We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Noha Youssef a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Noha, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
I personally think success is subjective. Success to you or me might be completely different than what success looks like to someone else.
For me, success is finding joy in what you do while being able to make a profit out of it. See, I’ve worked in corporate America for 11 years doing brand and onsite merchandising & marketing. Success at the time for me was doing what I’m told to do the right way, plus some. Relationship building was also very important to me, as I was working with third party vendors and was always collaborating with different teams to get my job done. I loved every aspect of it.
But then, after quitting my job that I loved to be a stay-at-home mom. I realized how important it is, for me personally, to get back in the workforce once I’m able to. After about a year, I started doing part-time work here and there. Then, one Spring morning, I decided I’m buying myself a nice camera and was about to start pursuing something I always loved, photography.
Well, I wish I could explain in words how photography changed my life to the better almost immediately, but I’ll try. I went from knowing absolutely nothing about a professional camera settings or even what editing would entail. Now, I feel extremely comfortable with my camera. I’ve upgraded twice since then to get exactly what I want. I learned and continue to learn new editing techniques to really bring my pictures to life. I started noticing my passion was more in the candid moments than anything, but I like to try it all.
Success is finding joy in what you do from beginning to end. From speaking to clients, brainstorming and planning, implementing the photoshoot, editing, following up with clients and posting on social media and my website. Every single part of my job is truly enjoyable to me. And on top of that, I make a profit. That, in my eyes, is true success!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Noha Youssef. I’m a wife and mom of two beautiful young girls (10 and 4). I am originally from Egypt and migrated to the U.S. with my family back in 1998 with my brothers, twin sister and parents. It was a rough transition, as you can imagine, but we did it and it made us resilient and helped shape us into who we are today!
I went to college at Cleveland State University and graduated with a Marketing degree. Immediately after graduating, I worked at American Greetings for 11 years before quitting my job to stay home when my second child was born. After working full-time for so many years, I realized how much harder it is to actually be a stay-at-home-mom, but I had to do it and was thankful I was able to do it at the time. The truth is, when you’re a stay-at-home-mom, your needs get put last and you get so focused on your kids and home that you can easily forget to take care of yourself. So one day, I picked up a camera and started a new hobby. Well, the rest is history…
What makes you stand out in your current field?
Since I come from a background of brand/marketing, I feel like a very well-rounded photographer. I know what it takes to implement a photo shoot. It’s not just the backdrops, props or staging. There’s the brain-storming on what needs to be done, vision boards/inspiration. There’s also the collaboration with others, especially if I’m working with another business owner. Then there’s follow up for feedback from clients to understand what they liked or didn’t like. Honest feedback is crucial for growth.
Also, my favorite style of photography are more candid shots. So if I get a family session booked, I ask that they choose to do a family activity together so that I can capture that in addition to their staged family photos. There’s nothing more authentic or personal than capturing moments of a family doing an activity together that they usually do in their own home etc. That’s where my passion lies.
Although my passion lies in candid shots, I am currently open to book sessions for senior photos, family photos, maternity, birthday, headshots, and all kinds of events up to 4 hours. I’ve done engagement parties, grand openings, a wedding reception, proposals, etc. I currently don’t take full weddings, because of the hours needed for those events. When my kids are older, I can see me getting into weddings in the future. For now, I do everything else!
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
So far reaching new clients has been almost entirely by word of mouth!
When I’m at an event, I tend to socialize a lot while photographing. It’s SO important for people to be completely themselves for pictures to turn out how I like them, authentic and real. So, I act myself and do what I love. With time, people will either find me via others’ recommendations or they’ll see me at an event and come up and ask for a card. That has been my #1 source of clientele!
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
As mentioned before, I’ve been a full-time employee in corporate America for 11 years, until I quit my job when my second child was born. After some time off, I was ready to do something for me. I picked up a camera and started shooting nature photography. I would go on hikes with my camera. I would take walks with my camera. Until one day, a friend asked if I could take pictures for her and her family. And it all started there. I would even offer small businesses a free one hour shoot just to get my foot in the door, get experience, and get true feedback from clients. I did that for a very short period before I started getting bookings. And the rest is history…
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nohayoussef.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/throughmylens828/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Throughmylens828photography/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nohayoussef/
Image Credits
Through My Lens 828