We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Patience Ojionuka. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Patience below.

Alright, Patience thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I would say success takes embracing failure/rejection, and not being afraid to be seen trying. And also sometimes cringy-ness. I think I learned this by way of being a classically trained violinist, which takes hours, and hours of practice. And the thing is, when you begin, you suck! You will absolutely suck at first because no one comes out of the womb knowing how to play instruments perfectly and professionally. But sucking is the price for excellence. So it’s good to sit in failure and be comfortable with it, because it’s great feedback. Fast forward to my adulthood, I think this mindset has taken me pretty far. I’m currently in a clinical psychology doctoral program–it took several years, several rounds of applications and lots of applications fees and I was pissed about it, but I still made it in my own time (and I really enjoy my program)!

Patience, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.:

To give a quick overview, I’m a Houston raised, NYC-based photographer; I specialize in fashion, portraiture, and event photography! I’ve gotten to work and assist on a lot of fun projects for Wall Street Journal, Allure Mag, Teen Vogue, Self Magazine, Who What Wear, and Vanguard Magazine. For personal projects, I take inspiration from my formal background in clinical psychology and Black feminist thought, shooting on both digital and film, as well as creating content about doctoral student life, psychology, and editorial photography! Hoping to launch a YouTube soon for deeper long-form discussion so stay tuned! 🧠💕📚🤓✨

How you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc:
I’ve been studying psychology for the last 8 years (psychology undergrad, clinical psych MA, now currently doctoral student), and was pretty determined to be a psychologist since like the age of 16. I don’t have a reasonable explanation for that, I was just certain it was my calling. Yes, I’m a virgo (LOL). As for photography, I picked up a camera in 2018 for funsies and was taking a lot of my friends senior portraits and just shooting anything, mostly for hobby. Fast forward to 2023, I was accepted into a photography mentorship program that really changed my mindset and started taking it more seriously while living in NYC. Along with my becoming more serious about photography, I had learned a lot about the industry and my craft and wanted to both expedite sharing my work with the world and getting it in front of important decision-makers, so I started making tutorial content and other content about gatekept secrets.

What type of products/services/creative works you provide:
For now, some brand ambassadorship things, and photography! Please book me. And in the future, psychotherapy. Please book me then too.

What problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others:
I’m all about empowering Black queer and trans creatives and other creatives of color to take the little knowledge I have and boost their work!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Biggest advice is knowing who you are, and how to tell your story. I’m not a social media guru by any means, but from what I’ve researched and experienced, the most successful platforms and creators are the ones that educate, entertain, and/or inspire! Virality doesn’t have to be the goal every time, but telling a good story that conveys who you are/telling YOUR story well and consistently is the way to go.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Word of mouth! Tell a friend about me when you read the article, thank youuuu. So many of my clients come from other clients who enjoyed working with me (which, being enjoyable to work with goes a long way, y’all!).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://patienceojionuka.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patienceojionuka/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patience-o-051531212/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@patienceojionuka/

Image Credits

All images shot by Patience Ojionuka.