Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tiffany Maksimowicz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tiffany, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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 wish the push for a college degree would change. First and foremost, due to the cost. Second, because how many of the degrees you can get are relevant to the workplace? Third, how do those degrees really help you grow in your passion or calling. I think there are a lot of us out there that have degrees that we aren’t using, or…we are using slightly but things have changed so much must of it is hardly relevant.

I have a major in business, minor in communications. I now am a wife, mom and professional photographer. I do not regret my education in any way shape or form. I do think the entire experience helped me understand what I wanted to do in the future and continue to grow and learn. However, I do see some things that seem like a waist of time looking back.

Wouldn’t it be wild if we could change majors without penalty (credits not counting or additional cost)? I personally didn’t feel like I needed to change things back then, however, i did have friends that delt with that question. I was laser focused on getting my business degree, working in marketing, and hopefully a career in consumer behavior. I could see the finish line and thought it was attainable, but things change.

I graduated in May of 2009 from University of Northern Colorado, Monfort School of Business. I was one of the lucky ones to get a job during a recession. I started my career in sales, with a fortune 500 company, Kraft Foods. Ground level for sure, stalking Nabisco and Kraft items on the shelves on Colorado grocery store shelves, but it was a start. The path was all laid out on how I could make it to the next level. I did climb. Luckily, also met my husband, and later would become an account manager selling in Foodservice to a quarter of establishments over my state. Then…came the layoff. After 8 years with Kraft, I was apart of a layoff when Heinz bought the company. Reality hit. Although I grew up with the idea that you should be committed and loyal to a company (especially one willing to hire you in a recession), I just got let go, because I had the most tenure on the team.

This all happened one week to the day after My husband and I closed on our first home together. The luxury of a layoff, you have some time to figure out your next steps. This was my turning point. For the first time, I thought more about my interests then what I thought would make me the most money, and what you should do to make yourself more attractive to companies wanting to hire you. When I looked at my life at this point, I thought, what would bring me more joy. I loved all aspects of weddings. See, behind all the “focused, business student” was a girl that loved documenting life via photographs, planning parties, baking cakes, and loving all things love. Well, what fits all of that with my “career background” in food sales? Wedding Magazine Sales. I went to work for a wedding planning website/magazine called mywedding.com. Yet another experience that helped me learn and grew but…for the first time, included something I could truly relate to and was passionate about.

Fast forward to having my first kiddo while there. As I walked out the day I was in labor, the parent company that just bought this small local business was walking in. After going through what I had went through with the last merger and layoff, I decided not to come back. And at that point, took my passion and love for the arts, weddings, party planning, baking and photography to my own business.

Moral of the story, although my story makes sense to me, the steps taken come together. I wonder if there wasn’t a better/faster way to foster a passion, verse the expectation of the education system. I love my path. It lead me to my life I have now in more than one way, but I just wonder why we ever walked away from apprentices and other things that would really help young people find what they are looking for faster, and cheaper then the system we have now.

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 am a momtog, turned photog. I have a passion for photographs. Mostly, hard copy. I grew up with a Grandpa and dad that made sure that every moment was documented. Because of that, I feel like I have the best memory in the world. I want everyone to have that opportunity. I also value being in the photos instead of behind them. This day and age, us mom’s are behind the lens more than we are in front, which is also why I do what I do. Get the entire family in the photograph.

I started my business after having my first daughter. I actually had plans to do a lot more then just photography so my business was called Mak Creations LLC. I did everything from cakes, photos, and personalized gifts, so that I could stay home and raise my daughter. I was encouraged by my newborn photographer to actually work on my photography skills. She was a mom too that was doing this gig of photographing families full time. She became a huge mentor for me. As time went on a realized my passion was more in the photography realm then it was with anything else. The personalized gifts and cakes slowed and the photography business took off. T.Mak Photo + Film became my priority within my LLC.

As a photographer I focus on capturing the moments and the memories. I love showing emotions in images, capturing active play and moments, and stepping back to capture the whole picture while also coming in to get the details. Most call that lifestyle photography. I shoot, indoors, in homes or special places, as well as outdoor in golden hour light. I love it all and don’t really have a niche. I love that I get to see families year after year and grow with them. Sometimes I shoot a wedding, that turns into maternity clients, newborn, and I see them every year thereafter documenting the next milestone of that little babe. Haven’t been doing this long enough yet, but I am sure I will do their high school senior pictures someday too. I have families I have worked with for years and then their parents get the entire family together for a milestone birthday or anniversary and we get to do extended family sessions with the whole gang. I get to go on adventure sessions with some clients, hiking the mountains and just exploring. Some of my favorite sessions are in home sessions, in your own environment where you can be relaxed and just capture a normal Saturday morning or bake cookies with Grandma. It’s all about helping you remember those core memories and documenting them to be able to look back on and eventually pass on to the next generation. and I am here for all of it.

I can’t believe this is actually happening sometimes. That I actually started my own business and it’s changing our family life in the best way. I am my own boss, I get to stay home with our kids and be available for their school and extra curricular actives, it has also allowed us to travel together, and I am becoming such great friends with the clients in my community. It’s truly a gift and I am so grateful. With a husband with a background in finance, he had all our financial goals laid out the day we got engaged, what’s so funny is how he used to talk about me going back to work part time when the kids got to grade school, no longer is that the plan. Together we have set ourselves up for success in ways we didn’t even think were possible and it’s the best feeling.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Something that I wish I knew in the beginning was organization of digital media for my business. I went through a lot of lost files, multiple computers, and email issues. Something I thought would be so easy has actually become one of my only issues in my business. The digital clutter I have accumulated is effecting me in more ways than one. From anxiety of losing files, to stress of adding more to a big mess that stifled my creativity and kept me from wanting to add files to the system.

After going through a data loss in 2020, I went through a big season of learning. I now feel like I have become an expert on the subject. My workflow, file maintenance, and back up is now not an issue. After building my own computer I now have little to no computer issues and keeps things running smoothly as well. I don’t wish these issues on anyone and I wish I had proper file, email and computer set ups in place before I ever got started so the mess of cleaning it all up didn’t hinder my business and creativity so much.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

What helped me build my reputation within my market is authenticity. From the story of my why, to how I got started as a mom first who wanted to document my own kids, I think I relate to my clients very easily. My passion for being real and documenting real moments show in my work and how I show up to work every day. Because of these things, I feel that most of my clients are relaxed and enjoy their experience. From there, the word of mouth takes over and is able to sustain my business. It’s truly a blessing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tmakphotoandfilm.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tmakphotoandfilm/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tmakphotoandfilm/

Image Credits
Headshot of me, as well of me with the bride and groom were taken by Twig and Fig Photography Co https://twigandfigphotography.com/ . The rest are taken by me.