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

Kashia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I’m incredibly happy as a business owner, it allows me to be a mom to my children and home with them throughout the week and I can mostly work from home aside from 2-3 days a week when I have weddings or other sessions. I’ve often thought about what it would be like to go back to having a 9-5 job, but then I realize how much I would be missing out on with my children. Even down to having really clingy animals like Lucy and our pups, being home I think really helps them thrive and have a sense of belonging.

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?

I started out just having a camera to take pictures of my children so that I didn’t have to pay someone else to take them for me. Then later on, my hobby turned into a full business. After being in the industry for 8 years I even built my own studio to use for myself and share with other photographers. It’s a dream come true. I really pride myself on capturing emotion and genuine moments during a wedding day. When it comes to boudoir, showing the women their images on the back of my camera or even after I deliver a gallery is the most amazing thing ever. I can’t even describe the feeling it gives me, but I can say that it makes me want to continue and do this for as long as I can!

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

My boyfriend, now husband had actually bought me my first camera back in 2015. I started with a Kit lens and then gradually worked up to a better camera and about 12 lenses, and I still want more haha. I worked weddings, family sessions, and did boudoir saving up to rent a studio space to call my own. After one year of renting a space that wasn’t mine my husband and I decided that we should build a studio in a property we already owned because we had the space. It took about a year, but it’s everything I could have dreamed of and more.

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

When I first started doing photography I was working at a dentist office 9-5. I would work there during the day, and then schedule my sessions at night during sunset hours. After about a year or two of doing it as a side hustle I was more in demand than I thought possible. I decided to leave my full time job and persue photography full time. There’s always slow times of the year that you have to tap into being creative and be out of the box to attract clients, but I’m learning to lean into those times more than ever having small children at home and enjoy that time with them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.kashialeephotos.com
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/kashialeephotography
• Facebook: https://Www.facebook.com/leekashia

Image Credits

Myself lol.