Building Wealth and Well-Being After Corporate Life with Andre Toro

In this episode of Demystifying Money, Misty Lynch sits down with career-changer Andre Toro to discuss her journey from tech executive to thriving luxury photographer. Discover the pivotal moments, business strategies, and mindset shifts behind Andre's unique path.

• Andre's transition from electrical engineering and big tech (Microsoft, Wayfair) to running her own photography business.
• The life-changing accident that sparked her career pivot and reflections on health, ambition, and work-life balance.
• How Andre built a profitable, luxury photography studio from scratch using her corporate skills and business acumen.
• The importance of setting boundaries, pricing, and upholding a premium brand in creative entrepreneurship.
• Practical advice on scaling a service-based business, diversifying revenue, and incorporating family values and financial education.

Where to find Andre Toro
Website: andretorophotography.com
Instagram: @andretorophotography
Facebook: @andretorophotography

Where to find Misty 

Websites: 

• mistylynch.com
• soundviewfinancialadvisors.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the demist Defying Money podcast, where each week
you will hear unforgettable conversations with expert guests about success, money, business,
and small steps you can take to elevate your life
and wealth. Now here's your host, Misty Lynch.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hello everyone, Thanks so much for joining us for this
episode of Demistifying Money.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
I'm joined by my friend Andre Toro.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
She is a photographer in the Boston area, and she
has a very emotionally rich fine art style that she
calls real art photography. She's blending candid and authentic moments
with classic and timeless aesthetic. I wanted to have her
on the show because I love talking to people who
are career changers. Before turning to photography full time, she
studied electrical engineering in Venezuela and later earned an MBA MIT.

(00:49):
She worked at the tech industry, including places like Microsoft
and Wayfair, but after a major personal wake up call,
she started to reflect and then pivot her career. So
I'm going to talk with her all about these things today. Andrea,
thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
Thank you for the invite, Happy to be here.

Speaker 5 (01:08):
This episode of Demystifying Money with Misty Lynch is proudly
sponsored by Soundview Financial Advisors. Visit www dot Soundview Financial
Advisors dot com to learn more.

Speaker 6 (01:22):
So, I, you know, obviously we're in Massachusetts.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Everybody here knows, mit, and so I'm curious to hear
more about your training and background and working in big
tech and how how you decided to, you know, to
enter that field at first, and then we can get
into some of the career changes you made. But yeah,
I'd love to hear a little bit more about your
story early on in your career and where you thought
you might be when you started out in school.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
Oh yes, definitely not here, Like I would have laughed
if someone would have told me, but to go really back.
So the reason why I picked engineering, that was easy.
I wanted to do engineering, which one. I picked electrical
engineer because it was hardest to get in period. I
was ambitious, I was a nerd, I was a math lover.
And I picked the hardest college back home and the

(02:07):
hardest to get in. So I got in and I
went for it. That would have been mechanical, I would
have probably done that. So I went in and I
loved the experience. I had the time of my life.
And that's where I found my passion for the tech industry. Honestly,
it was just by chance. My career in college was incredible.
I always knew I wanted to go to MIT, so

(02:29):
that was the other thing. I was obsessed with Sloan.
My brother in law was teaching in Sloan since ninety one.
I would come here to the US and sit in
his classes throughout summer, so I was like twelve year
olds and I knew I wanted to go to Sloan.
So engineering school was kind of like the path to
go to my end goal, which was my tea. So
I did that. I ended U Open Sloan, Big dream. Finally,

(02:50):
I could not believe I was sitting in the class
like with all these amazing minds and coming from Venezuela.
That's kind of like the backstory. Not you don't get
sponsorship for visas across industries. So tech was one that
gave me the opportunity to stay in the US, and
I was so happy that I loved tech, and tech
also gave me the doors and opened me the doors.

(03:12):
So I started recruiting really early on. I went into Microsoft.
I did my summer there. I loved it. I took
the job on the spot, like after my internship during
my presentation, they gave me an offer and I said, yes,
I just negotiated the green card. But I was like,
this is it, this is what I want to do.
So we packed our backs, we moved to US to Seattle.
We lived in the West Coast for five years and

(03:34):
I absolutely loved it, and believe it or not, my
moment of change and take in something in a white
canvas started there. So when I joined Microsoft, I was
doing category sorry approach management for the Office Business Group,
so cash cow, huge marketing budget. I was flying in
first class, like flat seating in the second floor of

(03:55):
a plane across obsidiaries in Europe. It was incredible, tons
of money. And then my internship team had spin off
into Microsoft Store dot com and they book coffee with
me because all of the big transitions I've been our
coffee and my manager is like, oh, Andre, we're starting
microsoftore dot com. We're going to sell direct to consumers.
We have no budget only see Balmer believes in US.

(04:18):
We don't have an office. We work in a conference room.
We need a category manager for office. You work in
the Office Business Group. Do you want to join US,
and I was like, oh my god, the career path
here is like so stablished and clear and what should
I do? And I jump ship. I will say yes,
like I don't know what category management is, like I
have no idea, but like I will do it jump

(04:40):
ship and with no manager, no nothing like no concise,
like like path, but like a big goal that we
needed to compete with Best Buy. We needed to sell Office.
We launched Office three sixty five. We did situition for
the first time, so it was incredible. So I got
into e commerce. I loved it. I had my second child.

(05:01):
I launched Windows Tend as well, and I knew I
wanted to come back to Boston. My family's here. I
have an identical twin sister here, my older sister, So
we packed her backs and we come back and I
joined Wayfair wayfer is amazing. I had to pick one vertical,
so I picked site merchandising. Why not there was inside
merchandising for all the lifestyle brands. We launched Perry Gold.

(05:22):
I was doing Jason main Birch Lane incredible, managing a
big team and then over coffee again Kate Golier, who
is now the CFO book coffee with me, and she's like, Andrew,
you're an engineer. I'm like yes, and you are a
people person and I'm like yes again. Do you want
to come and join talent acquisition and lead engineering recruiting
for the whole company? And I'm like, Oh, I don't

(05:42):
know anything about talent acquisition or recruiting, but I would
love to. So I jumped ship for the second time,
knowing nothing about how I needed to do it. But
I had a big goal. We needed to recruit x
amount of engineers and I needed to build a team.
That was the funnest job that I ever had in corporated.
Like it was incredible, incredible, I reported to Kate like

(06:03):
it was like amazing, plus like I just could do
anything that I wanted, Like it was just like a
white canvas. So I was in both instances. I was
doing entrepreneurship within corp in Microsoft as a category manager
and then in Way for building this recruiting team for engineering,
and then running down the stairs as a rush mom
buying some tickets support to all. My life changed forever.

