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

Kaleigh, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

There five key elements to becoming successful. It takes work ethic, resilience, passion, adaptability, and goals.
Coming from a family of self employed entrepreneurs, these are characteristics that have been instilled in since I was a child.
To run a successful business, you have to have the discipline and drive to create goals and work towards them. Never giving up on your long term goals even when you have set backs.
Would you keep working if you wouldn’t be successful the first year? What about five years? That’s when your passion drives you. Resilience is a trait all business owners must have. You’re going to have bad seasons.
Living in a world ran by social media, you have to learn to be adaptive. Marketing yourself on the number of platforms that keep getting thrown our way.

Kaleigh, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Kaleigh, I run a small business in Georgia, Kaleigh Stackpole Photography. I started my photography business as a Junior in high school, but I’ve had a passion for photography since 3rd grade.
In high school, I got my first point and shoot camera. I began taking pictures for our varsity soccer team, and would sell the images to the players. I quickly learned I could create a profitable business from my childhood passion.
As a graduation present my parents gave me my first professional camera. I elevated my craft and began marketing myself to Seniors through Instagram.
2020 COVID hit and completely turned my business upside down. The next three years my life took a different direction. I graduated college with my bachelors in education, settled down, and had my beautiful daughter. Although my life was headed a different direction, I never gave up on my passion for photography. I took that time to educate myself on the fundamentals of photography. I still continued to take pictures for friends and family, but never marketed myself.
August of 2024 I started my first job as a teacher, and realized I was not following my dream. For the next 4 months I juggled working a full time job, being a mom, and restarting my photography business. My business took off, and I enrolled in a marketing course for senior photographers.
In 4 months I transformed my business to the ultimate senior experience. I was able to quit my full time teaching job, and become a full time photographer.
January of 2025 I launched my Senior VIP team, and welcomed 11 high schoolers graduating in 2026. The VIP experience allows upcoming seniors to participate exclusive styled shoots, meet friends from surrounding schools, and document their entire senior year.
All of my clients are informed and prepped from the moment they inquire. They receive welcome guides, styling guides, and a consultation to bring their ideas to life. I have a bubbly personality and create a memorable experience. My goal for all of my clients is to walk away with confidence and excitement.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

My biggest advice for building your social media, is finding your targeted audience. Do your research and narrow down your future clients’ age, gender, and interest. Focus your content to speak to your target audience. Most platforms give you insight on what time of the day your audience is active on that platform, post during those times. Consistency is also key to growing your following. Get out your calendar and schedule when you will post and what you will post. Try to post minimum 3-4 times a week.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Photography was my side hustle for 7 years. I turned photography into my full time job once I began taking the business and marketing side seriously. After 7 years of perfecting my images, I knew my art wasn’t the reason I wasn’t booking, it was my marketing. I focused my niche into seniors and milestones, and that became my targeted audience. I would post content that only spoke to seniors. Their language, using music they were into for post, and creating an experience they would have to tell their friends about.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kaleighstackpolephotography.com
• Instagram: kaleighstackpolephotography
• Facebook: Kaleigh Stackpole Photography
• Other: TikTok
  kaleighstackpolephotography

Image Credits

Kaleigh Stackpole Photography