We recently connected with Jenifer Blanco and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jenifer thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job?

A former boss one time told me that, skills, you can learn at any time throughout your life, but passion, drive and being kind and empathetic were things you just… were. And for him, having those qualities would make him hire someone 100% faster even if they didn’t fully have the skills needed for the job.

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?

So I’m a maternity, family and newborn photographer based in Montreal, but I haven’t been in the business for too long actually. I come from Caracas, Venezuela where I studied graphic design and worked for a year as a designer. After that year (at 23 years-old) I moved by myself to Buenos Aires, Argentina to continue my studies where I majored in creative advertising. I lived there for almost 7 years where I worked in the advertising industry and for some of the biggest brands in the market.

As a hobby I painted murals, did lettering and of course, took lots of photos wherever I would go. I was happy but not 100% fulfilled and that’s when I decided to moved to Canada. And quite the journey that was!

I had to study once again to be able to apply for my PR, so I did a postgraduate in digital advertising. I entered the work force and was able to work in 2 major ad agencies. One in Toronto and then one in Montreal.

Im going to pause here to tell you that I never saw myself working in the ad world forever. I always had conflicting thoughts and my values were never fully aligned with the industry. At the same time, I always loved photography and had been doing some sessions on the side for the last 3 years or so.

In November of 2023 I, along with 100 other people or so, was laid-off. But instead of seeing this as a problem, I saw it as a huge life opportunity. Right around that time I got an email to apply for Elena S Blair photography business mastermind. The universe was telling me something, and my incredible husband fully supported my dream. So I embarked in a new adventure where I became a full-time photographer. I started to learn everything about the market, I did a lot of sessions to build my portfolio and slowly Im growing my brand and putting my name out there. Also having 12+ years of experience in design and advertising, and having lived in 4 different cities (3 countries) gives me a rich, resilient and well rounded background to approach my photography business in a unique way.

I am a mom of a 3 year old incredibly funny girl and pregnant with a little boy who will join our family at any time now!

Being a mom made me approach photography in a totally different way. I love doing maternity photo sessions, and my mission is to help women see themselves as the sexy, empowered and strong powerhouse that they are, when they probably don’t feel like that. Because let’s be honest, pregnancy is not an easy ride.

I also feel like it is so important to have beautiful photos to remember ours lives by! And because parenthood is a crazy mix of emotions and experiences that fly by, giving the gift of memory to parents just brings me immense fulfillment and gratitude!

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I have been so lucky to be able to join Elena S Blair’s community. Her motto is “Community over competition” and this has taught me so so much. Instead of pushing each other and see the others as competitors, why not help each other grow? Why not embrace an abundance mentality and use them as allies? I find this incredibly powerful because at the end of the day, even if the market is saturated, there are clients for us all. Every photographer is going to have a USP and every client is going to prefer one over the other either way, because of budget, taste, location, etc.

So I’ve learned to ask a lot of questions, help every time I can and mind my own business (pun intended)!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

My husband and I find it super important to have savings and luckily we had a good amount by the time I got laid-off, so we invested in my business by acquiring new equipment and applying for the photography mastermind. Those 2 things, gave me an incredibly solid foundation for my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jenblancophotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenblancophotography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenblancophotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenblancodesign/

Image Credits

Jen Blanco Photography