(06:25):
So I jumped going down. I didn't remember there was
a door at the bottom of the stairs. So when
I jump again hide and I hit the door frame
with my face and then bounced back with the stairs
and forward. So I had three concussions in one and
put me in medical leave on the spot. Well, suddenly,
my big team of forty people, my big career, my
big achievement, my goal, personal goal. If you're Venezuelan, I

(06:48):
wanted to be the CEO of like Procter and Gamble,
that's a big corporation back home. But like I wanted
to be corp like that was my dream. So I
was in this path to do it, and suddenly overnight,
mistake blank, I lost my ability to do math. I
couldn't remember the numbers in a row. My mom had
to flow in because I couldn't tie my kids' shoes
or like pull my head down and like. For four

(07:11):
and a half months, I lived in a black room, nothing,
no music, not tivty, no books, no absolutely nothing, just
silence and trying to decompress the brain and doing all
the therapies that Thank god, I live in Lexington and
New conquert Is. It came to Center that is the
concussion center for the NFL, so I had access to
the best therapies, but my life flipped. I put the

(07:33):
first time I had time to think.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Right, because you've been going hard for years, and it
sounds like like you mentioned wanting to be on that
that path to see you're well on your way, and
I mean and also you mentioned a lot of things
that make me think about your brain and what an
asset it was, because not only and they recognized it
too when they said, you're an electric you're an engineer,

(07:57):
and you're a people person.

Speaker 6 (07:59):
You have these skills that are rare, they're hard to find.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
And like that, that value that we put on our
education and our training, I think we think about it,
but when when you.

Speaker 6 (08:09):
Mentioned that an event like that.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
And the in your brain and the impact that these
concussions had and the months of rehab, I don't think
all of us put enough value into the ability for
us to just to do our jobs, to function all
of these things that we kind of take for granted
when it comes to our health. And yeah, and so
that's it's just such an interesting you know, it's it's

(08:36):
such a successful career as such, just such a dream.
It seems like all of those dreams that you set
getting into school, going here and then you know, have.

Speaker 6 (08:45):
An event like that.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
But what I love the most about you and meeting
you last year is that it's not where the story ends.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
Where it begins.

Speaker 6 (08:55):
Yes, that's where it does. That's not where it ends.
And yes, and if it, no one would blame you.
Nobody would say. Of course, you have those you know,
the chronic conditions.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
A lot of people deal with those, and you have children,
You have all of these things going on, like, but
it didn't, it didn't really stop you. So I'd love
to hear more about how having that time really with
nothing you know.

Speaker 4 (09:23):
So much time.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yes, some of the thoughts about what that future was
going to look like for you.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
No, absolutely, And as I was mentioning before, like I
never thought my brain wasn't one to play tricks on me,
Like my dad had heart problems all his life, so
I grew up with that anxiety. Like, but my brain,
my brain was a given, like it was my biggest asset.
I wasn't the best in sports, but I was valedictorian
in college and high school. So that's where all my

(09:50):
pets were. All the eggs were in that basket, and
suddenly the basket got dropped and all the eggs got spilled,
so it's like what do I do now? So it
was horrible. It was really bad. My kids were really
little at that time, so we were like two earn
four sorry yeah, three and five stories, so they were very,
very small. My daughter was getting into elementary school, so
it was a big transition for us, like from going

(10:11):
to daycare to elementary. I always wanted to be a
present mom, and that was the struggle that I had
inside my heart. My mom had to be in a
stay at home mom. I knew I did not want
to be a stay home mom. I'm a career doing person,
the most ambitious with my twin sister, because we're equally
ambitious that I know, like we want to conquer the
world and we truly believe we can because our dad
taught us that you can do anything. And that's a

(10:32):
whole different podcast. But I was like, what am I
going to do? Like the story can end up here.
So I started doing meditation, which I thought it was
impossible in my personality. My neurologies is like Andrew, you
have six weeks to prove me that the headaches are
going to go down, because I would end up in
the yar to get esteroids to bring the swelling down,
or I put you on medication, and the list of

(10:53):
the side effects of the medications are like I don't
always say okay, I'll start meditating, like I don't want
to go into that route. So through meditation it became clear,
crystal clear. And I don't know what happened or how,
but one day I told my husband, oh, wholesale, do
you know what I'm going to be quitting. I want
to start my photography business. And he said, oh, fabulous, Yeah,

(11:16):
go for it. And let me tell you that my
income at that time was the biggest income in my house.
We were doll income, like two kids dole income, but
I was like fifty percent of it. And he said,
go for it. I've seen you grow businesses from the
ground up in Microsoft and Wayfair, and I've been waiting
my whole life for you to say this, but we've
never talked about it because I had no ambition to

(11:38):
be an entrepreneur. And funny enough, I went to MIT
and I didn't take the entrepreneurship track. I took the
marketing and corporate track because I was going to be
CEO or CFO or CMO. So it was not something
in the books for me or in my cards. No
one in my family. Well, my dad was a small
business owner, but he had me when he was forty eight,

(11:59):
so he was retired. When I was growing up, he
was playing golf. So it's not that I saw that
hustle in my DNA, but he' said, yeah, go for it.
So it became cristial clear when my husband, my biggest
partner in lives. Yes, it took me twenty four hours, mister,
like I decided. I talked in the morning, and that
day I quit. I call Kate and John Mollick and

(12:20):
my Cito, and I cried. I cried with Kate when
I went in because I loved my job. I wasn't
quitting because I didn't like it. It's because I wanted something different,
a different lifestyle. I wanted freedom of time, I want
freedom of money. I wanted so much more than what
corporate could give me. And it was this big transition
in life that my kid was getting in elementary, so

(12:40):
I was like, what time am I going to get home,
Like seven pm to put her to bed, And so
it was just like the stars yours aligned time wise.
The five year old with my kid, my concussion, this
big crisis in my life, and I called her and
I cried. I quit And the next day, well, I
talked to my mom. Mom is like, are you sure?

Speaker 6 (13:01):
Are you getting.

Speaker 4 (13:04):
My husband is like, yes, go Fred, We've got this.
And the only thing that he said is that you
cannot be an entrepreneur and have the Rockefeller heart because
I cannot leave the same lifestyle in the beginning because
we're going to have half the income. So if you're
taking road trips and not traveling internationally with the kids
twice a year, I'm only And I was like, fine.

