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

Gina, appreciate you joining us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

My business partner Kristi and I started Vibrant Aura Photo in January of this year. We are an aura photography business that does pop ups at local businesses and also private events. Aura photography is a visual representation of the aura or energy field that surrounds the human body. We take our colorful portraits on film, pull an oracle card for a message from the universe and then do a reading that explains what each of the colors in the photo mean for you.

When we made the leap and finally started our business in January both of our lives were much more settled. We were both (and still are) working at advertising agencies, Kristi in billing and me in video production. Once we felt more stable in our careers and finances, we had the safety net we needed to finally start our business. Knowing that financially we’d be okay either way removed at least some of the fear associated with starting a new venture. Our final push to start was having support from a local shop that we both frequented. Support from our friends at Kanibal + Co meant we would have at least one place to host pop ups when we started and we’d build our client base and relationships with other local businesses from there.

Seeing how well the last 6 months have gone for us makes me wish we had started this business earlier, but ultimately I think we started it at exactly the right time for us. We needed many of the experiences we’ve both had individually and the stability of our day jobs to feel secure enough to really take the leap. I am so glad we finally did as it has been incredibly rewarding to connect with people in our community. We are both so humbled and grateful for all of the support we’ve received from our friends, family, clients and other local businesses.

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 Gina and I got my start in video production. I went to film school which is where I met my business partner Kristi. After college, Kristi started pursuing photography and I went from freelancing in production to working full time as a video producer at an advertising agency. Eventually Kristi started working at the advertising agency down the street and continued pursuing photography on the side.

I first learned about aura photography in 2015. I thought it was so fascinating and immediately wanted to try it for myself. Whenever there were pop ups in NYC they would always sell out immediately so it felt like it was something I might never get to do myself. I later found out from a coworker that Magic Jewelry in Chinatown had an aura camera. One day after work, Kristi and I decided to head over there and get our first portraits and readings. I was completely enthralled. It was fascinating to see a visual representation of what was going on with me energetically and that a person I’d just met could tell me so much about what was going on with me just from looking at this photo.

I got my next aura portrait taken a year later in February of 2020. The colors were totally different because I was severely burnt out from a project I was working on. Not long after, the pandemic shut the world down and I didn’t get another portrait taken until the end of 2021. After that I was hooked.

I always thought it was a missed opportunity that there was no one doing aura photography in northern New Jersey and it felt like a wild fantasy that maybe one day I could own an aura camera. Kristi and I started talking more seriously about starting the business in 2023, but it wasn’t until the end of 2024 that we made the decision and purchased the camera.

Societally I think there is such a need to feel seen and understood. Aura photography is a beautiful art form and keepsake that also tells you something about where you’re at energetically in the present moment. It’s an amazing way to check in with yourself and something I’ve always viewed as a form of self care. Any tool that can make someone more self aware is always going to be a good thing.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Kristi and I met in college. We were both studying filmmaking and got put in learning communities our Freshman year which meant we were in all of the same classes. When working in film you need a crew and you need that crew to be reliable. From the moment I met her, Kristi was someone I knew I could always count on. When we were making short films our Sophomore year, that was when I really learned how much I could rely on her. One of her greatest traits is how loyal and reliable she is. Something that makes not only a great friend, but a great business partner.

We worked on our Senior Thesis’ together and I can honestly say I do not think I would have survived that year without her and I know she’d say the same. Production is physically and mentally demanding, but the people you work with and seeing your vision come to life make it incredibly rewarding.

After college, once we were more established in our respective careers, Kristi and I started traveling together. Traveling with someone is almost as hard as living with them, but we seemed to be able to do it effortlessly. In April of 2021, we spent 3 weeks together driving across the country in my small SUV seeing many of the beautiful National Parks in the US. While 3 weeks of driving hours on end and only seeing each other could easily create strain, it only made us appreciate each other and our friendship more.

Our friendship blossomed from helping each other make our visions come to life on film so it’s really no surprise to me that we ended up starting a business together. Kristi is someone I trust immensely and I think that is the essential foundation of any good business partnership.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

As a new business growing our audience has been a top priority. We’ve utilized many things to do this, but unsurprisingly, social media has been the most beneficial. We started by getting the word out in our existing social networks and have continued expanding from there.

In partnering with other small businesses, we’ve been able to leverage their existing audiences to get the word out and grow our brand awareness which grows our clientele. We promote our pop ups in partnership with these businesses as well as with local event sites like Hoboken Girl or location specific groups.

We’ve also been posting videos to TikTok and Instagram that resonate with our audience. This includes recaps of our pop ups that highlight the amazing businesses we partner with and tarot reading videos that allow our audience to get a message from the universe.

We are constantly adapting and learning new ways to promote our business and grow our clientele, but for being in our first year of business we’ve made great strides.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vibrantauraphoto
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@vibrantauraphotography

Image Credits

Kristi Dake & Gina LoPinto