We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nicole Seguin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

It’s always hard to say when an idea is born. Personal Brand Photography already existed when I started a few years ago. But the idea of visibility and transformation in this field is still new!

My passion for photographing women in business grew from a thousand quiet moments of watching women either apologize for being seen, or forcing their way into the spotlight – only to be torn down. Growing up, I witnessed the same patterns I see today: women being reminded that their appearance mattered more than their voice, being told they were either too quiet or too loud. Never just right. Never simply themselves. These early observations showed me how women were quietly separated from their authentic self-expression.

As a mother and during my family photography years, I heard it constantly: “I’m not photogenic” or “Let me lose the baby weight first.” Mothers apologizing for taking up space in their own family photos. Hiding behind their children.

I accepted these concerns as normal, even natural. After all, I was just a keen observer. And so focusing on the children made sense: women relax when they don’t have the spotlight on them and are busy tending to others. What can you do?

Then came a revelation – a workshop on Personal Brand Photography that showed me a different approach to photographing women. An approach that honored a woman’s personality, her values and her dreams. An approach that wasn’t either celebrating her sexuality (boudoir photography) or motherhood (Family photography) but celebrating a woman for her ideas, her strengths, her opinions…. her way of expressing her individuality in this world.

At the time, I was going through my own deep personal transition. Though I didn’t know it yet, I would ask for a divorce within the next year.
As I reclaimed my sense of self, I felt a deep need to align my work with who I had become myself: a creative business owner, and a recently divorced mom who was sick and tired of waiting to be chosen, and ready to define her life and success on her OWN terms.

I was done walking the tight rope of “too quiet” or “too loud”. I was done being a silent observer. I was on fire!

Now, as Personal Brand Photographer, I still hear “I’m not photogenic” from accomplished women – CEOs, founders, industry leaders. And I understand. We’ve been taught to focus on appearance when we should be focusing on what makes us unique.

With Personal Brand Photography, we flip the script from ‘Make me look good’ to ‘Let me show the world what I stand for.”

Today, I’m still learning and growing, but there’s an excitement I never had before. Women in business need a visual representation of their brand to stand out. They’re looking for a photographer who gets them, as they move through the different phases in their life and their business. Because this isn’t just photography – this is about breaking free from stereotypes and showing women for who they truly are, in all their complexity and power.

Nicole, 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’ve always been fascinated by people – how they move, express themselves, take up space. The decisions they make, their energy, and the way they relate to others.
Watching people reveal their stories through the smallest gestures, the way they hold themselves, the shift in their energy when they feel seen.

I spent years studying people around me and would even go so far as to pretend I was them for a day. There’s no surprise I became a stage actor for a little over 3 years in my early 20s.

Acting came naturally to me, but I lost myself in the characters. I lost my sense of self. And stepped away from this practice.

I only realized a few years ago (in my 40s!) that this ability to step into different perspectives was actually my superpower as a photographer, and as an artist.

Today, as a Personal Brand Photographer and Visual Strategist for women business owners, I help create images that feel magnetic and unique to each client. I do a deep dive into their personality and their brand by using my natural ability and curiosity to capture what makes these women remarkable in their own way.

This work goes way beyond taking pictures. Sure, there are questionnaires, zoom calls, and moodboards. But the real connection happens in between – in those casual exchanges where I get to understand not just their brand, but who they truly are and what lights them up.

What lights me up? Watching the transformation unfold. When clients see their photos and immediately start using them because they finally see themselves reflected authentically – that’s the moment I live for.

Why would I be worried about AI? A photographer does more than take pictures of faces. There’s a depth of human connection and understanding that can’t be replaced by technology…

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

‘Charge your worth’ – that phrase never sat right with me. It always felt… personal. “You don’t believe in yourself” was how I interpreted it, “Don’t be the lame duck.”