(13:24):
Change of lifestyle for my Mommy was a little bit
harder because I, as Venezuelan's I didn't come with a
fortune in my back like now, oh, like my dad
invested and my mom in education. That was like the
biggest thing they gave us. It's like, no one can
take education from you. So that was it. It wasn't
the millions, it was education. So don't here, I am

(13:44):
quitting a reliable job. So for me, it was a
little like a harder peel to swallow. And now I
talked to my mom and I'm an open books with
my numbers like my mom has known my revenue income
like for the past seven years and now we love
about it. And she's like, I was nervous. I took
her to the bank with me to open the bank account.

(14:06):
She was like friendly, and I knew I just wanted
to do it, and I told her, Mom, this is
going to work out. There's no way it's not going
to work out. It was never an option that it
was not going to be successful, and I knew it
from the beginning. But I knew it was going to
be hard work. And that's where the story begne.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
And I think a lot of people, you know, especially
when you mentioned like families that have that high value
on education and a lot of client and a lot
of people I've talked to that maybe they start out
on one path. And I've spoken to other people on
the podcast before who help people who are transitioning from
I thought I was going to do this, and now
I'm doing something completely different, entrepreneurship, something creative, maybe something

(14:41):
that wouldn't have required that expensive education or training, and
they feel that sense of guilt or that sense of
you know, and maybe that's what maybe that's what Mom
initially was thinking was like.

Speaker 6 (14:50):
But wait, no, we did all of this to get
you here. What are we doing changing direction?

Speaker 2 (14:54):
But I don't believe that any of the education, or
the training or the work experience people have goes to waste.
I believe that it all can be very, very helpful
and useful in the future, and especially in a in entrepreneurship,
no matter what it is you're doing. But there might
be a lot of photographers out there are people who
love photography or thinking about a business that might think, well,

(15:16):
that's never gonna make Microsoft money.

Speaker 4 (15:19):
Oh yeah, exactly and year all the time. And to
be completely honest, I did lose my identity, mystic because
my job had always defined me, my college where I
go to school, the size of my team, my salary,
and suddenly I lost it all. So like for three months,
I couldn't leave my house because I couldn't answer the
question what do you do? I went from being director

(15:40):
to a photographer. Like it was horrible. On the first client,
you won't believe it. The first plant that I took
there was a family who lives in the same town.
The guy happened to went too Sloan. The wife contacted
me was Christmas. Because I quit my job in October
and I started my business the next day. And in November,
I'm shooting for Christmas and I'm sitting there and the
guy's like, what do you want to Sloan and you're

(16:01):
just a photographer. It broke my soul. I got to
my carton, stopped crying. I was like, what my sister
is like, next time you tell him by choice? It
was a choice. It was not because anything else. So
it was hard. But once it clicked and I said,
you know what, all of this education, it's going to
be a differentiator and this is going to make ten

(16:22):
X and it's going to be faster. So the first
thing that I did is like what do you do
in Cork? You do education first? Right? So I was like,
why photography? That's a whole different story to classes. While
I was working at Microsoft, and I always joke with
my husband when I'm old and retired, I'm going to
be a photographer. And suddenly, why not make my drink
through Now I'm thirty five and I have better nies

(16:44):
than when I'm seventy, So like, let's do it now.
So I flew to Panama. I talked to my husband
in Ottour and by the end of November, I was
in a plane to Panama to like mentor under the
most famous Columbian photographer that happened to be in Panama
do workshop. I spend a week in Panama and then
I find a mentor to do all the poetry and

(17:05):
like art history of photography and I needed to specialize
in the beginning, and I said, you know what, I
want to be a family photography. That that's what my
party that is at that's going to be and that's
where I started. So everything that you do in corporate
I was doing here. So I was like looking for
a location, looking for systems like running with a Ferrari
from the get go and not waiting to be a

(17:25):
Ferraric to run with it. Yes, I think that's the
difference from the approach that I was running a business.
It just happened to be in photography, and I wasn't
a photographer. I was a small business owner that was
running a photography studio.

Speaker 6 (17:38):
And that's the difference.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
A lot of times people go from a hobby to
then trying to you know, finding something they really love.
They're passionate, but they don't know how to turn it
into a business. They don't know how to profit or
to look at the business and of it and scalability,
revenue goes all of those things.

Speaker 6 (17:54):
So you almost want the reverse where you said this
is I.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
Am, I'm you know, I'm a business owner and you
had a business mindset and then you learned, you got
the mentorship, you got the skills.

Speaker 4 (18:06):
And you are yes, yes, I had no clients, Missie,
Like when I started this business. It's not that I
slowly grew it and then I jumped. I had no
one I was shooting at that time. My twin sister,
her family and all her dentist friends. Like my portfolio
were like four people and that was it. So yes,
I had nothing. I had to build it from scratch.

(18:26):
But I told myself and I told my husband, I
give me five years. My students going to be bigger
than my wayfirst arry and that was my goal because
one of the lifestyle I did not That's the other
thing that people don't understand. They thought I was going
to sacrifice the income for the lifestyle. And I was
like to oh, you're going to be a stay at
home mom. No, no, you're not understanding. Now, I'm going

(18:47):
to be a photographer and I'm going to grow these
to its ass where I'm doing now in wayfair. But
people thought that, oh, she's just quit to be a mom. No, no, no,
I'm going to be able to do both. I'm going
to be a friend and mom with the lifestyle afreidom
time and I'm going to build these So that was
my ultimate goal, to almost prove everyone wrong, like you
can actually use the arts and make tons of money

(19:10):
and have the lifestyle of your dreams.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yes, And I think that's it's so it's refreshing to
hear that. I think a lot of times people think
you have to give up one for the other. I
don't believe that's true. But I remember feeling the same
way when I left corporate that all I wanted to
do was replace this salary that I had here. And
you know, it's I can't underestimate the value of having
a partner that believes in you. Yeah, because that knowing

(19:35):
I've seen you do this, I know you're capable of it.
You've never not done anything you've set out to do,
so sure versus fear. Yeah, and then like feeling like, oh,
I'm going to let everybody down, you know, So having
that support and being able to actually invest now in
something new and spend more money probably year one, to
try to get train and figure it out, do the

(19:58):
coaching that all of those things, and be able to then,
you know, a few years later, be where you're at.
It's it's something that I think more people. I think
that it's important to share those stories. And I'm glad
that you're here talking about that now because not only
did you have to you know, build this business, like
you said, from having a client couple of clients you know,

(20:20):
photos to where you are today. So tell me more
about your business today and the families and the people
that you serve with your photography business.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
Absolutely, So my big like inflection point happened in twenty
twenty three. Up until the first I would say three years,
I was shooting mostly outdoors, which was awesome, and in Boston,
the foliage here is incredible. This prime time, everyone is
thinking about family photos. So it all started with for
the holiday cards, right, and now I call it bigy
on the holiday cards. Like I don't even know if

