We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Raya Al-Hashmi a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Raya , appreciate you joining us today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?
For four months annually, my partner Miles and I embark on an adventure from New England to warmer destinations worldwide. We dedicate our winters to what some might not classify as a traditional ‘vacation,’ but rather an intentional period of exploration. For us, feeling alive means venturing into unfamiliar territories, discovering places we know nothing about but yearn to explore. Our belief is that by immersing ourselves in diverse cultures, compassion, empathy, and kindness become an intrinsic part of who we are and make us better creatives in business. Throughout this time, we document our daily experiences, capturing video footage for YouTube and shooting photos to share on our social platforms. Engaging with locals and immersing ourselves in their lives, and learning from their stories is an integral part of sustaining and fueling our creative work when we return home. When people discover our lifestyle, they often exhibit a mix of surprise and fascination. The question arises: how do we manage this? To shed light on our journey, this has been a dream. It takes making deliberate choices each day to continue to choose the direction we want to go in. We believe in enjoying the rewards of our hard work now without waiting for traditional retirement. Our philosophy revolves around achieving a balance between work and truly experiencing life. So ‘vacation’ is something that, as a business owner, I find essential to continue showing up as the best I can. What initially seemed like an ambitious dream only materialized when our courage aligned with our aspirations. Dreaming big is just the start; living out those dreams demands bravery. This year, Miles and I are preparing to journey to South Africa, marking this our third consecutive year of taking winters ‘off’. This time allows us to reassess life’s true priorities. Away from consumerism, it provides us with an opportunity to relearn contentment, witnessing how many people lead fulfilling lives with considerably less. It grants us perspective on our privilege, from our ability to build and manage a business to accessing essentials like healthcare, education, and food. As entrepreneurs, we find that travel sustains our work, enriching our experiences and perspectives.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Hey, I’m Raya, a photographer specializing in brand imagery. Some might label me as a commercial photographer. My interest in photography began during my teenage years and deepened while I was studying journalism at university. It was during this period that I came to realize the profound responsibility that photography holds in preserving the essence of the human experience. In 2016, armed with my love for photography and a journalism education, I founded my company.
My mission? To blend journalistic storytelling into commercial photography. When collaborating with brands, I strive to capture a brand’s essence by weaving together the fabric of its culture, spaces, products, services, and most importantly, its people. I center my work around the human experience, believing that brands resonate most powerfully with their audience when we see ourselves reflected within them.
I believe that our passions can evolve into our professions, if we want them to. When we pursue what we consider important in life, we can operate at our fullest potential. On social media, I frequently share my philosophy on this, reminding others of the possibilities that exist.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
Well, my passion project, People of Portsmouth, (https://www.instagram.com/
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
What non-creatives often overlook about being creative is its intricate layers. It’s a blend of greatness and challenge. Being a creative means transforming an abstract idea, a concept, or a vision into something tangible. It involves amalgamating past experiences, education, and inspiration—striving every day to craft something even better. It’s a journey of revealing your heart and mind to others, seeking acceptance while knowing that rejection is always a possibility. In the professional realm, creativity isn’t solely about showing up and executing tasks; it’s about physical, emotional, and social preparation, followed by performance, and finally, infusing additional layers of creativity in post-production. It’s a wonderful yet demanding process, which might explain why some question the cost of creative services. They may not fully grasp the unseen efforts invested in bringing the non-existent into reality. For me, it’s the only way I know to exist.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rayaonassignment.com
- Instagram: @rayaonassignment
- Facebook: Raya on Assignment
- Linkedin: Raya on Assignment
- Twitter: @rayaonasgmt
Image Credits
Miles Woodworth (www.mileswoodworth.com) for my main photo and the rest are my own work.