We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Arielle Rorth a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Arielle Rorth, appreciate you joining us today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

This may be the weirdest answer, but breaking my heart.

I spent the better part of 2024 with the person I thought I would marry. I loved him and still love him in a way that I’ve never loved anyone else. My life was going seemingly well and easy at the time that we were together, other than our relationship. That wasn’t easy… also probably an odd thing to say about your relationship with someone you thought you would marry.

He wasn’t ready, and probably still isn’t, to grow into the person who would match my life. Which makes me sad on a regular basis because I still wish he could be.

He lived in Cleveland. I’m from Bay City, Michigan. So during our relationship, I had to start focusing on how I was going to move my businesses there and eventually transition there. If you own a business, you know you have to start prematurely and very early on. It’s not as easy as just applying for jobs. You have to meet people, make connections, and start figuring out how to do it pretty much from the start.

It was a heartbreak I hadn’t experienced before, because it wasn’t just losing that person and going through a breakup. It was the ending of an entirely new life I had been envisioning and starting to build, and having to grieve that alongside losing the person. I had to grieve a city, relationships, and a place that felt equally like home.

So one day that life was just gone, and I felt really, really stuck because everything I was building was just gone.

But weirdly, that has been the biggest blessing because I had to figure out how to pivot and grow with where I now was. I’ve grown my businesses exponentially and built huge partnerships. I’ve started getting work into art galleries, including one of the largest in North America. I’ve been featured in multiple publications, have received awards, and I think I’m maybe the happiest and most at peace I have ever been in my life. I have such a solid group of friendships and connections and feel genuinely supported. It’s nice.

So weirdly, breaking my heart and disappointing me is the kindest thing someone has ever done for me.

Arielle Rorth, 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’ve been in marketing, design, and photography for a decade this year (that makes me feel old).
I started freelancing pretty early on. I was well known locally in social media marketing and had local businesses ask me if I would ever consider doing it for them.

On March 12th, 2021, my best friend overdosed and passed away. I got sober the next day. On March 13th this year, I will hit five years sober.

In 2017, I had tried going fully on my own. In reality, I wasn’t going to be successful then because I didn’t know how to run a business. But he had encouraged me to do it. He said if anyone could, it was me. We spent the day that I resigned from my job talking about how excited we were to be able to have lunch together whenever we wanted.

I knew when I went into it that the biggest problem I wanted to solve was genuine connection. Most agencies and photographers are more worried about the income than the client, but people and businesses should feel valued and important.

When he passed away, I spent the days following reading through old messages, and I realized how much I had missed out on in life because I had prioritized work over my relationships and the things that really matter in life. That was time I couldn’t get back, and I knew I wouldn’t live that way anymore.

So when I was headhunted for a marketing director position in the cannabis industry, I emphasized that importance both for myself and the team I was managing. When it wasn’t followed through by the company in terms of work-life culture, I quit effective immediately and went fully on my own.

I don’t think boudoir was ever the place I expected to land. However, when you get sober, you have to really get comfortable with the bad parts of yourself too. There’s a lot you need to forgive yourself for and also accept that those parts of you will always exist.

My best friend was someone who was really good at loving other people, but really bad at loving himself.

I am so grateful for a career that lets me make sure people feel really loved. Helping them heal has helped me heal parts of myself as well. It has changed me entirely as a person and has made me love the parts of myself that are hard to love. Being someone who has the ability to create this safe and healing space for other women is just really fucking rad and makes me so proud of the person I’ve become.

I’m also so grateful I have built a life that gives me the ability to prioritize the things in my life that truly matter. I won’t ever have to look back and realize the people I want there, the people who matter, or the moments that matter are missing again. I won’t ever be able to have lunch whenever I want now, I can’t get that back, but I can make damn sure that I show up for the people in my life and my clients.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think this goes two ways. There are things society as a whole can do, but also things that other creatives and artists need to do.

I’d rather start with the latter because it seems like, over time, the creative world becomes more competitive and less collaborative. We can all learn from one another, and there’s a beauty in working together. Mentorship and partnerships are wonderful things.

Instead of trying to do everything, learn your niche that you’re really, really good at. Refer to other artists in your industry who thrive where you aren’t at your best. It keeps the creative ecosystem flowing overall, and it also means those looking for something specific are going to be happy with the outcome of the work they are receiving. Referring someone to a better fit for that specific inquiry can also lead that person back to you in the future when you are a better fit.

In terms of consumers, do your research and find the best fit for you. Step away from trends and instead look at work that really suits what you love. I understand that sometimes original art isn’t always feasible depending on where you’re at in life. I have said countless times that when someone reaches out to me for wedding photography and I’m out of their price range, I have mad respect for that. I will always see if we can work something out together.

And more than anything right now, stop generating work and content with AI.

We are moving away from an authentic world. There is already enough that is mass produced.

Not even looking at the impact on the environment, you are stealing from artists and creatives when you use AI to create images or content.

We are losing touch with how to communicate with one another.

We are losing touch with speaking and creating in authentic and organic ways.

I am mentally burnt out right now from reading the same things by every person on my feed over and over again because it was written by ChatGPT.

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

Knowing I created that, right?

Especially submitting to art shows last year and this year. It’s a feeling I can’t describe. You know that someone curating a show or gallery liked your work enough to choose it as one of the pieces. I have one that’s gotten into multiple now, and oh my gosh, I just love it.

The little girl who was in every art show from elementary through high school at our local art gallery is smiling ear to ear. The dream of being a real life artist is a reality now.

Transitioning to creative work full-time doesn’t always feel. You’re getting booked based on your portfolio, so those hiring you expect that work, especially in boudoir. I have systems in place to create high quality work, and it can become mundane at times.

I’m really thankful for the clients I work with who trust the crazy ideas I suggest to them so that I can create unique art pieces.

And on the flip side, even though it may feel mundane to me sometimes, someone seeing their images for the first time and the impact it has on them has never, in the slightest, become less rewarding. I think that comes back to this career healing me as much as it helps heal others. The reactions and things women have said to me in regard to the images I take of them fills my cup and me as a person. I truly cannot imagine doing anything else in my life.

How lucky am I to have learned how to take a talent I have and use it to impact others’ confidence, self-esteem, how they view themselves, and sometimes heal parts of them that they may not share with anyone else.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ariellerothboudoir.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arothboudoir/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arothboudoir/