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

Brad, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

As a child, for the most part, he was a pretty happy kid growing up and led a pretty normal life as far as lives go for children. He always received lots of love and support from his Mom and Grandparents (his Mom’s parents). He had lots of friends, played sports and soccer in particular was the sport of choice. He absolutely loved the game. His upbringing was middle class, Mom was a stay at home Mom and his Father worked at General Motors on the assembly line to bring in the money to support the family. There wasn’t a lot of fighting and arguing in the house between his Mom and Dad growing up but he certainly wasn’t around very much, it was pretty much a single Mother upbringing with the support of his grandmother.

Mary Brenda Walsh had finally reached her breaking point when Brad was 10 years old and after fifteen years of marriage and one too many marital affairs, she decided it was time to stand up for herself and ask for a divorce.
Those years beginning from the age 11 well into the teens were especially formative because not only strengthened the relationship with his Mother as a result of the situation but it also established a much stronger bond with his Nana due to the amount of time they were spending together and bonding through.

Those years definitely played an integral part in making Brad the man he is today and have those two women to thank for that. They were the foundation for all of it, for who he is today. There truly aren’t enough words in the English language to express thanks and gratitude for those two women. They taught him so much during that time in my life and yes the obvious stuff that parents and grandparents teach their kids and grandkids but it was more the unspoken lessons of doing what needed to be done and leading by example not only as a parent and grandparent but as phenomenally strong women, each in their own right. The lessons that they unknowingly shared and taught him had an even greater impact and helped shape who he is today and for that, Brad is forever grateful and forever in their debt, for those invaluable lessons.

You never know where life may take you but having the strength and the courage to stand in your essence and your own power as his Mother did then inspired Brad to take the leap when the opportunity presented itself. Having worked in corporate for 12 ½ years and after 6 years in the corporate world it began to feel like a weight around his neck. There was a calling to pursue his one true passion of photography which he was already doing on a part time basis. He finally found the courage to leave the corporate job after twelve and a half years of safety and security and as any entrepreneur will tell you, it was scary as all hell. The entrepreneurial journey has been one hell of a windy road and it has taken him places he never ever thought he would end up or go. The entrepreneurial adventure as a photographer has had many stops and detours along the way. Brad started out shooting architecture and landscapes, creating my art and exhibiting and selling his art at local art shows around Toronto. This then progressed into doing corporate and actor headshots which then turned into really starting the journey into women’s empowerment and women’s empowerment photography or what is better known as Boudoir Photography. When Brad stepped behind the lens and started to embody the mission of being a women’s empowerment advocate by utilizing the skills he had learned over the years through the love of photography it was an indescribable feeling. Not only was he living out my dream of being a full time photographer but at the same time I was helping women see themselves in a light that they normally wouldn’t ever get to see themselves in. He was able to show them who they truly were, to see the beauty that they couldn’t see when they looked in the mirror. That was not only an incredible gift for the women but it was a life changing gift for him too. The fact that Brad was able to do what he loved for a living which was photography but in addition to that, being able to give back to and impact other human being’s lives. That is like winning the lottery twice.

Two and a half years into life as a full time photographer, his whole business and life were turned upside down and forever altered, hell the whole world experienced something we have never ever seen in our lifetime and probably never will again. We were hit with a global pandemic which in itself is a massive shift for everyone around the world. It basically rendered his photography business inoperable. Some would call it divine timing if that’s your thing but the universe clearly had other plans for the next chapter of his life.
I obviously had to adapt, shift and do something quickly as we all did in the entrepreneurial world, but what was I going to do?

Brad got tired of hearing all the negativity and complaining and whining and bitching about the current situation in the world and I immediately decided that that wasn’t for him, he wasn’t going to feed into it. He had decided that he should do something positive in the face of negativity with all that was going on and start his very own podcast. He thought why not take what he was already doing with the Women’s Empowerment Photography and take the principles and values of that and turn it into a podcast that focuses solely on women. Brad’s goal was to provide a space that highlighted and elevated women, that amplified women’s voices and what better platform to do that with than a podcast.

Little did he know that all those unspoken lessons and moments that his Mom and Nana instilled in him, unbeknownst to them would inspire and turn Brad into a Women’s Empowerment Advocate. Those two women who were the foundation for all of this along with his wife Mary and my two daughters Nicole and Julie are entirely, singlehandedly instrumental and inspirational in bringing the Empowerography Platform to life.He is forever in appreciation and awe of these five women for all that they have taught him, showed him and brought into his awareness. He believes that he has become the best man possible, because he has been supported and led by a phenomenal team of women.

