We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tanya Boggs a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Tanya thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
I was sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for my new doctor to come in to tell me how long I had to live. It was 1992, and I was 21 years old. I thought she was going to tell me I would be dead within 2 years. Instead, when she came in the room, she told me there was a group of people they were studying who were living 15-20 years while having essentially no immune system. They didn’t know why this small group of people was surviving so long, but she believed even thought they wouldn’t necessarily find a cure in my lifetime, that she believed one day they would be able to stop the train on it’s track and it was her job to keep me alive long enough to be there. So I chose right then and there that I would be one of those people.
Just a couple weeks earlier, on a Friday afternoon while at work, I received a phone call from a nurse at a doctor’s office. The woman on the phone told me the doctor wanted to see me to give me the results from my HIV test. I knew then the conversation that awaited me. I immediately headed to the doctor,r where he told me I was HIV positive. I’m not sure which one of us was the most upset, but as he delivered the news and I was crying, I remember saying, “I’ll never get married or have a child.”
The very same night as my diagnosis, I had a first date on my calendar. My father told me I should call and cancel my date. And I remember telling him, “I am going on my date. The day I change the way I live my life is the day I lose this battle.”
It’s hard to believe that was 33 years ago! I am 54 years old, I was married for 20 years, I had a baby who is now 28 years old. During all the time in between, I finished my bachelor’s degree and went on receive my MFA in Photography from SFAI. I have been a gallery artist and a family and children photographer, I taught college for a number of years in Colorado and Charleston, SC. Over time, my business morphed into personal branding photography for lifestyle and marketing images. Most of my clientele is made up of women: female entrepreneurs and business owners, creatives, makers, and women in business.
At the core of all I do, my mission has always been to support and help women build businesses so they can achieve financial independence. Women deserve to be seen, heard, and empowered. And VISIBILITY matters!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I discovered photography in my early 20’s around the time of my diagnosis. I had been a contemporary dancer and went to the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts when it first started. After my freshman year at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU for dance, I took a step back to regroup. I decided I didn’t want to be a dancer, and I didn’t want to go to college without knowing more about what I wanted. So I spent a couple of years in New York in food & beverage. When my family relocated from the West Coast to Boston, I moved from NY to Boston to be closer to them. From there, I spent some time working as a receptionist at a recording studio, then went to work at a management consulting firm and went from an assistant to the training coordinator. During that time, I started taking a night class every semester at Boston College, where I took a photography class and absolutely fell in love and found my next great adventure.
In my pursuit of my role in photography, women have always been at the core. Women don’t show up as much in their family photographs because they are often taking the photos. And when presented with times to be in the photo, I have found they often do not take advantage of that moment. Whether they requested a session for their children and didn’t want to be included or if they were there for their child’s senior portrait, when invited to jump in for a few, they mostly said no. The reasons for saying no are often tied to their insecurities… I need to lose 10 pounds. I don’t look great today, whatever excuse they could dream up. And it always broke my heart. What happens when the day comes and they are no longer around? Your children do not look at you or pictures of you with them and think, “Mom should have lost 10 pounds before she took these photos with us.” Your children will be happy to have the photographs to show them how much they were loved and to remind them how much they love(d) you!
As women, we are so busy taking care of those around us that we love that we put ourselves last, we stay on the sidelines, we document their lives without including ourselves in the narrative. Now that my focus has turned to personal branding photography, when it comes to women in business, they still want to hide from the camera. When what they actually need more of is VISIBILITY! We are responsible for making sure we are marketing ourselves, putting ourselves out into the world. Business is personal! People do business with people, and they want to connect with the people they choose. Our website, or LinkedIn page, our online presence IS our first impression. Make it an impactful impression! Show them who you are.
Research shows that if women scaled their businesses at the same rate as men, it could add $5-8 trillion to the Global Economy. My mission is to help women in business gain visibility so they can grow and scale their businesses successfully. For generations, women have sought financial freedom, whether through MLMs like Amway, Tupperware, and Mary Kay, or by building their own businesses and ventures. Financial independence isn’t just about success; it’s often the key to escaping difficult situations, including abusive relationships. Without it, leaving a marriage or pursuing your dream life can feel impossible. I am committed to helping women close this gap by creating unforgettable images that capture their true essence, help them gain visibility, and achieve financial stability so they can make bold moves and create lives on their own terms.
Beyond my work in helping women tell their stories with photography and create greater visibility, I’m launching a powerful new podcast this April: You Are Here: A Grateful Twist on Life’s Disruptions and Hardest Moments. This show shares inspiring stories of resilience, featuring women who have overcome incredible adversity.
The first episode of the podcast will be a solo show of me telling my own story. One that I thought would be a short life, but 34 years later, I’ve done things and been places I never thought I’d do or see. How we as women recover from the hardships and the cosmic 2×4’s is so important. And I want to tell women’s stories of resiliency so other women can find comfort and inspiration for roads that lead to unexpected and new destinations.
I want to amplify these crucial conversations to encourage others to join the mission to uplift women everywhere!
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
I received my Master of Fine Arts Degree in Photography from SFAI. The original plan for the degree was so that I could teach college. Unfortunately, for my plan, I had attended a conceptual art school, so when I finished, I decided I just wanted to continue to make art and be a gallery artist. I gave that a shot for a while before I found myself frustrated and a little lost. I remember talking to a friend about the kind of photographer I thought I wanted to be when I first discovered photography. And suddenly, i blurted out, “I just want to take pictures and get paid for it!” As I said those words out loud, I also responded to myself, “That’s not that hard. I can do that.” Within a week, i started my business. It has meandered from gallery artist to photographing families and children, moving from CA to SC, and teaching college while I took a break from the business. When I restarted the business a year later in Charleston, it quickly became apparent that I no longer wanted to work in that realm, and I naturally pivoted to working with businesses because that was what a lot of people were wanting and requesting. In CA, I also worked with a lot of women who needed headshots, and some needed personal branding. And the more I did it, the more I fell in love with it. So, it was an easy and natural progression. In effect, I’ve been full-time in photography in some form since 2007. After the mov,e I solely taught photography at 2 colleges, then when I restarted the business, i scaled the teaching back as my business grew. I stopped teaching in 2015.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Since I have been working in the photography world for 25+ years, I think my work speaks for itself. I don’t think my work looks like anyone else’s because I get to know as much as I can about my clients and their brand. I want to know what they do outside of their business, who they are, and what else they bring to the table than what we might think of as “experience in the workplace”. It is my job to help guide them, and it is my job to collaborate with them and capture THEIR vision and style, not mine. I strive to discover what makes up their unique essence so I can capture their true essence in a way that captures attention and helps them grow their business. When people find me online, what I hear a lot of times is, “I saw your website and knew you were the photographer I wanted to work with.” Most of my clients come back time and again, and I get a lot of business from client referrals. Working so closely together in collaboration, I find that most of my clients often feel like friends, and they trust me to capture them in a way that they feel more confident and professional.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tanyaboggs.com
- Instagram: @tanyaboggsphoto @You_Are_Here_Podcast
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TanyaBoggs.Photographer
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanyaboggsphotographer/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TanyaBoggs