(20:49):
my families do holiday cards because they don't find me
for that purpose. But it took me a while to
find my ideal clientele. So as of now, like I'm
happy to say that fifty percent of my income is
family portraits and fifty percent of my income is headshets
and personal branding. So that's a dream, an absolute dream,
because it's not seasonal anymore. I was doing like eighty

(21:11):
percent of my income in Q four and now I
have a revenue that is a twelve month I have
a physical studio in downtown Lexington in a prime location
which is absolutely beautiful with the most natural light, I
can shoot twelve month there, right, So I'm able to
build like a machine that is sustainable, that is absolutely scalable,
and now with a fifty fifty split, it's incredible. And

(21:33):
I started one hundred percent outdoors and right now I
just pull the numbers at the end of the year
and I did sixty percent in studio. So the fact
that only forty percent of my income is outdoors, it's
sueet as can, right, because I'm not well dependent.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
Right, because not even I mean being in New England,
You're right.

Speaker 6 (21:53):
Q four is when everyone wants to fall.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
The family photos or beautiful media in the summer. Nobody
wants a picture of anything outside. In Q one, I
mean most people might not even want their photo taken
in Key one unless they need headshots, unless they need
something different because we're pale, we are you know, everything
is dry and cold, and I think.

Speaker 4 (22:13):
You know what would be different because the family is
a want like and that's where the art meets the
business and the brain. It's like, I will never let
the artistic go go because I was the main reason
I started this. That's why it's the poetry, it's the
real art. Photography. Fine art is as a mom, I
wanted to freeze time and I want to do that
for every single kind that I meet. Now Matt with

(22:35):
fine art, like if people find me and then they
end up printing wal art right like these are legacy brains,
these are passingitions. These are kids that had a crappyay
in school, they got bullied, and then they could come
home and they see theirselves in the walls and they remember.
It's a reassurance that you're loved. But like the art
and the confident booster that the fine art does for

(22:56):
my family side is something that I will never let go.
And I'm sure happy with my fifty percent split. It
the fact that I have my studio, I can shoot
people in studios, So that's all I want. It's a desire.
People might not find me because they want a big
picture on the walls. They might find about it later
on and say why not, Like I didn't know people
do this, right, so they go that route. So that's
a want, But the headshot is a need. So people

(23:19):
need hatshots, want them like you need them. So those
are the ones that actually I can scale really hard,
and those are the ones I do Google ads for, right.
I don't do ads for family, like it's the ROI
is not there, But I do adds for hatshots, right
because people going to to Google like best footaller for
for hatshets. I need hatchets whatever it is. So that's

(23:41):
what I go after. And I was able to scale
and double the size of my studio by adding a
genre and a revenue stream that is not weather dependent
and it's not a want but I need. So now
it's a perfect combination of like half and half. And
the third avenue that I started last year that is
another like genre that I expanded to was corporate headshots.
So I miss corporate right like I want it, like

(24:04):
it's just in my DNA. So I had the time
of my life going to like Big Farmers last year
and like setting up my whole studio, bringing my glum
squad because every single session we do includes hair and makeup.
That's a given. Like that's just like there's no way
it's not because the experience is white glove, it's luxurious,
it's campering. So all these people suddenly in format were

(24:25):
like thrilled, what we have a glum squad. And then
all those people have families, so they had the time
of their life getting headshots that they normally hate when
you just hatand in a line and people take your headshots.
Now they have these ten minutes for yourself to feel
like a superhero and then wow, I want to do
family photos to I was like, wow, I should be
targeting like at least eight or ten like corporate clients

(24:48):
a year, Like that's good math, Like that's I know
that too.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
I think even as a corporate benefit, you know, I
definitely had like one experience where I early in corporate
and we had to go to the break room and
one of the admins was taking our pictures with like
her phone and she kept she took my peers like
three times, and she goes, she looks at it, and
she goes, I don't understand you're you're you're good looking
in real life.

Speaker 6 (25:13):
And I was like, how bad is this photo?

Speaker 2 (25:15):
And I wanted to cry because I was like, I'm
just not a photogenic person.

Speaker 6 (25:18):
I'm sorry. And it was just awful.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
I can't imagine if they said here's the glam squad,
here's the lighting and the people. I would feel like
my company like gave us this nice, like something like
very valuable and.

Speaker 6 (25:33):
Something that we felt good about. How awful.

Speaker 4 (25:39):
Yeah, the eadhired me. There was a referral because I
had done family photos for an employee and they were
looking for headshots and everyone hated the headshots. And she said,
let's bring Andrew and I was I was so much
more expensive than the regular like hatchets, and they say, like,
you know what, let's bring her on. Well, I've been
back three times. The boost morale of it, it's just incredible.

(26:03):
And I brought my whole studio. It's like you're not
in the Lexington studio, like my studio came to you.
Like all the lighting, the lights that props, the chairs,
the make of the experience, the music, like everything the
whole under torophotography comes to you. So it's been a hit,
and I was like, you know what, that's the next step.
I'm out of copret that it might not live in
my website, but it's another revenue stream, so it's not

(26:25):
it's just adding adding things to the past.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
So it's so smart and it says where I think
all of your your business, you're training like all of this,
It makes so much sense. And I think that also
you know, mentioning the studio that you have in the
space and being able to not be seasonal, but also
your your business could get quite expensive, say studio wise,
So how do you make sure that with equipment, I know,

(26:50):
all of the tools and the things that you use
to make your business successful can again become you know,
like some people I talk to who maybe have you know,
these business says that could become very expensive if you
keep buying the next greatest new thing or the space
and then their margins are terrible. So how do you
always kind of keep that focus of your profit and

(27:11):
your net versus the gross income that's coming in so
that you're keeping more of it for yourself and your family.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
Yeah, that's my favorite question ever. And I'm obsessed with
the net, Like it's all the money that you put
in your pocket that is the legacy, well for your family,
right for your kids, for college, for that investment. Right.
So the other one is a vanity number. So I
do have tons of friends that run really successful studios
like you would not even think about, Like you cannot
imagine that you can run such an amazing gross revenue

(27:42):
studio in the US. Like it's when I share numbers
with people, people cannot put them together. It's like, are
you kidding me? Like is it true? Like, yeah, it
is true, but these people not necessarily run lean studios.
So and I talk in the car, so my kids
know all of my numbers, like every single month, I
know exactly how much. They know the ins and outs,
the growth over year. We talk about mix this and that.

