We were lucky to catch up with Amani Sodiq-Odunaiya recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Amani thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

In my opinion, the best way to achieve success is through community. It’s important to surround yourself with a firm support system and people who have experience in whatever endeavors you want to partake in. Building a community is a powerful way to attain your goals and create a positive impact on the world around you.

I have built a community of family, friends, peers, and mentors who all support me through the ups and downs of life. Through this community, I have access to a strong support system and a never-ending well of knowledge. The support I receive from my community is filled with encouragement, guidance, and accountability. Knowledge is one of the integral keys to success, and you can only gain knowledge from people who have had experiences that you haven’t had yet.

I am grateful for the amazing people in my life and how they have welcomed me with open arms. I hope that as the years go by, I can be part of other people’s communities and give them the support that I have received from my own communities.

Amani, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a Nigerian-American photographer based in Dallas, Texas, and my journey in photography started almost 8 years ago.

In 2016, my family and I returned to Texas after living in Lagos, Nigeria for 9 years. As a 16-year-old, I struggled to adjust to American culture and fell into a deep depression. That all changed when my uncle gave me a camera as a gift. Photography quickly became my passion, and I started taking pictures of everything that interested me. When I started college, I upgraded my camera and started taking pictures of people. I eventually found a way to use my photography to tell stories that heal, and my first photo series, Dolor, was born.

Dolor was inspired by my experience in therapy and the journaling exercises I did to process my feelings. I created my own concept to give the emotions in my journal a visual platform. This concept allowed me to make something more out of my photography and showed me that photography can be used to tell stories that heal. Since then, I have continued to create a variety of photos with different looks and styles, but they all have the same core element – a story. The stories I tell through my photography are the basis of my portrait and editorial work.

Outside of my portrait and editorial photography, I run my own small business, Incendi Media. Incendi Media provides professional photography and videography services to individuals and businesses in the greater North Texas area and beyond. I specialize in senior portraits, headshots, and branding photography for personal and commercial brands.

I dedicate myself to my client’s stories and experiences, and that’s what sets me apart from other photographers in the area. Whether I’m working with a high school senior or a local business, I take my time to get to know my clients and their needs. I learn about their backgrounds, personality, style and vision for their shoot, and together, we figure out how to help them capture images and videos that are unique to them and that honor the story they want to tell.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the opportunity to meet and work with amazing people. Every day I get to meet new people and learn about where they’ve come from and where they are in life now. I get to broaden my horizons, gain new perspectives and make new friends. Connecting with people over a shared love and passion for creativity is such a beautiful experience, and I’m so glad I get to live it.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In 2022, while working as a video producer for a city in North Texas, I was offered another job as a videographer for a civil engineering company. It was a salary increase of over 20k, but I turned it down. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but I knew I eventually wanted to start my own business, and there was no point in starting a new job that I wouldn’t be at for long. A couple of months later, I left my job at the city to start my own photography and videography business.

Going from a regular 8-5 job to the life of a freelancer and entrepreneur was a drastic change. I went from having a consistent schedule to having to create my own schedule, and from having a steady check coming in every two weeks to never really knowing when my next check will hit. While I struggled with this change at first (and I still do sometimes), it has taken patience, discipline, and a strong support system to get me to a place where I feel confident and comfortable with my new life.

With any changes in life, big or small, all it takes to adapt to the changes are a couple of good friends and family, and resilience

Contact Info:

• Website: www.incendiphotography.com and www.amanisodiq.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/queen_incendi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/incendimeidallc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amani-s-b69337180/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/queen_incendi

Image Credits
Erykah: https://www.instagram.com/thekreativealbum/ Alexandria: https://www.instagram.com/alex222andria/ Lenora: https://www.instagram.com/cupiddschoice/ Kia: https://www.instagram.com/kiatache/ LeeAnn: https://www.instagram.com/leeleewiththelooks/