon early retirement, I decided to make portrait photography my new career; received professional certification and opened up my own studio with the encouragement of my husband.
Finding (oftentimes creating) my purpose in each thing that I’ve done was an introspective process. It has been about “receiving” the inspiration and opportunities given, finding connection, and creating goals.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about what you do today before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a professional photographer with a portrait and headshot studio in Alpharetta, GA. Once upon a time, I was an art student who enjoyed creating beautiful watercolor paintings. But as an adult, I found myself in the corporate world, eventually working as a marketing manager and managing editor for a fortune 100 company website. I gained invaluable experience in marketing strategies and developed a keen understanding of the importance of brand image. Though I enjoyed digital marketing strategy, I missed the world of art.
Today, I use my marketing experience and training in professional photography in my own business. I offer corporate headshots, business portraits for marketing material, as well as consumer portraits. There are times when a casual selfie or phone snapshot is enough for what you want to share on a social media feed. But having polished well-lit photos is important for media kits where my clients need photos at-the-ready for press releases, business events or marketing material. Who wants some random photo that’s floating around on the internet to be found and used for their next important speaking engagement? That’s when it’s time for some seriously branded and styled photos. That’s how my clients can control the narrative.
But I am truly excited and inspired by creative portrait work. It’s an outlet for me. I photograph a lot of individuals (couples and families too). Working with different types of lighting during my more creative sessions leads to interesting looks. Portrait work evokes emotion and communicates a feel. I love creating something unique for my clients.
It’s my passion to help people feel good about themselves in photos–especially for women to feel empowered and to embrace who they are right now. Currently, I am working on a campaign called 50 Over 50 Portrait Experience –photographing 50 women who are 50 and older. It will include taking custom portraits and documenting stories about their experience as mature women for my studio magazine. The campaign will culminate in 2024, honoring the participants with a gallery event where they can all meet one another. I’m thrilled about how it’s all going so far!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Communication, Curiosity, Commitment. These three qualities are easy to remember and they guided my journey.
Focusing on clearly expressing yourself and communicating effectively limits confusion with others and with oneself. It does not help to avoid conversations about where you stand when situations are difficult. Communication done well and with empathy can help build relationships, avoid misunderstandings, and even help one to better understand themselves.
Curiosity is the foundation of learning. Discovering new experiences and talents helps one to grow and learn to be adaptable. Plus, curiosity helped me know myself better—you don’t know what you like until you try it.
Commitment is what helped me find a sense of purpose and fulfillment. Determining a goal and sticking with that kept me motivated and filled me with a sense of achievement.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
Choosing what you want to focus on and self-improvement should be strategic. If you have strengths, you cannot ignore those. But there are areas one can always improve on to supplement strengths. For example, if your strength is playing the piano and it gives you joy, concentrate on that. But you will need other skills to make you successful professionally. Find out what those are and improve those (e.g. learning how to network, writing skills to promote yourself, etc.)
Investing effort on improvement alone may not be enough. I’ve learned in my photography career that it’s better to be great at one type of photography than just okay at a lot of them. Understand what you LIKE doing best, and then do that. When I started my photography business 5 years ago, I would take any job that came along whether I liked it or not: weddings, real estate, events, baby showers, babies, nature. Though it provided great experience and I learned a lot, I never thought about what really gave me joy. I really enjoyed portraits, and decided to do just that. Now I know that to niche down offerings causes less confusion and greater happiness for me–and a better experience for my clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.
molimaphotography.com - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/molimaphoto/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/molimaphotography - Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/company/mo-lima- photography - Other: Pinterest: https://www.
pinterest.com/ molimaphotography
Image Credits
Mo Lima Photography, LLC