(28:04):
So I'm driving, I was like, oh, remember this ex
fraend they don't know names. Oh she landed last year
in Acts?

Speaker 3 (28:10):
WHOA Mom?

Speaker 4 (28:11):
We're not there yet, Like I know, I know, but
I don't want to sacrifice my life self. So that's
gonna be mom, like in seven years. And I close
my gear in Acts, WHOA Mom? That's super cool too,
but like it's not like her revenue. And I'm like, yeah,
but you know what her net is and they do
the math. You know what my net is and they
do the math. Mom, she probably just like forty k

(28:35):
more than you, and she worked like four times, and
I was like, yes, sweety, because like one is a
vanity number. Like it's great to say I run an
ex studio, but if you're not lean, it's you're just
basically working to pay others, right, So there's a way
to actually make it successful. So for me, it's like,
how do I differentiate with the pack which shouldn't burner photographers?

(28:57):
Like everyone under the moon is a photographer. In Boson,
you open a window under a rock, you find photographers.
So I was like, I just need another lane. I
need to be completely different. So I decided to elevate
my brand from the beginning and call it luxury. And
now it's super easy because it's been seven years and
I can own the room and I enter and I

(29:17):
truly believe it. But in the beginning, I was like
faking it until I made it. And I decided to
be luxury from day one, and I think that's the
difference with people. People wait to be great to increase
prices and make it luxury. I decided to go luxury
from the get go. And I was competing with photographers
who were like twenty years older that had the legacy,
or like twenty years old that are like we're just

(29:40):
turning out, that have been doing this for ten years.
So it was like really hard, but I decided to
become luxury. So I do white gloves. So every single client,
either personal branding or family, get a consultation. If it's family,
I come to your house. Literally, I come to you
and we talk about the outfits, the styling, the color palette.
We go to your closets and we pick the outfits.

(30:02):
I put them in the bed and I do all
the hardcore people do not book family photos because they
don't know what to wear. Take that stress out. I'll
pick for you. Ah, and then we walk around your house. Okay,
you're gonna have these beautiful memories, fine art. How do
are you want to enjoy them? Oh? Maybe in this wall. Okay,
let's look at the interior design in this room. Like
for you, for example, they're still in the bag. So

(30:23):
if I'm actually dressing you I'm gonna be dressing you
in a color tones that match aesthetics of the room,
so I might not dress you right actually because if
in the walls huge contrast, I want you to like
blearn in with the homely course. So like the outfits
are picked with a purpose, the location, if it's shooting outdoors,

(30:44):
is picked with a purpose. The color palette of my
whole studio is picked with purpose to resonate with your
interior design. So I'm a designer, I'm a psychologist, I'm
a shopper, I'm like a stylist. I'm doing all of
this for you. Then did they come here and makeup?
If you're doing family, I send my hair, it comes
to your house. Do you want to get the extra penprint?
Come to the salon across the street. Do you get

(31:04):
the whole experience? So we take care of all the
scheduling of for you. You just have to show up and
be happy that day. That's the only thing.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, And I love I think that's great because I
notice even too, with some photographers, I can tell that
it's their photo and the people are replaceable because it's
their layout, their color, all of that, and it looks
the same kind of or similar for everybody, and so
it sounds like that boutique experience where it's very curated
for that family or that person. I think it's so
smart and I love the fact that you just use

(31:36):
luxury right out the gate because no one's going to
actually give you permission or tell you are a luxury photographer.

Speaker 6 (31:41):
Now, yeah, nobody knows that.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
There is no there is no like I don't know
officer that comes out and says, yes.

Speaker 6 (31:47):
Now you are unary. It's not it doesn't happen.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
I remember when I first started, you know, leaving corporate,
and I was quoted in a magazine and somebody said,
mister Lynch financial expert.

Speaker 6 (31:58):
And I was like, well, there you go. We're gonna.

Speaker 4 (32:04):
Like from the beginning, I was like, this is the
line I want to go after it. I go, yeah,
this is it. But I didn't wait for someone to
tell me myself as a luxury photographer. And I was like,
what else can I do? So I'm going to have
these beautiful prints to the installation. In the beginning, like
the wal art would live in the door in the

(32:24):
floor like for two years, and then the kids were
like older and they never put the wall wart up,
and I was like, oh no, no, no, no, this is
not going to happen. Like World Art installation. I have
a professional art installer who works with me, and we
go to our clients home to do the installation. And
you know what, when I'm installing, I am not installing.
I'm entertaining the client and I'm networking do you have

(32:44):
a friends that might be interested in this idea? And
then I get a referral or it's another touch point,
high touch point for my clients, and then that's it.
We take the boxes and within like forty minutes, even
memory walls are up. Have you been doing photos for
years and you never made it up? Send them all.
We'll do the curation, we'll do the black and white retouching,
and we'll do a whole memory well, so from like

(33:05):
single frames to like a whole collash, we take care
of it so it's beautiful for my branding. It's like, okay,
you don't have time for me to come to you
or like put your outfits like you, it be assumed
super time efficient. And then the ordering appointment happened right
after the photoshoot, so you just give me two and
a half hours three hours, I'll be all your marketing portfolio,
like you walk away out of my student and wan

(33:26):
exactly what you're getting. And then we edit those fine
art but we pick the outfits and we deposing everything
based on your brand. We do a whole brand audit,
so I put my mity hat on and we spend
twenty minutes looking at all your marketing channels. Okay, what
is it that we're going to be working on? So
from the brand audit to like giving you the images,
like it's the most time efficient because time is money, right,

(33:48):
so I want to give you all the time back
and then run with it for you. So it's like
seamless and white glove.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
That's amazing And I think that that execution and really
going from like going into your closet to pick things
out too literally getting it hung on your wall, that experience,
because how many places could you lose somebody because oh yeah,
we never ordered anything, or we never like we didn't
do anything, or we decided not to put them up.
You definitely make the process it does sound luxury. You

(34:16):
do kind of take them from the beginning to the
end where when people think back about that experience, how
would they not refer someone to you, yes, exactly after
that treatment. I mean, it just would be you help
them through the whole step where Actually, and I think
people in their minds would love to have these family
portraits done or do the wall like you're talking about,

(34:38):
but then they're like, well, I'd need to execute all
these things, and then it just as.