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

My journey started off in the world of corporate. I worked at one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms for 12 /2 years as an audio/visual technician. During my time there I was also running my photography business on the side because photography is my first love, my first passion. I would create my artwork and sell and exhibit it at art shows in and around the Toronto area in order to bring money into the business to help fund my photography gear habit/addiction and of course the business.

I knew at some point I would leave that corporate job and go full-time with my photography and pursue my love and passion as a full time business. I finally made the jump to photography full time in 2017 and never looked back.

I was 2 years into my entrepreneurial journey full time and I started to feel as though I wasn’t making enough of an impact in the world and wanted to do more, I wanted to reach and impact more people. I thought why don’t I take the values, the mission and the purpose of my photography work as a boudoir photographer and utilize those ideas to create/build a podcast platform. In 2019 the Empowerography Podcast was born. This platform was created to help elevate and amplify the voices of women through sharing their stories with the hopes of helping, reaching and inspiring other women out there in the world.

Here we are 4 years and 600 episodes later and Empowerography is a podcast that is rated in the Top 2% of podcasts Globally. As a result of creating this platform so many other opportunities have been created out of it. I never in a million years dreamed I would be hosting a podcast. I now coach people on how to Empower their Message and Shine on Podcasts as a guest. I also have a program in which I help people to start their own podcasts. I edit and produce other people’s podcasts and I host a virtual women’s empowerment conference every year on March 8th to celebrate International Women’s Day. All of these things have happened as a direct result of building community and creating a platform that focuses on elevating and amplifying the voices of women.

In all of this I am most proud of the community that WE have built together because I know and realize that none of this is possible at all without the support and cheer leading of the women who have been guests on the show, who choose to support me in my work and in my mission. Empowerography is more than just a podcast in my eyes. It is a global brand, a global mission. I want chapters of Empowerography set up all over the world where women are heading up and running these chapters. Helping and mentoring other women in their entrepreneurial journeys, educating and supporting women all over the world. Empowerography will be a Women’s Empowerment Conference that travels all over the world giving women a global stage to share their stories, wisdom, knowledge and experience in order to help reach and inspire millions of women around the world.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

First and foremost I believe that being authentically and genuinely ME helped build my reputation as a podcast producer. Being relatable has helped and one of the most important skill sets which is knowing how to listen when my guests are speaking, I mean actually and really listening. I have been told I am a master at holding space for people when having conversations.

As a podcast host, consistency is a huge asset. You want your audience to be able to rely on the fact that you will be putting out quality content on a regular and consistent basis and have interesting guests that people want to listen to.

Being in and of service to others is another big piece of building that know, like and trust relationship with my guests, my audience and my community.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2019 I had started a podcast called Empowerography as a side project to fill some time and because I wanted to leave a bigger mark on the world, have a bigger impact but that was short lived because my photography business had started to pick up traction and I was getting more client bookings. We then fast forward to March of 2020 and well we all know how that played out and affected millions and millions and millions of people around the world. Suddenly, the world as at a standstill, people were told they couldn’t go to work, we all had to stay home and so I certainly could not be running a photography business and be booking and doing photography shoots.

This had essentially brought my business, only 2 1/2 years old to a screeching halt! It was so disappointing and heartbreaking to me. I was finally doing what I loved and getting paid to do it and all of a sudden I was being told NO you are not allowed to run your business anymore.

I thought well…. I have 2 choices here, I can go through Door #1 and sit around and commiserate and complain with more than half the population around the world and be pissed off and angry about the current situation. Or I can go through Door #2 and choose to see this as an opportunity and take advantage of this gift of time that we have all been given and do something good with this time, put something good out into the world.

I had a light bulb moment and thought I might as well use this time to re-ignite the podcast. So I immediately decided to start looking for potential guests on social media and the response was absolutely overwhelming. Women were so happy to hear that a man had created a platform to help elevate and amplify the voices of women through sharing their stories that it turned into this incredible thing where the women I was interviewing began recommending and connecting me with their friends and other women in their communities and networks which of course helped to expand my community, my platform and my reach through the platform.

Empowerography is now a Global Platform and Podcast with 4 years and 600 episodes under my belt. This has been 4 of the most beautiful and amazing years of my life because of what has been built and created. I never in a million years pictured myself being a podcast host, a published author, a 2x co-publisher of 2 books and a podcast coach and of course I am still a photographer.

It just goes to show you, you have to be willing to shift or pivot when life throws an unexpected curve ball at you and that pivot or shift could end up being the best thing that ever happened to you. You have to be willing to shift and change and get comfortable with stepping outside your comfort zone.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.empowerographypodcast.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empowerographypodcast
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brad.walsh.56/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradwalsh70/
• Twitter: https://x.com/Empowerography1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Empowerography
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/visuphoria_photography