When I left my marriage and became a single mom, something shifted in how I saw myself as a business owner. Suddenly, I felt this crushing pressure to prove I could ‘make it.’ Society’s message was clear: vulnerable single moms don’t succeed in business, especially not in creative fields.

I remember catching myself apologizing for being ‘just’ a photographer. In a world of tech startups and venture capital (hello Bay Area and Silicon Valley!), my natural way of doing business – building relationships, taking time to understand people, creating safe spaces – felt somehow less legitimate.

This was just another way the patriarchy was telling me how to show up in the world.

Then there was my mother – a lawyer in the gaming industry surrounded by men – who told me: ‘I just say that I’m the best at what I do, I boast every chance I get, because that’s what men do.’

At the time, I didn’t believe this was the blueprint for success (I think I scoffed and rolled my eyes) – yet I adopted it out of fear.

I armored up. Raised my prices tenfold. Started speaking in terms of ‘scaling’ and ‘six-figure goals.’ I forced myself to be louder, more aggressive in my marketing, trying to prove something.

But the only thing I was doing was cutting myself off from opportunities and genuine connections.

As an artist, feeling aligned is paramount, and I was anything but aligned.

The real breakthrough came when I stopped seeing my approach as ‘soft’ and started recognizing it as strategic.

I pivoted to Personal Brand photography – a field in which I felt more aligned, joined women’s groups that focused on empowerment and heart-to-heart connection.

Building genuine connections isn’t the opposite of good business – it is good business.

When you focus on creating real relationships while running a solid business, something magical happens. People want to hang out with you, share your work, and talk about you behind your back… in the best possible way.

It turns out, I didn’t need to prove anything. I just needed to trust that my way of doing business – rooted in authenticity and connection – was exactly what my clients were looking for.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

When I first started photographing women over 40, I thought I was capturing their professional image.

What I discovered instead was that I was documenting their liberation – the powerful moment when they decide to stop apologizing for taking up space.

This is the revolution I get to document through my lens: women stepping into their power, refusing to fade into the background.

There’s this unspoken expectation that women should age “gracefully” – a coded word that often means quietly, invisibly.

But here’s what I’m actually seeing: women who are only getting bolder with age. They’re launching businesses, scaling companies, and building communities. They’re not interested in looking 25; they’re interested in feeling powerful and falling in love with who they are.

Something remarkable happens at 40. We stop waiting to be chosen and start being the choice makers. Those “11 lines” between our brows? They’re evidence of lives fully lived, of challenges met head-on. That gray hair? A crown earned through experience, not a flaw to be hidden.

The women I photograph aren’t fighting aging – they’re fighting invisibility.

Women are questioning why they ever believed they needed to play small. They’re deconstructing the patriarchal values they once unknowingly adopted as their own. And they’re doing it together, creating networks of support and strength that ripple through their communities.

When I pick up my camera, I’m not just capturing headshots or profile pictures. I’m documenting a small rebellion.

Every woman who steps in front of my lens and declares “This is me” is pushing back against a culture that would prefer she remain unseen.

These images become declarations: I am here. I am valuable. I am just getting started.

The most powerful moment in every shoot comes when a woman sees herself through my lens – not through the filter of societal’s standards but through the filter of expectations and intentions she created.

That’s when the real transformation happens. That’s when she realizes that aging gracefully isn’t about fading away – it’s about reclaiming her power and burning brighter!

Because here’s what no one tells you about life after 40: we’re done seeking permission.

We’re done with “anti-aging” anything. We’re too busy doing the most intentional work of our lives with the years ahead.

We’re showing up, standing out, making a difference, growing our communities, being compassionate, and quite frankly, not giving a damn about outdated, patriarchal expectations.

This is what aging gracefully really looks like. It’s bold. It’s visible. It’s purposeful. And through my lens, I capture women who aren’t fading – they’re finally coming into focus.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nicoleseguinphotography.com/brandphotos
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleseguinphotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosemo

Image Credits

Credit: Nicole Seguin Photography