We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren Richardson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Lauren thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Being in any creative industry is definitely not for the weak or faint hearted. There are constant conversations, opinions, etc, about the work you create, and that can be challenging to navigate. However, the beauty of being able to dive full force into your artistry, challenge yourself through the process, and uncover aspects of your talents that you didn’t even know existed, is the real definition of growth and that’s what I strive to do as I continue in my career. One of my all time favorite songs is Love Yourz by J.Cole and in his lyrics he quoted, “There’s beauty in the struggle and ugliness in the success” which it’s very true but people need to see and hear that! Sharing my story, the personal ups and downs, and life lessons that I’ve learned on this journey of trying to lock in to accomplish my dreams, could really help the next person. Personally, the recognition is great and of course as humans we naturally want to be celebrated for our wins. Contrastingly, it’s not all about that for me because when I realized I am not only doing this for myself but, for the people who love and support my work, for the little girl who wants to pick up a camera too, or even to show my community what we are capable of accomplishing, it made my purpose a lot bigger. As a black woman in these male dominated industries, it is important that I am a positive and impactful representation of how resilient, creative, passionate, hardworking, and just “EVERYTHING” that women from my community embody. Some of the black women that have inspired me to keep pushing forward are Lonra Simpson, Renell Medrano, Issa Rae, and Shonda Rhimes to name a few. These intelligent and gifted creatives have opened many doors for more of us to have the opportunity to perform at such a high level in those spaces. It is only right that if and when, I am in their position, I too, can do the same and give that back in that regard.
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.
My name is Lauren Taylor and I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I’ve always gew up tapped into fashion, beauty, and music. I’d definitely give that credit to my Mother as she gave me that freedom to express my creativity at a very young age. Whether I wanted to put looks together from her closet, play with her makeup, reenact runway shows in the living room, while blasting G-Unit, with ANTM on the TV, she definitely let me wholeheartedly be me! I picked up my first camera in the 6th grade, when I took photography as an elective. It seems small, but this was honestly a life changing experience for me. Taking photographs felt like I had developed a time traveling superpower where I could go back to any time in my life and relive all of the memories and vibes of that specific time. I was creating a digital archive of my life, and that felt special to me. Photography became that culmination of all of my interests and I think that’s when I decided I wanted to pursue it as a career. I’d play around and create my own shoots with my friends and offer to take photos at family events but I didn’t get super serious about my craft until I went to college. I took a photography internship under my mentor and good friend, Kimberly Metz. I assisted her on all of her shoots, which definitely helped me build my foundation. She really poured into me and taught me the ins and outs of the business, which was such a blessing because I was able to gain industry experience prior to fully immersing myself into the field. Shortly after I graduated college, I landed my first job at BCBGMAXAZRIA, as a Production Assistant which kick started my career. My Studio Director and Senior Producer at the time, Judi Hufford, helped me immensely by walking me through the process of producing small and large scale fashion shoots, commercials, and campaigns. Having this guidance and knowledge was quintessential to the development of my skillset as I became affluent in running various different production sets. Ultimately having these two influential professional figures early in my career, set me up for where I am at now. As a photographer I mainly shoot portraiture, fashion, lifestyle content as well as music / live events. I go through the entire process with my clients from establishing what they are looking to achieve, to making their overall vision come to life. In regards to shoot production, my expertise ranges from editorial, e-commerce, still life, and photo/video. On set, I orchestrate and oversee all aspects of production (pre, production, and post) to ensure that everything is executed smoothly and in a timely manner. What sets me apart from others is that I have an entire 360 view of the entire production process from various angles. I’ve been the stylist, digital technician, photographer, producer, and basically every type of assistant you can think of. Having been exposed to all of these different positions has allowed me the ability to provide very quick and effective solutions for my clients, in order to get to our end goal. I am just as technical as I am creative, which is definitely my most redeeming quality in regards to my work ethic. However, I always strive to learn as much as I can in order to stay up to date on emerging industry trends. I am constantly trying to fine tune and improve my craft because there is still so much to learn! My goal is to always give my all and be at my best, not only for my clients, but for myself as well. All in all, I just want my brand to speak to my identity and authentically convey all of my emotions and the way I see the world around me. Lastly, I want my peeps to know that I am currently working on providing videography services, so that is definitely coming soon!
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
After my college tuition was paid, I would take the remainder of my financial aid money and spend it on buying equipment instead of books and supplies. Once I found out that the majority of the books I needed were in the library, I would just go scan and print the chapters multiple times a week. My friends would also let me take their books for the day and i’d get weeks worth of material, which allowed me to skate by for a while. Basically I lived in the library at that point but, at that moment I thought my equipment was more important. I laugh at this now because my choices for sure got me in some binds but hey, I graduated! As I started working, I was able to save my money and acquired some more equipment along the way.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding thing about being an artist/creative, is to see how the art you curate within yourself can be the source of your livelihood. When they say “It doesn’t feel like work, if you do what you love,” is quite literally the only reason why I enjoy working so much. I live the moments where I think “Wow, I can’t believe I got that shot!” because I didn’t know I had that in me. Even the times where I am so exhausted from working on set for 12 hours but, I’ll get up and do it a thousand times again because I know that the final product is going to be worth it! Having the ability to bring your ideas to fruition, release it to the world, and be positively rewarded by self growth/gratification, compensation, positive feedback, and or recognition, honestly feels great to me. At the end of the day, I really pursue my crafts for myself because it is what I am passionate about. However, being able to make a living off of what you’re passionate about really is the icing on the cake.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.laurentaylorvisuals.me/
- Instagram: laurentaylorrich
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/lauren-richardson31