We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leigh-Ann Beverley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leigh-Ann below.

Leigh-Ann, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I am producing and directing a Public Service Announcement for the City of Charleston (my home town in South Carolina) and the Charleston Police Department. This PSA is all about the opioid epidemic. I was asked to produce this after shooting a recruitment video for the CPD. This is by far the most in depth and meaningful project yet in the 12 years I have owned my business. I have done other charity projects but this is a five year contract and I get to interview people in recovery, people still in encampments struggling on the streets, people on the front lines (CPD, CFD, etc), and even the county coroner. We are also featuring veterans, peer support specialists, and the chief of police. There are so many stones to turn over and every single one of these stories (and the way we are creatively portraying them) is captivating. I think we are going to save many lives! We have already had three people come off of the streets and into sober living homes after filming a bit of their journey. It’s an honor to have these humans be so vulnerable with us. We are effectively showcasing many different humans inside of the city to prove that the stigma is also a bit backwards. It’s not who you always think it is… I am confident our approach to these stories humanizes this disease and remind people that this is not a moral failing.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I come from an artistic and musical family. I got into photography young (age of ten) and remember holding photographs my dad had taken of us and thinking that stopping time was a super power. The paper was dense and textured. The bokeh was captivating. This was so cool. I got a video camera at 11 and filmed everything I possibly could. Photography class was an all time favorite in high school, and throughout college I was able to continue the passion independently and practiced often. I read a lot of books and just kept shooting. Digital cameras came on the scene in college.

After college I went on to sell advertising and then sold wine for a distributor in Charleston. It was there that I met a lot of inspiring and fascinating human beings who were so passionate about their work. Part of your job as a sales rep was to ride with winemakers often who would travel in from around the world in hopes that you would place their wines all over the place. I was completely entranced and obsessed with these people’s relationship to their land, to their family legacy, to their hearts, and they were so passionate about what they created with their very own hands. These people practiced patience and dedication to a craft for which is anything but urgent in a world turning more instant and immediate. They had to rely on Mother Nature and had no control over so much but kept their eyes on the prize.

I often would notice how the content on their sites didn’t do their story justice. Instagram was just coming on the scene so social media wasn’t really a thing then but I felt like there was great potential for me to combine a few things I loved more than anything and potentially get paid to do this.. I had skin cancer taken off my ear and my achilles ruptured in my soccer game two months later. I decided that starting my own business was the only way forward. I knew I wasn’t going to be the best business owner but I knew I was going to connect with impactful people around the world and share their stories with a giant smile on my face.

I feel like if I hadn’t had a bit of a slap in the face in the fall of 2013 I would have stayed complacent and would not have taken the risk. I had $2600 in my bank account and certainly wasn’t waiting for the right time. I just knew that I wasn’t going to waste any more time and worst case scenario I would land on my feet another way if the creative journey didn’t pan out.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Most effective strategy in growing clientele is to make sure that your clients know how grateful you are for them. Look at them in the eyeballs and tell them. Don’t just leave and then send a text. I am really good (most of the time) about sending thank you notes. I print out pictures of them (because it’s rare that pictures are printed these days) and sit down, write a note straight from the heart, and seal it up with a lot of good energy. I take pride in my work. I am responsible and try to be very organized. I also show up on time, and answer emails and calls whenever I can. I am also pretty honest. I have learned to value myself and to feel comfortable standing in my worth. I ask a lot of questions and genuinely care. Being a good human goes a very long way.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I have had to unlearn or let go of a couple patterns. The bigger one stems from the relationship with my father (according to my therapist) and I am sure many women experience this. He basically abandoned our family and I have spent my adult life without much of a relationship with him. It took me years to really feel like I was worthy of my dreams, worthy of miracles, worthy of earning a great salary, worthy of being paid what I know I am worth, and worthy of abundance.

It’s not easy, and I still struggle with it a little bit. But I have come a very long way. I have used Psych-K and affirmations, meditation, visualization practices, and also have a really incredible support team that is my friends and family.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bonafidepro.com
• Instagram: @makeitbonafide