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

Felicia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

This could be a laundry list of what it takes to be successful but I would say the two biggest ones would be, choose something you love to do. If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.

The second would be to never give up on yourself and your dreams. If you never give up, you will be successful it’s just a matter of time.

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

My name is Felicia TeKolste and I am the owner of Felicia Renae Photography, LLC.

I wish I could say I always knew I was going to be a photographer but that just isn’t my story.

I went to college and actually majored in Health and Fitness as that’s one of my passions. After college, I was working and I wanted to escape the ‘rat race’. I just cringed at the thought of working in a cubicle from 9-5 for the rest of my life. I knew I wanted so much more out of life than having to ask someone permission for time off. What I wanted was freedom, freedom to make my own schedule, be my own boss and travel when/where I wanted.

While working in corporate America, I just picked up a camera for a hobby on the weekends and that is how it all started. I shot my sister’s maternity photos and from there people asked me to shoot family photos etc. and I started shooting either for free or just a mere $50.

I knew shooting families and maternity photos were not what I wanted to do but it was a stepping stone to get into the wedding and elopement industry. One day I was very fed up with working in corporate America that I just decided to throw in the towel and go all in on my dreams. I packed my bags and bought a one way ticket to Hawaii to make my dreams my reality.

There’s something about going to a place where you know nobody and having to start a business from scratch that really grows you as a person. It kind of gives you two options – you either sink or swim and I know I’m not going to let myself drown.

I started making connections when I got there and eventually built up my business to be shooting weddings and elopements.

Then COVID hit. When COVID hit, Hawaii decided to shut down the entire island. This hurt my business drastically as 90% of my clients were tourists coming into the island. Eventually, I had to make the difficult decision to move back home. Instead of throwing in the towel, I just transferred my business and now I am blessed enough to continue to travel all over the United States shooting weddings and elopements.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to live a life worth waking up in the morning for and show people that you can literally do whatever you set your mind to.

Life is way too short to be stuck in a job you hate or waking up everyday feeling like it’s a chore.

You were made for so much more than to punch a time clock – your life has purpose and God has a plan for your life. I know if may not be the easiest to figure out what path that is but I can promise that if you trust Him to lead you – He will take you places further than you could ever imagine.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Yes, 100%. If I can recommend anything for someone who wants to be ‘successful’ it is to make reading part of your daily schedule. Reading grows you tremendously and it’s something very few people do so making it part of your routine will put you so much further ahead in life than others.

I highly recommend the following books:
– Atomic Habits
– Magic of Thinking Big
– Power of a Habit
– Deep Work
– Do Hard Things
– Key to Living the Law of Attraction

Contact Info:

• Website: feliciarenaephotography.com
• Instagram: FeliciaRenaePhotography
• Facebook: Felicia Renae Photography

Image Credits
Felicia Renae Photography