We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kayla Tew. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kayla below.
Kayla , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
When I was young, my grandmother who was a giant part of my life, carried a camera everywhere. It started with the ginormous video camera that was on your shoulder then as times progressed the first digital cameras, and loved protecting memories for our family. I loved the idea of being able to go back to a time that I may not remember as sharply and see the people I love most in that space. I knew from a small child that I wanted to be a photographer however I did not know what that would entail or what I wanted to focus on most. Around 11 or 12 I thought I wanted to be a forensic photographer, let’s just say me and blood don’t do well together so that was crossed out within about a year. Then as I got closer to high school I decided to do yearbook and that just blossomed my creativity and drive to become what I always had envisioned. I decided to join a private college to obtain my bachelors in fine art photography. During that time I was able to learn so many great tools with other business minded people. I found a company out of Carrie that did visual marketing for real estate listings and I thought that was very interesting and I knew I wanted to learn more. I ended up working with Kyle and his team at Visual Properties from 2015 to 2023. During that time, I worked diligently on my own business and brand and watched carefully at how my colleagues conducted business, as well as viewed their photography. I learned so much from them! My business continued to grow while working with them and having my own sessions around my work schedule.social media was really, really taking off for businesses at the time that I was in school and I dove headfirst into Facebook, Instagram and handing out brochures and flyers at local businesses in downtown Fuquay. After diving straight into extreme marketing on social platforms. I was so grateful to get my first client and it was probably the most fun time that I had shooting, and to this day I remember exactly exactly how it felt being creative in a space that I was born to be comfortable in.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Kayla, I am a wife, a dog mom, a farm mom, Disney fanatic and a super fun, no stress family and wedding photographer! I have been born and raised in Fuquay Varina, and have watched this community grow for the last 28 years. In my opinion, there’s always time to stop for a coffee and when I do, I’ll probably run into someone I know or that knows my family. When responding to emails it is probably from the comfort of my back porch snuggled up with a few chickens and my four-legged children. I offer services of family photography, ranging from newborns all the way to graduation. I don’t stop there, though, I also want to capture the wedding and then start all over with a newly born family! I have always viewed my profession as a job, but not one that takes over my humanity. Growing up with a single mom I learned a lot about how money dictated a lot of what we did. I don’t ever want families to feel like they can’t have beautiful memories due to a lesser paycheck. I keep my prices extremely competitive in the industry and what you see is what you pay. I don’t believe in up charging per image or edit or anything of that nature. All of my sessions include the time on photo day, and the images delivered to your email ready for you to post, print, and share with anyone you desire. I have been told that I am the little one whisperer, I love children I love showing them that family photos can be fun and my goal is for them to grow up Excited to see me each year! So far I have shot with over 700 families and it’s very rare to not see little ones smile peeking through. One more reason I feel that I am set aside from others in the industry is that my sessions are no longer than an hour. Most of my sessions are 15 and 30 minutes which makes For a happy husband normally, lol. I also offer mini sessions throughout the year, 10 minutes of a fun seasonal experience with exceptional photos to prove it!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In January 2024 after building my brand and business, finally on the straightaway I was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer that was going to take me out of work until… Well, we didn’t really know when. I’ll spare you most of the details, however during my treatment, mini complications were thrown my way, including, but not limited to heart failure, 12 blood clots in my lungs, loss of vision, neuropathy, and the loss of use of my legs and hands. When I lost my mobility, I thought for weeks that I may not be able to come back to my job that is extremely hands-on and mobile. All of this happened within six months and the road to recovery was a long one. I worked hard every single day to regain my strength and be able to do a wedding for the first time in 2024 with some assistance, do a wedding nonetheless. On June 8, 2024 I was back in action with the help of my husband and I have never felt so resilient, strong or powerful! Since then I have continued to work on my strength and push through such such a difficult and horrible part of my life. I am back full-time now and feeling way better than I ever thought I would! PS remission rocks!
How did you build your audience on social media?
Like I said in my about me, I dove straight in to marketing on Facebook, Instagram and other forms of social media. In our town, we have several Facebook groups for ladies and families in the area to share questions concerns ask for recommendations and so on. I was part of all of them and really used those platforms to share who I was what I was offering at the time where I was in my photography journey And just being completely open and honest about my skill set throughout that time. I was still in school and really honing in on my niche and editing style. I appreciate the people that were my guinea pigs during this time and trusted me to still create some pretty cute if nothing else photos of your family, kiddos Or Furry friends. I can honestly say that 98% of my clientele for the first three years came solely from Facebook. A lot of people looked at me crazy when I told them that and said it would not be sustainable as a marketing platform for the rest of my business life. Here I am 10 years later later and I would say roughly 90% still comes from social media, with the other 10% being word of mouth from the people I met on social media. I’m extremely thankful for these platforms!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.kayladeanphoto.com
- Instagram: @kayladeanphotography
- Facebook: https://Www.facebook.com/kayladeanphotography
- Yelp: Kayla Dean photography
Image Credits
Image credit to Kayla Dean Photography