We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kayla Melendez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kayla , appreciate you joining us today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?
Photography has always been genuine fun for me, and I started out just by taking photos of my friends and family in my free time. It was never more than a hobby to me until my mom bought me my first ever professional camera. The gift was her way of cheering me up: it was on the day my grandfather was diagnosed with prostate cancer for the second time. That camera allowed me to explore photography further and distract myself from the stress of my grandfather’s illness. By the time my junior year came along, the yearbook teacher at my school had heard from other students that I was a good photographer. He asked me if I wanted to shoot our school’s football game and I said sure, why not? I sent the photos to the coaches of the team and my yearbook teacher. I received great feedback from everyone, and the rest is history! From that point on, I decided to open my own photography page and came up with the name” KKVPTURED” which is pronounced KAY-CAPTURED. My mom helped me with the legal side of things by opening an LLC and such. Everything else came about from hard work, time, consistency, and effort. During Covid, I landed my first ever photography and content creator position at Sneaker Town Miami. I was able to learn and reach my first goal as a photographer! Big shout out to James and Kaisha Chung. Good things take time and this opportunity is only the beginning.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I got into the industry by dedicating time to my craft and making sure I gave each and every person I worked with a memorable experience when getting their photo taken by me. Thanks to my mom and my uncle Dino, I’ve met a lot of people that have the same interests as me. I provide services that can be creative, corporate, family oriented, or anything the client envisions. I facilitate business, events, and social media growth. I think the main thing that sets me apart from others is being an extremely young entrepreneur. I started out my photography business when I was 17 years old. Very soon I will be 20, and throughout this time I’ve come an extremely long way. I still feel that my brand is in its early stages and will continue to lead something greater.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
One resource key to my artistic process is a mood board. Creating mood boards allows me to execute a great photo session by first building a foundation of ideas and visions I expect for the shoot. I do this whether it’s for a client or a personal project. Mood boards can give a concrete definition of the abstract ideas I have for a project. Canva and Pinterest are definitely my best friends when it comes to advertisement and execution!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
The best piece of advice I can give to any person starting their own business is to be consistent as much as possible. Always put in the effort, but don’t overwork yourself just to be seen. I’ve learned that the hard way! Be creative with the content you put out. Show up every single day, even on those days that you don’t want to. That extra work and endurance will pay off in the long run. Last but not least is to be original! Embrace yourself. Show your audience who you are, what you’re doing, and what you’re capable of.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/kkvptured
- Instagram: @kkvptured