Merging Passion & Profit

Directing on set for Toni Romiti’s “Never Thought” Music Video in Malibu, CA

What happens when work becomes play?

Are you unsatisfied with your day-to-day and looking to make money doing what you LOVE for a living? Let’s start off by throwing the idea that you can’t mix business with pleasure out the window. Business and pleasure do go together. It’s all about synergy.

Stop assuming things aren’t attainable and creating self-imposed boundaries to your success. Our fear of rejection is so strong it stops us from putting anything out there for someone to even reject. There has been so much rejection in my journey. But, when you have the passion for the pursuit- you keep going. 

What does success look like?

My experience as photographer and director let me understand how to turn my life experiences AND PASSION into art and PROFIT while doing so. The first step for turning your passion into a career, you need to figure out what you want your story to be. What does success look like to you? What is a “good life”? Are you living it?

Writing Exercise | Spend some time writing down these questions and answering them to give you clarity. 

I always loved photography and directing. How I ended up having a career in film happened by total accident. At 21 years old, I had an education in psychology and was working as an orthodontist assistant but was taking a video class for fun. Three years later, people started paying me for what I liked doing. So, how did this happen?

On set for a fashion editorial I shot for A Book Of Magazine in Canoga Park, CA

Even though I always loved photography, I thought I needed a day job and that it was never something that could sustain me. I couldn’t see myself having the time and space to turn this into profit. I wanted something reliable, so to take that leap of faith in freelancing full time for the first time took a lot of personal sacrifice. I had to put the life I had for myself on hold to start a new one, which meant cutting out a lot of the luxuries and time I had. I sacrificed stability and began working on shoots whenever I had the free time. Growth will always take struggle. 

We create our own path for success

I decided to go to film school for directing and start an internship I found on craigslist working underneath Celebrity and Fashion Photographer, Irvin Rivera. At the time, I had no idea how life changing this was going to be for me. In fact, my first day at film school I thought about leaving the entire time because my nerves about this major life decision played on my fears and anxieties. But, if I didn’t challenge my fears and expand my world view on what success looks like to me, I would’ve never learned I COULD do what I LOVE for a living. 

We all have to start somewhere, since directing my first short film 4 years ago, I have gone on to work with dozens of artists to bring their music videos to life, directed fashion campaigns, web series’, narrative projects and so many photography projects. But, it all started somewhere. You can see one of my first short films from film school here that is private to the rest of the world.