We were lucky to catch up with Britt DuMonceaux recently and have shared our conversation below.

Britt, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

The tagline that you’ll see from time to time alongside Render Boudoir is “love yourself, your body, your life more fiercely,” and I suppose you could consider that a shortened version of a mission statement. I’ve written and re-written mission statements over the years that mostly gather dust and never are formally set into stone anywhere, but the idea behind Render Boudoir is this: to use art and the idea of your own vessel as a masterpiece itself to invite feelings of worthiness, agency, acceptance, beauty, and self-love into your every day sense of self.

Out society is full of messages that align unattainable physical attractiveness with good things and average physical appearance with average to sub-par things. We have psychological research that confirms how deep this goes: overwhelmingly, when we’re shown a face and body that we rate as attractive, we also estimate that person to be more friendly, more competent, more successful. We think they’re happier, more well-liked, and more deserving of the things they have. It’s really messed up, but our perception of our own value is all wrapped up in how beautiful we believe we are, or how closely we fit the aesthetic mold of whatever role we’re wanting to be accepted into.

For me, the pressure to look unlike myself hit the hardest when I became a mom at a young age. There was no way for me to exist that didn’t come with shame and judgement. If I wore something form-fitting, I was slutty. If I wore something comfortable, I was lazy, poor, and irresponsible. If I wore something nice, I was trying too hard. It all boiled down to the fact there was no way for me to arrange myself so that I looked old enough for the world to think that I was a competent, loving mom who was fully capable of raising beautiful, kind children. I didn’t look like “a mom” and so how could I possibly be a good one? The depression and self-doubt followed me for a long time even though I look back now and know with 100% certainty that I did a fantastic job of raising and loving my babies.

My story might seem like a very specific experience, and it is. But it’s really the same experience that many (if not all) women have in their lifetimes. Nearly everyone I encounter has a story about how they have felt out-of-place or undeserving of good things because of how they looked. Unpopular because of their weight, their hair, their teeth — unworthy because of their skin, incompetent because of their clothes, unwelcome because of their age, powerless because of their shape. Women everywhere feel the same cloud of judgment and shame that I did and we weren’t imagining it.

In this conversation, I always have the urge to say to people, “If this hasn’t been your own experience — great!” And I truly mean that – if you have felt comfortable with how you look and welcomed and loved for it in your community at every turn, that’s what we all hope for. My hope is that someday, that will be the world we live in — where there is absolutely no messages that our daughters receive that connect their reflection in the mirror to what they’re capable of or what their value is.

In the meantime, I believe that boudoir photography is a way to use the system as it exists now, to our own advantage for once. If we can’t escape the fact that people believe beautiful people have and deserve better things in life, then we can USE THAT. We can use the art of photography to see our own beauty in a way we didn’t before. And when we do that, it’s like a cheat code that unlocks all of those positives that we think naturally come along with beauty. Suddenly we find ourselves feeling deserving of the good things we have and worthy and powerful enough to go out and get those good things that we don’t have yet. The feeling beautiful isn’t the end goal, really, it’s just the vehicle that can allow you the self-love that you’ve been keeping from yourself.

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

I have been working in the photography industry for 18 years — I started in the wedding industry, then took on family portraits and eventually found a real love for boudoir photography. My boudoir brand offers a luxury experience that most often includes hair and makeup, a 90 minute portrait session in a stunning studio space, and heirloom-quality albums and print-products for remembering your experience.

One thing that I think sets me apart in the industry is that my portfolio of boudoir imagery is not made up of solely what our culture already thinks of as beautiful — pardon my directness here, but I don’t just feature skinny white women! My portfolio includes trans women and non-binary folks, members of the queer community, people from all kinds of racial backgrounds and age groups, and who have body types and sizes of all kinds. My hope is that anyone who comes across my work can “see themselves” in the sensual imagery that I’m making — and that they will feel welcomed and celebrated.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I don’t think I’m doing anything wildly out-of-the-box when it comes to keeping in touch with clients, but I do stay connected in a variety of ways so that clients and potential clients can follow along in the way that they enjoy the most or is most convenient for them — On Facebook, I run a public page as well as a private group, I’m on Instagram, I have a website and Google business page, and (finally, as of just this Spring!), I stay in touch will an email newsletter. It sounds like a lot when I list it all out like that, but I use scheduling tools that allow me to set up a bunch of posts in advance and that helps to keep it manageable.

As for brand loyalty — the only kind of loyalty I’m interested in is the genuine kind where clients simply come back because they like the way I treat them, they like the quality of work they’re getting, and they feel good about the money they’re spending. I fully support any of my clients seeing other photographers or artists to build a collection of images that make them feel wonderful about themselves. But if I can offer some fresh ideas that keep them returning to me, I of course love when I’m able to serve repeat clients!

This year I offered short, creative sessions where I was totally transparent that I’d be trying out new things and because I wanted to have a low-pressure atmosphere for myself and a no-risk opportunity for my clients — offered to waive my session fee. I had originally thought of this mostly as a way for new clients to try out boudoir in a more approachable way, but it turned out to draw in more repeat clients than brand new ones. That was a surprise but a pleasant one! So I definitely think that offering your classic service in slightly different packages can help build a repeat client base. Shorter sessions, ones with experimental lighting, ones with different themes, props, or decor — can all be things that invite clients to relive their first experience in a new way.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

This is one that I think comes up a lot, at least it has for me in circles of female solo-preneurs — and that’s “Get Rich Lucky Bitch” by Denise Duffield Thomas. There were two main take-aways that stand out in my memory.

One was “your brain won’t allow you to become something that you hate.” This came up in discussing “money-blocks” or mental hurdles that people encounter when they’re faced with choosing (or not choosing) increased success. I realized that I had been brought up to think of wealth as breeding greed and anger and meanness — like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol or Mr Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life. So I had these unconscious beliefs that said I’m not a good person if I’m not struggling financially, and I learned that I’d have to disconnect my association of success and meanness if I was going to allow myself to have more than just enough to get by. I’m still working on it :)

The next big take-away was in the chapters about manifestation. I personally thought of the concept of “manifesting” as being way too far down the woo-woo spectrum for me. I don’t really think that you can wish and think the universe into handing you something just because you wish and think on it. But, what I remember clearly from the “steps” to manifesting your wealth was that “inspired action” was one of the steps. And in that way, manifestation isn’t just wishing and thinking, it’s planning and doing — and that’s a thing I can understand. The chapters emphasized that any action at all could do the trick — the idea of throwing spaghetti a the wall was encouraged and I really love that. This idea that there isn’t a playbook for how to do this or that — you have to just START, you have to just TRY things. Some of them won’t work and some of them will, but the intention and action of moving toward a goal are what make a difference.

Contact Info:

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

Image Credits

All Images Copyright Render Boudoir