I don't talk about this often. Not because I'm ashamed of it, but because it's the kind of story that requires you to sit with it for a while before you're ready to hand it to someone else. But I think I'm finally ready! And after my experience, I think someone else needs to hear it too.

When Everything Was Working

There was a season of my life where photography was everything! And it was working.

I had a studio. I had a steady income. I was supporting a family of four with my camera, my eye, and my hustle. Photography was my thing, and I was good at it! That season felt solid. Grounded even. Like I had figured something out that most people spend their whole lives searching for... a way to make a living doing what you love.

Then life happened. The way life always does... not all at once, but in layers.

When Everything Shifted

More kids came. And with them came a slower season professionally. A few years later came the divorce. Suddenly I needed to provide for myself and my 3 boys, and I needed to figure out how and fast! So I picked photography back up alongside teaching, piecing together an income the best way I knew how.

And it was working. On paper.

But behind the camera, I was so lonely I could barely breathe. Not the kind of lonely that comes from being alone because the reality is, I was never alone. I had jobs. I had kids. I had noise and a calendar full of things to do. It was the other kind of lonely. The kind where you're surrounded by people and still feel completely invisible.

When Busy Wasn't Enough

Eventually I stopped teaching and went all in on photography again. I thought that would help. Workload wise it did. But the loneliness actually became worse as I built a business completely alone. Then came a new relationship, a new baby, and a household of six. Four kids, a newborn, a business, and a life I was desperately trying to hold together with both hands.

I just needed to get out of the house. Not for work. Not as a mom. Just out.

The Gathering That Changed Everything

So I started hosting little get togethers for photographers in my area. Not networking events. Just people who shared my profession, gathered around food and conversation.

What I didn't expect was how quickly those rooms filled up with people feeling the exact same things I was.

Lonely. Overwhelmed. Stretched too thin. Trying to balance kids and clients, marriages and marketing, creative work and real life. Person after person saying "I thought it was just me."

It wasn't just them. It wasn't just me. It was almost all of us!

When It Clicked

Our gatherings kept growing. Real friendships formed. Real conversations happened. The kind where someone looks you in the eye and says me too and actually means it.

Then photographers from across the country started finding us on social media and reaching out saying in their own ways, "I wish I had that where I live."

And one day something clicked. What if they didn't have to be where I live to have it?

What I Built and Why

That question is what started everything.

I created an online community. A place for photographers to belong no matter where they are or what their life looks like. A space to show up as the full, complicated, beautiful mess of a person you actually are. Not just the photographer. Not just the business owner. But the one raising kids, navigating divorce, figuring out marriage, surviving the newborn phase, working multiple jobs. All of it!

Because the loneliness isn't just about geography. It's about feeling like no one truly gets what this life is like. You shouldn't have to white knuckle this alone.

I built this for all of you. Buuuuut, I needed it just as much. For the first time in a long time, I don't feel alone in this! And I never want you to either!

Thank you for building this with me and being the friends I needed, and others need! I'm so happy you are here.