We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lindsay Askins. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lindsay below.

Lindsay, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

For the past decade, I have worked as a doula supporting women during pregnancy, birth, and Motherhood. I’ve also been photographing births, among other lifestyle photography genres, for just as long. In addition to those two professional roles, I have been juggling Motherhood alongside entrepreneurship during that same decade. The cheesy title “Mompreneur” is not lost on me as that word encompasses a whole lot more than simply “entrepreneur”. It’s significantly more work to raise babies while simultaneously running a business. Most women entrepreneurs do not have what they ideally need each day to care for children and their business.

This is a society-wide problem and it’s constantly at the forefront of my thoughts. In the last couple of years, I have been brainstorming on how I can use my skill set and my background, both professionally and personally, to solve this problem for women, especially Mothers.

The idea to nurture – and nourish – women while creating imagery for them to grow their brand and their businesses came to me last year.
What if I could support and care for women in my photography studio in the same way I do in a laboring and birthing space?
What if I could curate a photo shoot the same way I curate a postpartum meal for a new Mother?
What if I could customize a shoot so beautifully, my clients left feeling like they had been at a luxury spa all day?

Thus was born The Lindsay Askins Collective – a luxury branding photography community and experience for women entrepreneurs. We have essentially created an all-inclusive spa day for women and their business. We simply want women to show up and we will handle the rest! Our clients do not need to make a hair appointment, hire a makeup artist, or even get their nails done – it’s all included. We even cater their favorite foods and drinks to ensure they are nourished and hydrated before, during, and after our shoot.

We know our clients have a lot to juggle because WE have a lot to juggle. But we have collaborated as a community of women to support one another. We are only stronger and more capable when we work as a team! And, as far as I know, nobody is offering this experience, this model of branding photography.

Lindsay, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Mother of three, doula-turned-birth-coach, and professional photographer of about 15 years now. I married the military many moons ago which results in frequent relocation. While that feeds my wanderlust soul, it has made building business difficult over the years. My Collective is based in Phoenix, but we travel. Pop up shoots across the country are in the works and we will be in NYC in October. When I’m not working, I am trying to get on a plane to anywhere, hangin’ with my girlies, reading a book in a coffee shop, or doing anything related to horses and other outdoor adventures.

I began my journey into photography in 2008 when I started photographing military homecomings (which are still one of my most very favorite things to photograph) and I was hooked on the emotion and feeling of capturing people’s big once-in-a-lifetime moments. After I became a Mother, my photography organically shifted into capturing births which then led me to begin supporting women and families with doula work. In 2015, I co-founded a photography project, The Exposing the Silence Project (exposingthesilence.com), that features over 200 women from across the U.S. sharing their stories of birth trauma related to obstetric violence. I quickly learned that simply listening to them and giving them a visual platform to share their stories was incredibly healing to them. I had figured out how to use my skill set to serve others and that felt really purposeful.

I intentionally work part-time as Motherhood is a full-time job no matter what. I deeply understand the juggle of entrepreneurship alongside raising babies, the struggle of feeling stretched in both directions, and wanting to do both 100%. I’ve watched clients do this for years now as well. To say my doula work and photography is now completely woven into one another would be an understatement, and that’s how I have approached designing the luxury branding experiences we offer. These casually luxurious shoots were created to nourish the women we serve as well as their businesses. The last decade of my work and personal life has influenced every detail of The Lindsay Askins Collective.

This sets us apart from most other branding photo shoots. Our clients leave feeling refreshed and nurtured in addition to having a high-end set of images to elevate their brand and business. We take all of the stress and tasks related to branding shoots off of our clients’ To Do lists and simply ask them to show up however they wish. Our team of professional stylists, make up artists, and caterers make everything easy and beautiful so that our clients can relax while feeling pampered. We spend weeks before shoot day getting to know our clients, learning about their families as well as their business, so that we can best serve them and ensure their images authentically reflect who they are as both women and entrepreneurs. This experience is a unique approach to branding and commercial photography that I believe is much needed in the world where Motherhood and business clash.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I have been married-to-the-military for almost two decades now. I think, at this point, “pivot” is my middle name. I am constantly pivoting both personally and professionally.

This Collective came from a pivot. I wanted to scale my business outside of my geographic location and build something nationwide that was not affected by a relocation. I wanted to create a community of other women entrepreneurs that would continue to grow regardless of where I am living. I wanted to serve as many women as I can across the entire U.S. and eventually globally as well.

My photography has ebbed and flowed and changed many times since 2010. My interest in what I am shooting has changed as well. I have changed my gear, my shooting locations, and my website many, many times in 13 years. But that’s what growth looks like – it changes. Without change, nothing grows. Growth requires change. And change often looks like a pivot.

I expect there to be many more pivots as my career progresses. Photography is a skill and an art that’s never mastered. There is always more to learn, more to change, more pivots to make. I believe those that do not learn how to pivot have a rough time being successful at anything they attempt in life. Learning to pivot is essential to success in whatever capacity it takes place.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Goodness, there are so many…. but regarding building and running a business, I have had to unlearn that it’s linear. Because it never is. It never goes according to plan either. We are taught in school and from adults during childhood that if we simply do XYZ, then ABC will happen. However, that is simply not true.

I have unlearned that XYZ brings about ABC. Maybe sometimes XYZ brings about GFK….whatever that represents. And often, that turns out to be a better outcome than the one you imagined or planned for! Letting go of the “perfect” plan or ideology when creating new business ideas has been a pro tip I wish I had learned faster. My business looks nothing like I thought it would when I started this journey 13 years ago…but I have learned more than I ever thought possible and am working more in alignment with my authentic artist expression than I was in the beginning.

When you begin entrepreneurship, you believe you must follow specific steps and hit certain milestones as markers of “success”, and you believe that’s the only way to walk this path. But if entrepreneurship has taught me anything, it’s that there are many ways to walk this path, and what works for one person many not work for another.

For me, juggling Motherhood and many years of solo parenting as my husband is very often away for work has been a huge obstacle that many other entrepreneurs do not have. I have had to unlearn that my journey is going to look like someone else’s simply because we are working in the same field. Implementing boundaries in both my personal and professional life have been crucial to being able to give more to my children AND my business/clients.

Unlearning that there is a “balance” to Motherhood and entrepreneurship was a big lesson. There is no balance. That is a lie and a myth. We are only able to do one of those at 100% capacity at a time. One must give to the other. But accepting that fact and understanding that’s it’s a season and life always changes from year to year has been so helpful to me as a Mother and business owner.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lindsayaskins.co
• Instagram: @lindsayaskins.co
• Facebook: @lindsayaskins.co
• Linkedin: Lindsay Askins
• Yelp: The Lindsay Askins Collective

Image Credits
Images by Angie McPherson and Taylor Jade Photography