Inspiring Female Entrepreneurs

In honor of Women’s History Month, I’m revisiting a project I did with three amazing female entrepreneurs a while back. In its own way, this little test project ended up inspiring my new Spark Experience.

This project stemmed from my desire to learn from women I admire personally, creatively, and professionally—as well as a desire to shift what it means to be a powerful woman. With that in mind, I asked Eliza, Kris, and Lauren to let me in behind the scenes so I could see how these ladies balance their outward public persona with their at-home self. This is something I was curious about myself as a fellow female entrepreneur. It was fun to explore the face we present to the world juxtaposed against our private, safe selves in our homes and bedrooms.

Eliza is a firecracker fitness entrepreneur who has been building her Kick It By Eliza brand since she was at college at UMass. At twenty-something, she is already making a big impact on the fitness community not just in Boston but at a national level. I was curious to see how this high-energy, dynamic woman stayed centered and inspired and found that, for Eliza, it’s all about meditation and planning ahead. She takes quiet time at home to plan, reflect, and reframe her mindset not only to recover from busy days but to plan for the weeks ahead. What a great contrast between her hectic life and her quiet reflection.

Lauren is a super talented singer-songwriter and model with a deep passion for storytelling. I was so interested to see Lauren through the lens of high fashion as well as the person she is at home—a contemplative, joyful creator making music and writing her heart out. It was a treat to hear some of her newest creations while I photographed her. Lauren has since relocated to Nashville in pursuit of her musical dreams.

Kris, a dear friend of mine from Baltimore, also recently relocated to Nashville to pursue her folk, western, and country music dreams. She also has an expert eye for interior design and unique objects and curates a vintage shop called Esther and Harper. I met her while she was on set doing some prop styling and was impressed with her true artistic soul. Curious to see how she balanced her onstage persona with her captivating at-home personality, I wandered around with Kris for a while to see her reality. I loved exploring her “performer” self and then sitting with her while she composed songs at home and wrote in her diary.

One thing I learned from this project is that for these women, their public and private personas are very closely aligned. After all, it’s so important to be able to trust your intuition, to be genuine and true to yourself, to feel centered in your own world. It’s such a joy to be able to get to know the light inside each person and see the unique individual beyond the public persona.

We women are nuanced, vulnerable, powerful, confident, quiet, risk-takers and homebodies all at once. This is what makes us amazing! These women will go down in history, no doubt—they are already making big waves day after day.