Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amy Diep. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Amy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

I think most artists struggle with finding a stable footing in the industry especially when first starting out. It definitely can be scary investing all this time and money into yourself buying gear and equipment because it is intimidating for sure. I think one of the biggest challenges with profitability is seeing this as a long term investment. In the end, it is an investment into your career so it’s a matter of shifting that mindset from “how much does this cost me” to “how much can this make me?” Most people quit before realizing this.

As a freelancer, it can also be difficult finding enough work to pay the bills so often times we accept a handful of lower paying clients to fill up our calendars while only booking maybe one or two high paying clients here and there. The smaller clients end up consuming the majority of our time which distracts us from the bigger clients and the back end work that we could be doing in order to land those contracts with our dream clients. It’s overwhelming feeling like you have to handle all of it yourself being a one person team, but I think the path to success starts when you can take a step back to really focus on creating a sustainable business structure for yourself and figuring out what your dream clients look like.

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

I started photography in the spring of 2019 initially as a joke taking headshots for a friend who wanted to apply to be on the show Temptation Island. It was the first time I picked up a professional camera and had no idea what I was doing. I found it enjoyable and started shooting lifestyle portraits for seniors, couples, and families, then experimented by directing my first editorial and absolutely fell in love. In 2020, I started shifting my focus over to editorial fashion and commercial work and have been taking these projects on as my primary clients since. It was such an exciting feeling being able to execute a vision and see that come to life. That moment of seeing “the shot” is such a fulfilling and thrilling feeling, it never gets old. I love everything about it.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I think social media has always been a second thought for me. It’s something I didn’t really consider building until recently in this past year because I don’t think I realized how much work it was to be consistent on socials. Over the summer when I had more time, I dedicated a chunk of time most days doing research into brands that I would consider my dream clients and those that are my target audience. It was a large majority of organic outreach and connecting with new creatives, talent, and brands I aim to work with. Pitching ideas for collaborations and engaging more intentionally with these individuals really helped expand my network. Some advice is to definitely stick to your personal brand and learn when to say no. As you grow your social media, people will start reaching out more with collaboration requests and brand deal opportunities. It does not mean you need to say yes to everything if it doesn’t align with your goals. If you say yes to a ton of smaller projects that you aren’t passionate about just to fill up your calendar, it’ll leave much less time for you to focus on your dream clients. It doesn’t happen overnight and takes a lot of patience but is always worth it. If you hold yourself to those standards, you’ll eventually find yourself in the right niche and target market.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

There is so much I could say about this question. For me, I don’t even think it’s the end result that is the most rewarding but the process itself. It is such a surreal moment being on a set that you’ve worked on for months and seeing it go exactly the way you envisioned it. MDW is a project that me and my Co-Founder, Irelynd Williams, started a year ago in November 2021 and we just wrapped our third season together last weekend as the biggest project we had ever worked on. We pitched each other rough ideas when we started the whole planning process about 5 months ago but never expected it to scale this large so quickly. We pulled in the most talented crew members to join and it just felt like we were kids in a candy store having fun on set creating together. It was an incredible feeling to look around and see our team working so passionately on our project. Wrapping the five-figure production knowing we didn’t make a single dime on it but that it was just the start to something so much bigger was the most rewarding feeling. Knowing that we were capable of leading a 40 person team and that this was a glimpse into future projects that we will be creating was a very prideful and fulfilling experience. It really puts everything into perspective for us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shotbyamy.studio/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shotbyamy_/

Image Credits
All images taken by me. Models: Sierra Wicht, Yousef Madkour, Arianna Dessart, Essence Tatiana, Josie Jones, Malachi Jones, Piya BTS Photo taken by Irelynd Williams @imagesbyher.co