Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kelsey Fugere. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Kelsey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?
It has become a regular part of my day to day to try to mix up my visual stimuli on the regular to keep my eyes freshly inspired. Travel is an integral part of expanding my creative consciousness. Every time I return from somewhere unfamiliar, I am blown away at how inspired I feel. It’s so important to expose ourselves to new sensory stimuli and gain a greater understanding for how other people live– it provides an invaluable sense of perspective which I think is important for all humans. Living in Los Angeles, I feel blessed that I don’t have to go far to observe and experience variant perspectives, landscapes, sites and sounds. Traveling to unfamiliar places is important to me and I try to get out of the country at least once a year.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I attended Loyola Marymount University and there I studied Fine Art Photography and Art History. A few years out of school, somehow, (as young and naive as I was) I landed a job as the Marketing Photographer at an E-Commerce beauty and skincare company. The woman that hired me for that job believed in me and saw that I had what it takes to grow and perform. Fast forward to 8 years of freelance, that same woman that believed in me then has become a close friend and she still hires me to work on projects for the company she is at now. I am forever grateful that she saw that I had what it takes and that I was able to rise to the occasion. At 23 years old I was shooting product and model campaigns for quarterly print catalogues and it was incredibly rewarding. At that company I was given so many tools for success and I soaked up the opportunity to learn and grow. After two years, I decided it was time to sprout my wings and expand my photography horizons. I was craving new photo opportunities and decided to go freelance. I should mention that I did not have clients lined up when I decided to leave. One thing that risk and the need for money will do is provide you enough adrenaline to bust your a** into gear. It took me a little while to land on my feet but slowly and surely, the clients started to come. My freelance career started with me creating studio setups in the living room of the shared house I was living in at the time. Fast forward to now, 8 years later. Wow. What a journey it has been. I continue to shoot mostly skincare and beauty and looking back, it’s neat to see how all of the pieces came together to get me where I am today. Forever grateful for all the people that believed in me at a time when I didn’t fully believe in myself.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Never burn bridges. Even when clients suck, never let them know it. The world is small and you never know what that relationship may do for you down the road.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
In continuity with the answer above, the best source of getting new clients for me is word of mouth. Like I said before, the world is small and people would rather work with someone they have been referred to than a stranger. Maintaining client relationships is one of my strongest skillsets and I am continually working on improving ways to do this. Ultimately, I’ve found that people are drawn to personality and authenticity. On set, I bring an energy that is contagious and it comes across in the images.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kelseyfugere.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelseyfugere/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelseyfugere/
Image Credits
In order left to right, top to bottom 1.) For Meridian Grooming 2.) For Permablend 3.) For Sofia Kaman 4.) For Agent Nateur 5.) For Sente 6.) For LimeCrime 7.) For Meridian Grooming 8.) For Algenist