This past year has definitely had its ups and downs, but mostly ups thank God lol. The beginning of the year I found myself starting to feel lost and very confused about where I was going, and where I wanted to be. I knew I wanted to take my photography to the next step, but I had no idea where to start and how I was going to do it. Working alongside my cousin in Ottawa aloud me to see the ins and outs of what it takes to build a successful brand, but applying it to myself was another story. I found it so much easier to help others achieve their goals and even breaking down the steps to help them start. It was just easier to focus on others than the reality of what I needed to do. I had to do a lot of soul searching and prayer to finally realize that putting myself first for once in my life is okay.
The first step I took was creating a like page on Facebook for my photography, then following a website that I officially launched in February 2015 :), and successfully began the process of creating (The"E"Project). This may be little for others, but huge for me! I've posted here and there on my personal Facebook, but creating a platform that showcases all of my work was just scary to me. When I did it, surprisingly it felt okay. Nothing exploded, volcanoes hadn't erupted, and Idris Elba was still single (in my mind) lol. I know I'm being a tad dramatic, but that's truly how I felt. Looking back, all of those steps lead me to moving back to Toronto and well just kicking ass! A few of my accomplishments are; meeting Emily Soto and attending one of her workshops in Toronto, Interviewing inspirational entrepreneurs for The "E" Project, officially working with an amazing Toronto Blogger (The Fancy Nancy), creating/shooting my first and official fashion editorial with Leila Dey, and last but not least being featured in KROWD Issue 5 (glamour untamed)! I have so much more that I want to accomplish, but I am more than blessed and happy with what I was able to achieve.
Overall, the biggest lesson I have learned is not to allow FEAR to hold me back. Fear is a crutch that will permanently cripple you if you allow it. You will never reach your full potential if you don't try! Stumble and fall as many times as you need to, but ALWAYS get back up until you succeed. Success is not easy, and sometimes you have to fail in order to learn from your mistakes, but in saying that it doesn't mean that you should continue to make the same mistakes over and over. Learn from them and grow! Allow that failure to become your fuel to success.