Speaker 4 (34:42):
Well it doesn't make it to the top of the
priority list. And like for even that reason that every
single experience is customized to you missing and your family.
I don't have pricing in my website and the reason
why I don't have pricing is that I truly have
no idea how much you're going to invest because it
depends on your goals, your dreams, and we're going to
be building for you. So no one can book on

(35:04):
my website like everyone gets a discovery call, right, because
there's no way of me knowing until I really hear
first of all, a really good match, and then what
is it that you want and what vision can we
bring to life based on that, and then I can
give you an estimate and a price range for that.
But there's no pricing in my website, and some photographers
go crazy. How do you not have like pricing. I

(35:27):
was like, because I honestly do not know. I have
clients su spand X, and I have clients that spend
te X that right, So there's a whole range and
you still get the same luxury experience. So if you're
a small spender or like my massive superspendor, the experience
is white glove, King and Queen. So like that's something
that it doesn't matter the spand like the experience is

(35:49):
always the absolute best because it's like unreasonable hospitalities like
above and beyond what you even expect. That it was
possible for both branding and family.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
Yes, And I think a lot of times people say, oh,
you have to have your pricing on your website for
a lot of businesses. And some people say, oh, but
what if that turns people away? And I feel like,
if you're having that call with people, and I see
how people spend money all day long, this is what
I do if somebody really want something. I've seen people
find money for that Taylor Swip concert ticket. I've seen

(36:20):
people find money for the experience like you're providing because
it it matters to them and they want it, and
you you really, you really don't know unless you talk
to people, because I think people always assume, oh, it's
too expensive, or I'm going to do this or only this.

Speaker 6 (36:36):
You'd be surprised. For certain certain things. There's there's a
value to it.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
And for some people those memories that their family are priceless,
they're everything.

Speaker 4 (36:47):
And that's a thing people say, Oh, Andrew, but I
have no access to the multimillionaires in the Boston are well,
you know what, me, neither or Venezuelan. So like even
an email group was able to build this business, then
you english is your first life what she's going to
be easier, but you know what, it's priorities. Like my
multimillionaire clients might not be my biggest suspenders because they

(37:07):
might not put either branding for their businesses or family
memories in the top of the list. And they might
spend three thousand dollars in a pair of shoes, like
you know what I mean. And then one of my
best clients, who is absolutely incredible, you would never know
that she expects she spends so much every single year,
but she said, you know what, andre it for me?

(37:28):
This is my gift exited for me, this is my legacy.
And like I planned my budget yearly with you on it,
like you have a category in our excel because we
are coming back to you every single year. So it
all depends on your priorities, right, And you can't be
the money police because you're not your ideal client. So
you might not be able to afford yourself and that's fine.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
But more your friends might not hire you, or you
might not be like your your friends and family and
closest friends.

Speaker 6 (37:54):
And you're like, that's crazy. I wouldn't do that.

Speaker 4 (37:55):
That's okay, they don't and you know, and you know what,
like ninety nine cent of my clients are not from
where I am and are not in my circle, and
that's fine and they know it. So and I don't discount.
That's the other thing. Either you pay full price or
I give it for free. Those are my two categories.
There's no discounts ever, so it's not that someone is
getting a discount and you're not. No one gets a discount.

(38:17):
And my friends have known from the beginning, so like,
I don't discount, Like this is my livelihood. Like you
don't go to a lawyer and say, oh, we're friends,
can't you do this contract for free? Now? You pay
for price, so why the art has to be different, right,
So like my really good friends get it for free.
My sister the best, she gets four sessions a year,

(38:38):
and then my kids get free orthodontics, so.

Speaker 6 (38:39):
We're yeah, there you go.

Speaker 4 (38:45):
Exactly. So over the years will be fine. But like
I mean it, like, don't discount it that I do
not hold your ground. And it's hard because when you
don't have clients, you think discounting is the way to go.
But from the beginning, my husband runs sales organizations. He
used to work for Hobspot now Data Dog, Big Sales,
he was liking the no discount from the beginning, and
I hold my ground. And in the beginning it's like, oh,

(39:06):
let me discount, do not discount, and it's hard not to.
But then it's a normal effect, right, So imcordantly and
then hold your ground because the market will take time
to adjust and your ideal kind will will find you
and then a mix between like digital marketing in person
at working and then referrals and repeats and then the
ball gets going. So you just have to like trust

(39:27):
the process and problem has a business.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
Yeah, And I think that that's so it's so important
a few things.

Speaker 6 (39:33):
You know that you mentioned out of the gate, you
were a luxury brand.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Out of the gate, you were not discounting you were
you were quoting people their prices based on the amount
of work that it was going to take and the
time and all of that. And I think that's so
that's so good to hear because a lot of times
people who are starting out in business feel like, but
nobody knows who I am. I have to be the cheapest,
I have to be the most accessible. I have to be,
you know, And then that leads to you're still busy,

(39:58):
you're working really hard, but you're burnt out, you have
clients that are not ideal clients, and then your you know,
your time is gone. So I think it's so smart
to actually start out with that where you want to be, like,
how would you act if you were a fully booked photographer?
How would you act if you were if you did
not have to worry about losing a client? And if
you can act from that space before you're there, it's

(40:22):
so helpful because you don't have to then fire clients,
you don't have to then get rid of all of this,
you know, work that you've taken on or people that
you'd worked with that are like, hey, where's this price
go up? Where's my deal? When you're not offering it anymore.
So it's hard to do, but it's just such a
smart way to become an entrepreneur or actually stay.

Speaker 4 (40:44):
Like you can't add out of scarcity, like you have
to have an abundant mindset. Yes, And then it's lonely
at the top. It is lonely at the top. There's
less competition at the top, believe it or not, Like
it's a competition. It's a price competition going down, but
it's lonely as tough, and people ask me, like, who's
your competition in Boston? I have no idea. I have blunderstand.

(41:08):
I don't even know, Like I know there's plenty of
photographers and I talk to them all the time, but
I have no idea, literally no idea, because it doesn't matter. Right,
building is unique, it's custom right, so I don't compare
to each other, and it's fine. And I decided, And
it was really hard for people who have been in
the industry for years. And suddenly Andrew came along Andre,

(41:31):
like who's Andre? And I remember, like, what shifted my business?
Three X was a conversation I had with another photographer
who was from Mexico who I love her over dinner
in holiday of twenty twenty two. She said something during
dinner that she doesn't recall saying, and it changed my life.
And I was like, what is that even a possibility?

(41:52):
She's like sure. Well I got home and I was like,
how do you X, Y and Z. I found a class,
I found a course. Within a week, I had done
them all, and starting January twenty twenty three, I had
changed my whole business plan. Whatsoever. I had put the
other one in the trush because my peers were not
photographers or all engineers doctors, like like I had not

(42:13):
you don't know what you don't know basically, So when
someone gave me the idea, I was like, holy what come?
Only I had no idea this was even a possibility.
And now every single photographer that I hang out with
a running business just like mine. But like four years ago,
I didn't even know this existed, right or it was
a possibility. And this photographer is like what I said?

