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

Aimee, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success comes from hard work, reframing failures as learning lessons, and being realistically optimistic. Additionally, it requires you to embrace the various seasons of life and flowing with them – not against them.

Coming to terms with the limited mental and physical energy bank we all have allows you to see where your energy is best spent. We all flow through different seasons in life where our attention and energy shifts whether we like it or not. Whatever the reason is, we must adapt and view it as a part of life and not a failure or result of slow progress.

As a Business Professional, Food Photographer, and Freelancer I am the epitome of a multi-passionate
individual. In a week I work on anything from pitch decks to food products, and much more. Which means I have an endless list of things I could be doing at any moment in time.

To keep things moving in a constant motion I essentially accept that I can’t do everything at once. I pick and choose where my focus should go based on the pre-determined knowns such as deadlines, creative excitement of the work, and potential profit, because at the end of the day we all have financial goals and I’m not guilty of saying that I factor that into the opportunities I choose to pursue.

For instance, in the Spring of last year I was working with a startup in addition to my day job at the time as a pitch and proposal consultant and I had 2 huge food photography projects sent my way from referrals in my network. As exciting as the projects were, with the deadlines I had with my startup client I didn’t feel right giving up the few hours in my day I had for obtaining somewhat of a social life to take on the photography projects. With my contracted work with the startup spanning 3 months I had to stay focused on the current project at hand and not play the life Jenga puzzle of pushing my creative and strategy outlets to burnout.

Furthermore, I viewed this situation as a season to focus on my startup work and the next one to be one that focuses more on food photography. It didn’t make sense to work against myself and set unrealistic goals that would’ve made the process grueling and anxiety- inducing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My Food Photography Journey started when I was 17 and I officially adopted my new gluten free life upon diagnosis of an allergy. The alternatives at that time were not great so I baked A LOT. Through trial and error I started to embrace the process of recipe development and I started snapping pictures with my iPhone 8. I watched a few YouTube tutorials on mobile photography and I learned the fundamentals of photography. I eventually moved up to a SLR camera in college and reached out to local businesses in Tampa bay to work with me. Although my portfolio was slim, I was able to capture the eyes of a few small businesses in Tampa and e-commerce businesses and before I knew it I was in business.

Now, how did I go from Food Photography to a Business professional and business ops consultant/pitch deck designer?

In short, I graduated college and took clients on in addition to my full time job as a pitch and proposal designer and moved onto my current role as a member in the Project Management Office at a software company.. I mentioned this on my discovery calls to my clients to clarify my process and how I deliver successful projects with what some would label a limitation, and as I spoke with my clients, they mentioned how they could use some help in a few areas I was knowledgeable in, such as social media management (I graduated with a degree in marketing and interned at an agency and business prior), Email campaigns, pitches for new business ventures and technical writing/process improvement for SOPs.

From there, many of my food photography clients became clients for other services that I started to provide out of their necessity. With providing such an array of services I’ve been able to feed my creative side and foster and environment of creative thinking and problem solving to help my clients in other areas of their businesses.

In my studio and around Tampa Bay I takes on the alter ego of a Pin-Up Style Baker through my website and IG @whensweetmetsalty. I provides followers and clients with anything from homemade Gluten Free baked goods to lifestyle food photography. I’ve worked with many different clients in the past ranging from small businesses, e-commerce brands, to marketing agencies. Given my love for desserts and drinks working with local bakeries and bars is my specialty along with e-commerce food brands to create recipes for their products and show them in a natural, authentic way. A key differentiator I have for many newer health-focused brands is my knowledge of gluten free, dairy free, and lower sugar baking recipes that don’t compromise on flavor. Since I’ve had almost a decade of gluten free healthy baking under my belt, I know what modifications will likely be needed to make a recipe successful for the brand and it’s customers who try it.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I would’ve done my research and known how big the world of food photography was on YouTube and Instagram.

There is a huge world out there full of aspiring and professional photographers who are happy to share there experiences, gear recommendations, and business advice at any time. It took me 3 years before I came across the food photography summit, which opened my eyes to various aspects and services and products you can offer people in the field.

The workshops ranged from backdrop and prop sellers to commercial food photographers and bloggers. At this summit I came across Rachel Korinek, known as two loves studio on Instagram and I fell in love with her approach to food photography and the foundations in her workshop. She mentioned she had a food photography course coming out and within a few weeks I was signed up and started getting more confident behind the camera. I could see the difference and the process she had and my images were standing out from my prior images and I could see the growth.

I recommend that anyone in the creative space researches the professionals in your field as well as the communities that are out there. Collaborating with other people is a great way to receive feedback, learn tips, and also gain transparency on fair pricing in your industry,

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The mission in my creative journey is simple-never stop creating, no matter what it is. Whether it’s food photography, recipe development, reels, starting a YouTube channel, designing pitch decks, or leading creative problem solving – never stop!

There are so many ideas and ways we all can be creative and I never want to stop seeking and being creative. Even if my idea fails, I find fulfillment in bringing it to life and in developing and refining the process.

Eventually, down the line I would like to channel my creativity into a new avenue that would allow me to show more of me in a different light – YouTube. I get goosebumps thinking about content creation ideas in avenues in and outside of Food Photography. My hope is that with YouTube my creative journey is captured everything on one platform and segment it by a channel or 2, but let my inner pin up foodie out on one and my business day in the life jack of all trades on the other.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://whensweetmetsalty.com/
• Instagram: Whensweetmetsalty
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aimee-wera-b62395106?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
• Other: Other Instagram is @thefityoungprofessional

Image Credits
All images belong to Whensweetmetsalty