Creator Spotlight: Alicia Leigh Photography
We are wrapping up the Creator Spotlight series with one my favorites!
When I started looking for an Austin-based brand photographer I was lucky enough to find Alicia Rios off the bat. Her photo style and her personality were both exactly what I was looking for! She took all the brand photos you see on my website and social media. And even though I don’t normally enjoy having my picture taken, she made the whole experience fun.
Alicia Leigh Photography is a Hi-touch, Brand Photography Studio for Unapologetic Creatives in the Austin area helping business owners reach their Next-level brand!
Hi Alicia! Tell us a little about how your business got started.
I have always loved photography but played it safe and became a teacher. While doing that, my husband encouraged me to finally get started on my dream of photography and I started a wedding photography business alongside teaching.
I was burned out every which way and knew that what I most loved was creating, serving, and encouraging women... in 2018, I did my first brand photoshoot and FELL in love! It brought all of my favorite elements together and also helped me find new ways to support women -- beyond making them feel good and empowered in front of the camera, I could help them thrive as business owners, too! I've never looked back!
What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given as an entrepreneur?
The best piece of advice I was ever given, was from my own wedding photographer who had been the only other business person up to that point to encourage me and cheer me on. She shared with me a Youtube video of Ira Glass who was speaking about the gap that happens in the beginning of following your idea. It was the exact thing I needed to hear at that time and has never left me since.
Here's a shortened version: "...Everybody I know who does interesting, creative work they went through years where they had really good taste and they could tell that what they were making wasn't as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it fell short. Everybody goes through that.
And if you are just starting out or if you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work.
Do a huge volume of work...It is only by going through a volume of work that you're going to catch up and close that gap. ...It takes awhile. You just have to fight your way through that."
-- Ira Glass
When you aren't working, how do you like to spend your spare time?
Taking roadtrips and spending time outdoors with my Husband and our two pups, binge watching captivating documentary series', eating all the pasta and enjoying early happy hours on quiet Austin patios.
Is there something you've created that you're particularly proud of? Can you tell us a little about its main benefit or where this tool can be most helpful?
YES! I'm closing on a commercial property in North Austin to serve my clients out of and to serve the broader creative and business community in the Austin area.
Over the years I have noted all the major pain points I noticed my clients were experiencing in deciding to book and execute a brand shoot -- and from that, I've crafted my Signature Brand Experience (Alicia Leigh Photography). I help clients take their brand shoot from inquiry to idea to a well-executed PLAN that supports them and has them walking into shoot day with a clear idea of what's happening so they can feel excited instead of overwhelmed. Once they arrive, they know that everything is in our hands and they just need to show up and have fun! We take care of the rest!
As a business owner over the years, I'm familiar with the struggles a new business owner encounters and the loneliness they feel in the beginning as they start their journey -- but even years in as they grow and shift and change. It was when I made my first business friend that my business began to truly flourish and my world opened up. Instead of everything ping-ponging in my own brain with no one to ask for help, I finally had other people in my corner that GOT it and were cheering me on and offering tips and tricks. This changed everything for me and was the first time someone had really been willing to lend a hand.
With that, I've launched a new business venture -- purchasing my first studio space to serve my photography clients as well as offering a creative space and community for other small business owners looking for support, connection, inclusivity, growth, and a space to flex their creative muscles. With that, I'm launching another business - ALIGHT COLLAB -- a studio and event space open for rentals as well as a collaborative community to help you realize your lofty business dreams or even just help you connect the dots!
