We were lucky to catch up with Erica Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Erica , appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

The photography industry is not for the faint of heart. It is hard work, sweat and tears most days. People do not value artists enough and getting your name out there can be just part of the struggle. I wanted a space where photographers could be seen and get recognition. Even other platforms are hard to get into if you don’t “know” someone. I had the same struggle a few years back and decided to create my own photography platform. A place where any photographer with talent was welcome. A place where you could ask for help and not get harsh feedback or attacked for not knowing something. We all start somewhere and the photography community was missing that supportive connection. Bold, emotional, colorful is that place. We encourage a supportive community that provides education to photographers.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Erica Williams, the owner of Woodsy Wonders Photography and creator of Bold, Emotional, Colorful photography platform. I started my journey in 2008 when I started my own photography company. I am self-taught and didn’t have the tools photographers have today. The thought of Bold, Emotional, Colorful platform was born about 2 years ago and we launched BEC in the summer of 2021. We are an educational platform and community.

Bold, Emotional, Colorful provides educational online courses for photographers along with mentorships, workshops, tools and we also have a quarterly Magazine that is nationally published. We have a community of photographers and our goal is to provide a supportive place to connect with others and learn. The photography industry can be pretty harsh at times and we need more supportive spaces and believe in community over competition.

We have BEC Leaders who apply with our platform and are graded based on a portfolio they submit. If they pass the test, they are then accepted in our Leader Program and qualify as instructors to create courses for our platform. Our Leaders are the best of the best and our courses are top notch. We also strive to provide affordable education to our students. Check out the course reviews on our website to get a feel of our students and how our courses have helped them.

Bold, Emotional, Colorful is a growing community. We hope to keep growing and helping photographers progress their talents and succeed in their businesses. Our community is our number one priority in building relationships with our students and helping them along the way. Our magazine provides us the opportunity to partner with other companies that can help our students and give them tools they need to run a business. We are always looking for ways to better our platform and give back to the community.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

Bold, Emotional, Colorful is ran by myself and my co-partner, Blake Prejean. Short backstory, I tried to get BEC off the ground a few years before and it was unsuccessful. When starting a business, you need the right support and structure to make it work. Before, I didn’t have that and it failed. Fast forward to today, I have the correct structure and business plan to successfully grow BEC. Blake, is our behind the scenes tech and payroll guru, also my oldest son. He is great with numbers and rolling out plans to grow the business. I am at the front end with customer service and marketing. Together, we run a successful, seamless business.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Bold, Emotional, Colorful started out as an Instagram hub sharing photographers work for inspiration. It grew organically into what it is today. We decided to make it a full platform in 2021. I was working full time as a family photographer since 2008. In July of 2021, BEC became my side hustle to help others during my slow months. Here in Arizona summers are super slow because of the heat. Today, summer 2022, I announced that I would no longer be accepting clients. BEC has grown into a full-time job and on track to become something bigger than we anticipated. We went from 14k followers to 28k in just one year’s time on Instagram. Our Community Facebook group went from 2k followers to 21.1k followers in a year’s time. We are thrilled to make this transition and have been able to help so many!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.boldemotionalcolorful.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/boldemotionalcolorful
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/boldemotionalcolorful
• Other: Facebook Community Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1765869786763760/

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