Katherine’s Powerful, Caring Personal Branding Portraits

Katherine is a dear, dear friend of mine and an international music and creative arts teacher. She was in Minnesota for grad school over the summer months and reached out to plan a personal branding session for herself. It had been awhile since she’d had any professional headshots taken, so those needed an update - and she wanted to create a series of portraits that would feel really in-depth, intentional, and true to her teaching personality.  In our planning chat before her session, we touched on how these pictures would fit into her career and vocational goals, and how they would represent her right now as well as where she would like to go.

Katherine shared that she has really come into her own in the last couple of years and at one point in our conversations we chatted about how she feels like she traded the hustle of her early twenties for a more grounded sense of “here I am.” She has worked really hard, had a lot of success with her teaching career, and her and her husband were planning on moving to a new international school in Nigeria. It’s a time in her life with a lot of momentum and potential,  and she was looking for portraits that would show different facets of her personality and that she could use for a number of years.

We talked about Katherine’s “brand” as a teacher. She works daily to create space for her students and to maintain a warm and welcoming atmosphere; she also has a lot of heart for bigger-picture thinking and advocates for her students at administrative levels. She’s thoughtful and reflective, funny and lighthearted, listens intently and speaks intentionally.  We spent time reflecting on her intentions of diligence and excellence in her career and how we wanted to carry that sense of polish, attention to detail, and poise into her photoshoot. 

What all this translated to in terms of Katherine’s portraits was a lovely variety: some portraits  feel warm and welcoming and casual, others are poised and elegant some capture her grounded and caring side, and others represent her as an advocate and feel really capable and powerful.

Katherine brought a fun variety of outfits to help convey the depth of her work and personality and kept her makeup fairly clean with a bright, deep red lip color. Kelsey from The Hair Badassery styled her hair and makeup, keepingher foundation light so her freckles remained visible and emphasizing her natural hair texture with some added wave. 

The powerful portraits of Katherine in her suit are some of my absolute favorites. We wanted these to play a little with power and gender and feel really elegant, poised, and fierce. There is a strong and confident energy about these, and I think they really capture that sense of advocating on behalf of her students and the internal power that she holds.

Katherine, thank you for sharing your powerful intentions with me and choosing to dedicate a day to yourself and your professional brand. You are an inspiring person in so many ways. As your friend I am proud of you everyday, but especially with this portrait process, I loved getting to talk so intentionally with you about your work and your passions. You are amazing.