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

Hi Melissa, thanks for joining us today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

My whole life I have had a love for serving where I can. In high school, I was a part of an organization called FLOOD which was a Christian-based club centered around serving the community. We went out and served in No Longer Bound, a Christian-centered rehab facility, where we would connect with the guys, hear their stories, and provide worship. We served Meals by Grace which provides meals and practical home items for low-income families. My favorite was Corners Outreach where we went out to trailer park communities and brought toys and provided a day of fun for the kids. It was the coolest feeling to listen to salvation stories from full-grown adults coming out of rehab to young children on the playground. When I finished high school, I wanted to find a way to continue to serve the community. I found that avenue through photography. I have served with several non-profits to capture events including Children’s Health Care of Atlanta for their annual Spring Classic Baseball Game to benefit the Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. I found myself working with Habitat for Humanity to capture the construction of a house for a local family. A couple of organizations I have repeatedly worked with include OneRace which is a gospel-based movement to displace racism and the Arthritis Foundation which hosts several events to raise money for Arthritis treatment and research. It’s not just about capturing the day but taking moments to learn people’s stories and connect.

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’ve always had a passion for music and photography. Starting out as a little girl with the little fake toy cameras progressing to a pocket-sized point-and-shoot camera to finally saving my money and purchasing my first DSLR in high school. High school is where my passion for music and photography crossed paths. I started attending numerous concerts where I found myself admiring the photographers working almost more than the music itself. I knew then that’s what I wanted to do for a career, and I started bringing my point-and-shoot camera to shows, shooting photos, and playing with edits. Obviously, the point-and-shoot was not the same as the DSLR, but it was enough to land me an internship working for a city concert venue. With that internship, I was able to work more with the DSLR and gain real-world experience in concert photography. I had the opportunity to shoot artists like Joan Jett, Trace Adkins, The Commodores, Matt Stell, and the list goes on. Simultaneously, I was able to build up a portfolio that caught the eye of a mentor of mine who took me under his wing and introduced me to the Atlanta Concert scene. I started shooting at places like Terminal West, Buckhead Theatre, and aisle 5.

I currently specialize in live music, events, and lifestyle portraits. I absolutely love capturing genuine and raw emotion and I’m often told I have a real eye for this. If I can convey how a person felt when they met “the one” or how a band feels when they step on stage and the crowd goes wild or even the overwhelming emotion of a person falling to their knees in worship, I leave a session feeling so much joy and accomplishment. From testimonies I have received from clients, they all enjoy those candid moments in between when they are laughing or playing with their kid, rather than the posed photos and that’s something I always strive to capture. I also use every session to grow, trying new techniques and unique perspectives to give clients variety. There are a few things I’m really proud of from this last year. At the end of May 2021, I quit my 9 to 5 job to pursue photography full-time. In January of this year, I launched a complete rebrand of my photography business with an entirely new identity working to create the best experience for clients. This has opened a lot of new doors for me and I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of support I have received with such a big change. Since then, I was featured in my first magazine. I worked with an incredible artist at my dream venue, Eddie’s Attic. I also had the opportunity to do some behind-the-scenes work with Sony Music in Nashville. I have been booking out months in advance, which is something I never thought possible. This past December, I graduated from the University of North Georgia with a Bachelor of Science degree in Film and Digital Media. I was able to complete a 4-year degree in the span of three years while funding my business. I spent my last semester directing and producing a short film entitled “Tainted” written by myself. After graduation, I decided to focus on growing my photography business. I spent the first two weeks of January in the music studio working on a music video and content for a local artist. In the coming months, I am working on three new short films. All of these factors combined made me believe this is what I am meant to do.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I have a really unique story as to how I gathered the initial capital to start my business. I grew up in a family that didn’t have much money and I’ve always had the mentality that if you want something, you have to work for it. Well, I wanted to pursue an education beyond high school. I was the first one in my family to go to college and was set on paying my own way through it. Throughout high school, I worked my butt off to get all A’s and become eligible for scholarships. I started applying everywhere for potential scholarships through my high school. I then started looking into scholarships through the college and found a few that I qualified for. All of the hard work paid off because I ended up graduating with a 4.1 GPA receiving Zell Miller and three private scholarships. I earned enough scholarships to fund my entire college journey and graduate debt free. In combination with my education, the money I had earned had been a huge help in getting my business off the ground. By the end of college, I was able to invest in quality equipment and software to set me up for a successful photography career beyond college.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The journey to get where I am today hasn’t always been easy. When I made the decision to pursue my passion for photography in 2019, I was also working about five other jobs and attending college full-time. It was a struggle to keep everything balanced and I felt a lot of anxiety knowing that I wanted to pursue photography, but I had so much going on at once. However, in those moments behind the camera when the lights went down, the crowd would start to scream, and I would capture that moment of pure joy on the kid’s faces attending a concert for the first time or the artists crying tears of joy at fans response, it all invigorated me to keep trying to make it work. I was really taking off with it until March 2020 brought everything to a halt. It was discouraging to see everything I had been working towards just come to a stop by something out of my control. I have always been a go-getter though and going through something like that only encouraged me to keep fighting for what I want. I started building my business back up slowly over time, but I was then met with someone who did not want to see me succeed. Someone I had looked up to began to negate my credibility as a photographer. I had several conversations with other creatives who talked me through how to deal with such a situation and graciously parted ways. In those moments, you have to believe in your own character and believe that the nature of people will eventually get revealed in one form or another to others. From there I began seeing who was in my corner and wanted to see me succeed. I soon after got an invite from a friend of mine to do a bucket list shoot with a music label to grow and connect. At the same time, however, I had to have surgery done on my hand and the doctors didn’t make me aware of the extent of the surgery until I woke up and they told me I couldn’t use my dominant hand for three months. As a photographer with several bookings and a dream opportunity ahead, you could imagine the panic. I could have easily given up and canceled everything, but I refused to think negatively. I spent a few days learning how to shoot with one hand and actually ended up with some of my best work today on my one-handed shoots. Some of those clients marked me as memorable because I showed up despite the extra challenge. I think resilience comes with pursuing something you’re passionate about. If the journey was easy, I wouldn’t appreciate where I am nearly as much. There will be obstacles and there will be people that don’t want to see you succeed. It’s what you do with it, that defines you.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mmstudioco.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/mmstudioco/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/melissa.mmstudioco/
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Photos by myself, Melissa Poloncarz Owner of MM Studio Co. Personal Photo by Amisha Nair Owner of AVN Creatives