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

Rebecca, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success comes down to two key ingredients: resilience and a sometime irrational belief in yourself.

First up: resilience. Let’s be real—nobody nails it on their first try. And if they say they did, they’re lying. I read a study successful podcasts that explains this concept very well. 90% of podcasts quit after just three episodes. Of those that stick it out, another 90% quit before episode 20. Translation? The top 1% of podcasts aren’t talented people—they just didn’t quit. Resilience is deceptively simple: you show up, you learn, you try again, and you keep asking good questions to the right people. Is it easy? Absolutely not. But it’s the fuel that gets you through the grind when the odds (and your own doubts) are screaming otherwise.

Then there’s belief. Doing something extraordinary means stepping into territory that’s scary and unpredictable. And oh boy, will the reasons to quit come. But here’s the kicker: when no one else is clapping for you, you have to be your biggest cheerleader. This kind of belief isn’t delusion (okay, maybe a little); it’s faith in the idea that your persistence will pay off. Sure, the journey might be messy and sprinkled with existential crises, but that belief? It’s what drowns out the doubts and keeps you moving forward.

In short: resilience keeps you going, belief keeps you brave, and together? They’ll get you exactly where you’re meant to be.

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! My name is Rebecca Warren, I am the owner and chief photographer of Rebecca Warren Photography. My primary market is weddings, but I also cover other events and senior portraits. My photography is unique because it’s always evolving. I’m constantly trying new things, looking at new tech, researching new techniques – anything that will make my business better today than it was yesterday.

As well, I have a focus on authenticity. I’ll never sell you some thing that’s not true to my core values and beliefs as a photographer. Photography is a relationship, just as much as it is a service, and I want every relationship I build in my business to be real and genuine. My work celebrates the beauty of life, and to do that I need to embrace it in it’s rawest form.

I am most proud of that authenticity piece. I am a photographer and a business owner, but I’m a person first. We’re all people first. That should always be the center focus of anything you do. My life mantra is, “Leave it better than you found it,” and I’m proud to say I work tirelessly to make sure that’s true for not only the clients, but also the partners who help plan and feed and design every aspect of a wedding or event I’m at. I got into this business for service and service is what I’m proud to do.

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

I think life is constantly unlearning what you’ve learned growing up. Most profoundly, I think I had to unlearn the idea that I’m a fixed being – that any of us are fixed beings. I struggled with mental illness for as long as I can remember. For a long time, I had this belief that that was all that my life would be. It would just be doing a job to do a job or doing things just to pass the time. Doing menial tasks with a menial life. I used to hold all these ideas about what I’m capable of, who are my people and who are not, what I meant to do.

Over the years I’ve changed this completely. I’ve learned that the only thing keeping you in a space or in a state is your belief of it. Your conviction that you’re right. Your brain always wants to be right, and it’s the saddest thing in the world because so often we are wrong and we never give ourselves the space to consider that option.

Now? I do believe people can change, and I believe it’s our job to follow the change that lights us up. We’re not meant to do one thing and just get by in life. Life is something to be lived out loud however you choose. If you think a space is not for you, it’s only because you haven’t entered into it yet. Your belief that you can’t do something is the only thing that keeps you from not doing it. Life is too short and in 200 years chances are no one will know who any of us are, so live loudly. Love proudly. Do what you want. And leave the world a little bit better than you found it. :)

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I truly do believe I was put on this earth to celebrate others. The show others that they are worth celebrating. Too many of us are made to feel small and inconsequential. We haven’t accomplished enough or we’re not popular enough or blah blah blah. But no! The simple fact that we are alive is a statistic anomaly. It is mathematically improbable, and yet here we all are on this earth, living in these bodies which do so much for us. Is that not profoundly beautiful? Is that not amazing? Is that not cause for celebration?

That’s my mission and purpose: To spread joy. To breathe positivity. To make you understand the power that is imbued within you from the second you came into existence. All of life is too beautiful to not be celebrated.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rebeccawarrenphoto.com/
• Instagram: @rebeccawarrenphoto
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Rebecca-Warren-Photography/61557468572281/
• Twitter: @rebexxa_w

Image Credits

All Images Rights belong to Rebecca Warren Photography