Speaker 7 (42:35):
Yes, I was like, yes, you change my life, so
you never know remember saying anything. No, she doesn't, And
I think that's so, And I love that you got
that it's from somebody that you you know and my
respected I love the thought that there's not really competition.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
I don't go around looking at other financial advisors. I'm
too I don't like I feel like you're right. There
is a certain point where if you're busy looking at
what everybody else is doing and comparing yourself to them,
like there's a lot there's so how many people are
that are out there that need help or.

Speaker 6 (43:04):
Need but it's endless.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
So I feel like that that looking at the competition
in that way, it's not helpful.

Speaker 6 (43:11):
It certainly doesn't lead to expansive growth.

Speaker 4 (43:14):
No, and then we can all rise to the top,
like there's enough people in the world for all of
us to rise like and then if you're able to
find a passion and make it a full time job,
I feel the luckiest. Like sometimes I'm overwale and my
husband's like, do you know, do you have the dream lifestyle?
Like you? I am the default parent at home and
my photographer friends can't believe it because like they are not.

(43:37):
This is super funny, Like all of my peers, their
spouses are stay at home parents, all of them. My
spouse has a super awesome job who's not living it,
so like we both have like high jobs, but I
am the default parent. Like I take them to the pediatricians,
I do drop off, I do pick up, I drive
to Karate, all of the activities, like I know all

(43:57):
the school drama. Like I am not sacrificing that. There
is a way of having the freedom of time of
the lifestyle. I go to pil at this twice a week,
right or shine. It's booked into my schedule like a client,
and I don't move it no matter what he is there.
So you can find a way of having it all.
It's not a compromise. So it's just like being organized.

(44:20):
I think that's the only thing and knowing that if
you wish for it and you work for it, it will happen.
Not over time, but it will. So it's a super
fun lifestyle. I would recommend this one this to anyone
and everyone. It's not for the faint of heart, but
it's fun. It's fun and you can take it anywhere.
So my girl for next year is not gonna be

(44:40):
two X because I don't have to sacrifice the lifestyle
and don't want it so it's going to be two
x when my kids go in college. I know that,
and then I'm.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
Going to be such a nice feeling to know you
could do this here, you could do this in another,
you could do this anywhere, and the skills, the business,
all of that is it.

Speaker 6 (45:00):
Yes. Does it help to have a beautiful studio with
the lightning, Yes? Could you do this anywhere? Absolutely? You
could do you could you personally could build this business anywhere.
And so I think that's just.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
Where that resilience and that hard work and that ethic is.

Speaker 6 (45:12):
So it's so inspirational.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
It's just so valuable to see that success and feeling like, no,
the negotiables don't have to be not picking up your
kids or your mental.

Speaker 6 (45:24):
Health or your physical health or going to apply.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
It's doing those things to take care of yourselfs like,
you don't have to get rid of all of that
to be successful.

Speaker 4 (45:31):
And it hasn't been easy mysty because I launched in
twenty nineteen was my year one and then COVID hit
So when I'm finally like in this entrepreneurship life, COVID
hit me that I wasn't what all right? So fine,
I went through COVID and then a year and have
later I had to do an explant because I had
brest and planted illness. I was bed ridden for like
six weeks and I had to try to California to

(45:51):
get a surgery, and I had to close my studio
for three months, and it was really hard. And then
I overcame that and I kept going and then I
had another concussion and you won't believe it, and then
I've had five concussions throughout this time. It's a chronic condition,
so it hasn't been easy, and it's invisible because I
look fabulous, like here where you see me, all glamorous,
I'm still concused and like recovering from passion in the summer.

(46:13):
So it's like, how can you find happiness and how
can you make it work when you're not feeling one
hundred percent great? So it's a constant struggle because my
health has never been one hundred percent since I started
this business. Never, And that's my own equal for twenty sixteen.
I tell people, if you have health, you have no excuse. Yeah,
that's all you need because if you're healthy, you can work,

(46:33):
and if you can work, you can produce and you
can build your dreams. So it all goes back to
taking care of yourself and putting health in the center
of it. So I don't take it for granted at all,
And that's why I take care of it because I
know how horrible it is to have these symptoms and
to not feel great.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
No, and it's so important, and I think that it's
it's good to hear that because a lot of times, yeah,
we think we have to sacrifice this or this is
part of.

Speaker 6 (46:58):
It, this grind or this.

Speaker 2 (46:59):
You know, if I want success, I have to work
the eighty hours. I have to do this, and there's
other ways to do it, but it does require being
organized and it is not easy.

Speaker 6 (47:07):
But I think with those if.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
You have clear goals and priorities and you know what
you want, I think that there is a way to
achieve all of these things. But you're right, you can't
come from scarcity, and you have to be pretty. You've
got to you know, I've got to be organized, and
you've got to make sure that even if we're our
own bosses, the things we say we're going to do
get done. If I say I'm working out at seven
fifteen in the morning, that's where I'm going to be,
even if I'm tired, even if I don't know it,

(47:30):
because I know in the long run, your health and
all of these things are so important to keep you
going and to keep.

Speaker 4 (47:37):
Things absolutely And we're an example for our kids. Like
my kids have seen. My little one thinks I've always
been a photographer because she was like, you know what
it got, God calls, so she was little. My older
one remembers in trick or treating the way for hallways,
I've for seen it. So like I'm setting the example
that this is duable and I have open conversations with them.
I never spoke about money with my family, like money

(47:59):
was there. I didn't grow up like with money challenges.
Thank god. I was like really blessed in that regard,
but like it was something that existed, but no one
talked about it. It was like that we breathe Like
with my kids, like this is something that we talked
day in and day out, like in the dinner, Like
we have these conversations. So I'm just expanding their universe
and capacities, right, Like you can actually peak anything and

(48:22):
be successful. It doesn't have to eat the pathways in
Venezuela they were four careers. You were either an engineer,
a lawyer, a doctor, or a teacher.

Speaker 6 (48:29):
That's it.

Speaker 4 (48:30):
We live in a country that you can be anything.
And if I was able to do it in a
photography business, imagine like what you can do in any
genre and in any industry.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Yes, it's so true, and it's so important to talk
to your kids about me because I feel like a
lot of people say, my parents never talked to me
about money. I don't talk to my kids about money,
and then they're so surprised when their kids just expected
to be handed over to them and they don't understand,
you know, how much certain things cost and what they're doing.
And so I think involving those in those conversations can
be really helpful for them to actually start to get
a concept of going out there and making money and

(49:02):
what you need to do and how you need to
like how things work, because.

