A personal brand photoshoot is one of my favorite ways to connect with go-getter women who are impacting the world. Many are doing incredible things with their businesses and organizations and need visual help sharing their message. I love collaborating with them by learning more about them and their story and coaching them to take the right risks visually to effectively tell that story. Rachel Barge is an entrepreneur in the marketing space with her company Leap Growth Collective, and her personal consulting practice RachelBarge.com. Rachel helps mission-driven startups and vegan food companies launch their products and grow to hundreds of thousands of customers. She’s got a naturally spunky style and not hiding her personality in these professional photos was the right choice for us to make for her shoot. I loved how she shared her experience on her Facebook post and decided to share it here:

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2019 is becoming a year of “putting myself out there” — starting up my new consulting practice, entering a new industry (alternative meat!), and I’ve had to do something a bit uncomfortable: get headshots done!

I’m not a shy person (as my friends know ), but when it came down to having to truly look in the mirror and decide what I wanted to achieve with headshots, I ended up getting really scared. My hair is a half-brown, half-blonde crazy fried mess. I never style my hair and I haven’t gotten a cut in 9 months. I’m ok with makeup but I wasn’t sure my normal red lipstick would really cut it for headshots. And after working for casual startups (and recently from home), the only clothes I have are wild crazy prints or yoga clothes.

The pressure I felt around making the financial investment in headshots started to really unsettle me, because there would be no way to get my money back if I didn’t like the result. And at the same time, the “best” photo I had myself was a selfie taken in the backseat of a Subaru in New Mexico, where I am wearing a pink beanie. So clearly, an upgrade was needed in order to come across online in the manner I wanted to be perceived.

Whew. That’s a lot of baggage to start with, haha. Thankfully I am truly blessed to have gotten connected to the incredibly talented Praise Santos from ComePlum photography. I had seen her photo work at The Assembly, an all-women’s professional clubhouse that serves as a community space for many badass women in SF (such as Emily Meersand).

Praise recommended I hire a stylist to do my hair and makeup, an idea I immediately rejected (in my head) because I didn’t think I needed the extra expense or help. It turned out to be the smarted thing I did (besides working with Praise), because my stylist Selenia did so much more than just help me look my best on headshot day. She took the time to truly understand me, my goals and my personal style.

When I told her I was planning to go buy some boring “neutral” colored solid shirts and pants for my headshots, she immediately sensed this wasn’t authentic to me and was emphatic that I *had* to stick to my loud, spunky style I have cultivated over the years. She calmed all my fears that I would be “over-the-top,” and promised to be my partner in helping me express myself in a way that would feel authentic, joyful, and yet also professional—at, least, professional in the SF startup world where I work.

I ended up having the headshot day of my dreams, where I got to spend 3 hours getting beautified by Selenia and discussing my outfit choices with her and Praise inside Praise’s studio. A few items I brought “just as inspiration” ended up being the outfits I wore, most notably my favorite Nooworks “Rats” jumpsuit. I got to cruise around Valencia street with Praise, feeling really empowered and the opposite of my fear-based self that had nearly canceled the headshots session only a few days before.

Thank you so much Praise & Selenia for helping me emerge as the bizness b*tch of my dreams!

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