We recently connected with Sophia DeSantis and have shared our conversation below.

Sophia, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

I think our current educational system is flawed in many ways. Overall, access to the same level of education for all communities and socioeconomic levels is not there. I was a teacher for 14 years, the first year I taught in a very low income areas, I made my own products and games and supplies. I then moved to a very high performing district, I was given everything and a budget to buy what I needed. The parent support was huge in the higher district. The parents in the low district were farm workers, essential works, and worked as much as possible to make ends meet. They had no time to support the school. They also predominantly did not speak English at all or very little. Yet instead of giving most of the money to these schools, the schools that had support got it. Academics are a main focus for teaching. However, while they are important, we also need to bring into focus life skills. Many students don’t have the support at home to create life skills. Especially those in lower socioeconomic areas. If we could round out the education system so that all students can learn academics but also life skills they need to succeed in life overall, we may see more students entering the work force successfully.

Sophia, 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?

My love for health and fitness started with the way I was raised. My amazing mom somehow found the time to cook delicious homemade meals for us even though she worked full time. She always chased us outside to play instead of letting us sit inside all day. I was active; I ate well.

I first learned how food and mindset could affect your body when my husband and I struggled through fertility to have our first son. The combination of working with a holistic nutritionist, changes in my mindset, along with other pieces to the fertility puzzle helped us finally achieve success when pure medical intervention was not working.

A few years later, my husband was able to use diet changes to help eliminate both his high blood pressure and cholesterol, and no longer takes medication. We work hard to find a balance between nutritious food and a happy mental place because that’s the key to overall health.

I was an elementary school teacher where I taught both special education and first grade for 14 years in all before I decided to stay home with my boys and begin this amazing journey. I loved teaching and now use all I have learned through my undergraduate degree in psychology with a biology emphasis, my special education and general education teaching credentials, my master’s degree in education, and my experience in the classroom to help others on their journey to wellness!

Now I am a food photographer, recipe developer, and health coach. I help brands tell the story and process behind the brand, not just capture the final product. My devotion, excitement, and skill seamlessly blend with the passion that brands bring as we partner to create the end result. I also use the journey I have had with growing my successful business to help others with theirs. I work with business productivity to help others get their business to thrive!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

As my business grew, I started helping others with questions on running a business, tips, support and ideas. After years of casual support I decided to open my services to productivity coaching for business owners. This encompasses all I have learned from my own business and also my health coaching as productivity has to do with a wide variety of areas!

How did you build your audience on social media?

I can honestly say I grew my social media presence organically. I have never paid for followers or services to grow followers. I also don’t participate in things that are only meant to grow followers. I grew it slowly and through authentic engagement with my followers. The things I do are: find what it is my audience wants and comes to me for, test and test again to figure this out, experiment with a variety of types of posts, always get back to people who leave comments and messages, engage with other accounts that speak to me and those that have similar content as this gives you exposure to new audiences, be friendly, show my face, stay active in both my messages, stories and feed. All of this will show who you are and what you represent and bring the people that want to follow you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sophiadesantisphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophiadphotography/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiadesantis/

Image Credits
My head shot was take by Chris Nelson Photography