We recently connected with Samuel Giardina and have shared our conversation below.

Samuel, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

As a trans photographer and designer, I find beauty in capturing meanings and concept with my artwork. My name is Samuel Avery, a 24 year old photographer from Berlin, Connecticut specializing in concept and editorial photography. I started taking photos in 2020, the year I started my transition, and have since then found a passion for raising awareness for the trans community with my work. For 21 years of my life I went by a different name. One that didn’t fit. It wasn’t until I came out as transgender and chose my full name that I knew who I was. Before then everything was kind of just a question mark for me. I chose Samuel Avery for myself and I’ve since then, created Sam Avery Media for others. I want to be able to capture other’s experience’s as well as my own. My brand is meant to spread LGBTQ+ and mental health awareness. There’s way too much hate in this world and if I can use my photography and my designs to somehow make a difference, I’m going to do exactly that. My self portraits are dedicated to raising awareness for transgender, mental health, and LGBTQ topics. My portraits are dedicated to capturing the experience and emotion for people of all identities, sexualities, races, etc. I’ve begun to document the world as well and sell prints because for the first time in my life, I’m experiencing the world as the person I was 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?

So I actually went to college for a business degree in Marketing and ended up discovering my passion for photography once I graduated. I graduated the same year I started my transition so my career path changed the same time my identity was changing. I bought my first official camera in 2020, a Canon EOS 6D and I’ve been using it ever since. For the first time in my life, I was finally comfortable taking pictures of myself. I started by taking self portraits of my journey, so that they could raise awareness for other trans folks going through the same thing. I never really knew where that would take me. I knew I loved capturing emotions and experiences so I started doing that for other people once I got more comfortable. Around that time I got top surgery and during my recovery process I started rebranding myself. What I like the most about my brand, Sam Avery Media, is that not only have I made it into a good resource for the trans community but I’ve used my photography to do so. A large part of what drives my career comes from who I am so I try my best to promote my brand using my self portraits. They’re even included in my apparel which promotes the LGBTQ community as well as my photography. Now, my goal is to continue with my business and reach as many people as I can with my story and my art. I’m proud to be trans but it’s definitely something that’s been extremely hard for me. I want anyone who reads my story to really know what trans looks like. I’m proud of the fact that I’ve taught people things about my community that they would have never known if it weren’t for my art. I’m proud to know that some of my followers have found the strength to come out to their families because of my work. I want people to see what a trans journey really is like, whether you can relate or not, and show that my community is strong and we deserve a lot more respect than what we get.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

My social media presence is essentially how I started my business. I started posting about my trans journey in early 2019 on Tik Tok and soon came out on Instagram in early 2020. Tik Tok allowed for me to have a space that I was comfortable enough to share my story on. I ended up gaining a lot of views and a significant following and I realized that I had the opportunity to educate people with my platform. I started posting my photography a lot more and I started a trans and LGBTQ+ resources blog on my website as well. With my brand, I sell my designs as stickers, clothing, prints, etc. I promote my designs as much as I can on social media. Advice I have for anyone who sells clothing, simply post videos on Tik Tok of you wearing your merch. A simple video of you in your hoodie design could gain thousands of views and you can get a lot of sales that way. Social media has definitely become extremely draining for me, but it’s also my main source of traffic for my business. It’s how I get my photography out there and it’s ultimately how I market myself. It’s definitely a very important marketing tool and anyone who is starting a business, I highly suggest to get on your socials. Posting everyday and being consistent with your posts is the most important. You want to share things that you think your followers can learn from and further share on their own feed to gain more traction. My website is one of the things I’m most proud of, so if I can get anyone on my social media pages to click the link to my website, that’s a win for me.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Ultimately, my whole life changed the day I realized I was transgender. I lived 21 years of my life as a woman, and although I don’t regret a thing, I wish I had realized sooner. Living my life and my childhood as I did shaped me into the man I am today, but it also made my future a lot harder. I went to Bryant University for marketing and thought I was going to graduate working a 9-5 job at some big marketing firm. Senior year of college was the absolute hardest year of my life. I wasn’t sure if I would have the strength to tell my family I wanted to transition or even the strength to transition myself, never-mind know what I wanted for my career anymore. I will vouch for this everyday, but how can you expect 18 year old kids to know what they want to do for their future career if they don’t even know who they are. Clearly, I didn’t even have my gender or sexuality figured out at that age so how was I supposed to know I wanted to run my own photography and design business when I was older? Anyways, Covid-19 hit and it sent everyone at my school home for the rest of the semester, which for me, was a life saver. I ended up starting testosterone a month or two later because I was home and I didn’t have to worry about the horrors of transitioning in school. Otherwise, I probably would’ve waited even longer to start my life. I went back to my old job at a restaurant and actually became manager for a year or so. That job was mentally draining but it gave me the income to start working on my passion, which was photography. I still was unsure of what I wanted to do at that point but I knew I did not want an office job anymore. I grew significantly within that year because I was actually happy. My whole life I hated what I looked like in photos so I often took a lot of pictures of other things and people. I always enjoyed photography but I never really learned I had a true passion for it until that year. I started to try and capture the beauty in life because for the first time I was happy and confident with who I was and with life in general. If I hadn’t transitioned I wouldn’t be where I am today. I started to bring my camera everywhere so I could capture everything. Self portraits became my favorite type of photography to specialize in. A lot of my self portrait photography is inspired by the emotions I’ve experienced throughout my trans journey. I ended up loving portraits of others as well. That’s when I realized I wanted to capture that self-love for others as well. Coming out was a turning point not only for my whole life but for my career as well. Now, my goal is to continue to capture my story and educate and be an advocate for my community while also being able to capture other people’s stories and really make them feel beautiful in their own skin.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.samaverymedia.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sam_giardina/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081947407687
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-giardina2/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/sam_giardina

Image Credits
Samuel Avery Giardina