Speaker 4 (49:07):
I know that the money doesn't come from the tree.
The apples from the tree, like they didn't work, and
they see the hustle and like twice a month, I
hold hatchets mini sessions in the studio and those are
cash cows. Those two have price in the website. It
includes her and makeup. It's like two hatshops. You can
buy more, but those are like hard work because those,

(49:27):
it's funny, those are like the smaller clients. Yeah, it's
a marathon. So like like twice a month, I come
home Friday night after like ten hours in the studio
and like my eyes are like I don't even know
what my name is, and like my husband has a
piece a ready, and like it's movie night and they

(49:47):
know it. Like I have to come and take a
shower before I say hello. And then other days my
day is out at one pm because you have whatever recitals.
They see the hustle and then the flexibility and kind
of like the both worlds.

Speaker 6 (50:00):
It's good. It's good for them to see both. I think.
I think it's helpful.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
I always saw I got I understood, and my father
like worked from you know, from home for a lot
of time.

Speaker 6 (50:10):
His business was run out of the house.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
And I saw him going to the books and having
to learn something new and having to implement it, and
how it wasn't just.

Speaker 6 (50:16):
Always the path.

Speaker 2 (50:17):
The paycheck comes every two weeks and that's it, and
gooder for the good or bad.

Speaker 6 (50:22):
You see it all.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
You see the days where you crash on the couch
and that's it is nothing left, and then other days
you start working eleven.

Speaker 4 (50:31):
Yeah. Yes, And my kids could probably meet therapy for
mom's concussions because they think conconscious are like normal and
like recurrent and like people I was a honey, like
I never met anyone I had one, so yes, but
like they see health differently, right, which is also good
because I have to like take it, like I could

(50:52):
go so much faster and do more, but my brain
and my mental health is my limitation because I get headaches,
like I do I still do, like if I remember
doing all nighters in college, like I could go three
days in a row with the lab. I'm doing this
like no, like sleep, I can't take sleep programmed like
I need my sleep hours. I need my exercise because

(51:14):
if not, I get headaches.

Speaker 6 (51:16):
Right or else it's going to make you less productive, right.

Speaker 4 (51:18):
Exactly, So like it's in my own benefit. But it's hard.
It is hard, but it's it's fun and I would
have never changed in for the world and people who
know me from like high school and elementary. I went
to an old girls Catholic school. We were like forty
eight for fourteen years the same forty eight. Only two
people joined us in like fourteen years, and like one
person left, like imagic. They can't phantom that I do

(51:42):
is it's like Andrew, you do what. I was an
artistic growing up? I was like mac lover, like nothing
related to the art whatsoever, So like you can peel it.
I found my artistic site at thirty five, like who
would have known?

Speaker 6 (51:57):
Right, Like, and you didn't just rule.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
And I love that you kind of looked at it
from the fine art lens and the theory behind it
and studied it like you study everything that you've tackled
to really understand it. It's it's just it just goes
to show that no matter if you feel like you're
left brain or right brain or whatever, you feel like
you're not a creative person or you're not a numbers person,
like but you could be.

Speaker 4 (52:21):
You could be. Like I really love when people say, oh,
you're artistic, you're so artistic artistic? Artistic has narrow defined me,
Like am I artistic? Like? Am I truly artistic? I
don't know like people say I am, but like I
don't even label myself as artistic. Yeah, I guess I
am but like you know what I mean, you can
be anything anything? Well I want. This is the last

(52:43):
story that I'll tell you. I once applied when I
was coming back to Boston. I was obsessed to staying
at Microsoft. I just loved that company so much. I
was completely obsessed. They didn't have any consumer facing in Boston,
so I couldn't translate. So I apply for a job
that it was in cybersecurity. You needed to be like
a black minja da da da.

Speaker 6 (53:00):
I applied.

Speaker 4 (53:00):
Well, the manager called me and I was still at Microsoft.
He's like, you have nothing in the restume that says
you're a good fit for this, Like nothing. I had
to call you because you were the only application that
didn't belong in this pile of applicants. So I just
need to understand what makes you believe you're a good
fit for this. And we had like a two hour conversation.
He didn't give me a job, but he's like who,

(53:23):
Like why did you apply? Was like why not? Like
I learned that like I could learn cybersecurity, I can
become the India give me just six months. And the
guy was laughing and he's like I was like that
was my dad. He told me that I could be anything,
and he's like, this is so funny, Like I just
needed to know who you were because you had nothing
to do. You're not coming to work for me, like
I can't afford.

Speaker 6 (53:42):
But I wanted to take some time to meet you anyway.

Speaker 4 (53:44):
Because this crazy person who applied to this job with
like no requirements meant so why not, right? Go for now?

Speaker 2 (53:54):
So yeah, well, I really enjoyed listening to your story
and speaking with you today. If somebody is listening and
they think that they either need to they want to
invest in themselves all these things you've spoke about, they're
interested in learning more or for their organization.

Speaker 6 (54:09):
How can people find you or follow you if they
want to learn more about you and your business?

Speaker 4 (54:14):
Yes? Absolutely so. My website is the best place, so
android Toro photography dot com. I let my stick put
it in the notes so you know how to spell it,
and then you can follow me on Instagram under Toro
photography is my hashtag. You can give me a call
six one seven two three three three seven seven nine.
I love talking with people on the phone. I always
pick up I'm the spam favorite person because I always

(54:37):
pick up any number for a good or robot. My
husband claims that I do. I don't pick up when
he calls, but that's that's a lie. But yeah, so
just call me and then we'll explore it like the
sky is the limit, like either personal branding or family memories,
like anything that your heart desires, or you're just in trigue,
like what is this, let's just connect we might be

(55:00):
able to create so magic amazing.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Well, I am very happy that I'm met you last year,
and I think what you're doing is amazing and impressive,
and definitely head over to your website or follow on
social media such a let you do beautiful work and
it's wonderful to talk to you more about it. And
if you're at home and you're looking at things that
you want to invest in for this year, head over
to mister Lynch dot com. I would love to speak

(55:24):
with you or chat with you about your personal finances,
see where you might be able to make a bigger
investment in this year to reach some of your goals.
Or you can catch up on some other episodes of
the podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll
talk again next week. Thank you for joining us on
another insightful episode. Of demistifying money. If you enjoyed this episode.

Speaker 3 (55:43):
Please subscribe, rate, and leave a review. Don't forget to
share with friends and family, and together let's demystify the
world with money. Stay tuned for more engaging conversations on
our next episode, and remember knowledge is the key to
financial empowerment. Spons