- Photographer 118
- Stylist 63
- Set Builder 38
- Film 33
- Video 33
- Art Director 20
- Agent Rep 19
- Producer 19
- Other 13
- Director 11
- Creative Agency 9
- Filmmaker 8
- Creative Director 7
- Art Producer 6
- Photo Director 6
- Hair and Makeup 4
- Creative Manager 3
- Modeling Agent 3
- Casting Director 1
- Food Stylist 1
- Photo Consultant 1
S17 E165 - Catching Up with Hannah Soto
Today we're catching up with a past guest, Hannah Soto!
After earning a degree in photography from Columbia College Chicago, Hannah worked with an in-house production team and found her jam in becoming a freelance producer. With her unique perspective and natural tendencies toward leadership, she created her own company with a new approach called Grey House Productions.
(You can learn more about Hannah's past in Season 1, Episode 6!)
Today, Hannah is the founder of the Arridia Group! How is it different from Grey House? What life-changing lessons has Hannah learned since 2020? Is 'arridia' even a real word?! Find the answers to all these questions and more by pressing play!
You can check out the amazing work that Hannah and her team are doing by visiting the Arridia Group website and following them on Instagram!
Remember to stay safe and keep your creative juices flowing!
If you would like to get involved with Focus On Women: you can review sponsorship and contribution options here, as well as become a member here.
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S17 E164 - Amber Havens and Tish Campbell
In this episode, we are privileged to host two remarkable figures from the entertainment industry, each with a unique story to tell. Amber Havens, whose journey began in children's theater, eventually led her to Los Angeles, where she attended a prestigious acting conservatory, embarking on a 30-year odyssey filled with diverse experiences across the entertainment business. With a passion for connecting clients with exceptional talent, she's made her mark as a casting expert, covering everything from film and television extras to principal roles and commercial print and video. Amber's knack for fostering strong relationships and her multi-faceted industry insights make for an enlightening conversation.
Tish Campbell stands at the crossroads of business and creativity, with an impressive career spanning casting direction, jewelry design, and business ownership. She's played a pivotal role in the development of programs at esteemed cultural and higher education institutions, from the High Museum of Art in Atlanta to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Tish's journey extends to her tenure as the Executive Director of the Institutional Advancement department at the Savannah College of Art & Design, where she played a substantial role in raising funds for scholarships, museum exhibitions, and event sponsorships across four campuses. Her unwavering commitment to nurturing creative talent and building pathways for their success adds a dynamic layer to this engaging conversation.
Join us for an illuminating discussion as Amber Havens and Tish Campbell share their insights into the intricate worlds of entertainment, casting, and the creative community.
If you would like to get involved with Focus On Women: you can review sponsorship and contribution options here, as well as become a member here.
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S15 E145 - Clubhouse - How Motherhood Affects Your Career
Today's episode is a discussion from one of our recent Clubhouse sessions! Hear from several photography-industry professionals on what it's like to balance motherhood and business. Whether you're an up-and-coming mom or one with years of experience, there are tons of amazing resources in this episode!
If you would like to get involved with Focus On Women: you can review sponsorship and contribution options here, as well as become a member here.
Remember to stay safe and keep your creative juices flowing!
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S13 E129 - Melissa Cronin (Take Two)
Today we're talking to Melissa Cronin!
Melissa was on our podcast back in 2021, but she's joining us again to tell us about everything she's learned over the last year and a half.
Melissa sees the big picture in a cluttered creative landscape, delivering order in a chaotic world. For 18 years she has run her own Creative Production Agency, Greener Concepts, where she has partnered with brands of all sizes to develop strategic creative processes that deliver high-value branded visual content.
You can follow and message Melissa on her linkedin page!
If you would like to get involved with Focus On Women: you can review sponsorship and contribution options here, as well as become a member here.
Remember to stay safe and keep your creative juices flowing!
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S13 E128 - Connie Conway (Take Two)
Today we're talking to Connie Conway!
She was a guest of ours in July 2020. She is a force to be reckoned with - starting her career as a photographer and working with A and M records and then deciding that wasn't the path, she started her production company. Fortunate to have been paired up with the awesome photographer, Hunter Freeman for the last 20 years, she has created quite a fantastic little gig for herself.
You can follow and message Connie on her linkedin page!
If you would like to get involved with Focus On Women: you can review sponsorship and contribution options here, as well as become a member here.
Remember to stay safe and keep your creative juices flowing!
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S13 E126- Leah De Leon
Today we're talking to Leah De Leon!
She is an award-winning Filipina-American documentary filmmaker and photographer. She's a co-founder, director, and producer at Unreel Stories, a San Diego-based production company where she creates branded films and original short documentaries. Her recent short documentary, We Are Like Waves, was released with the L.A. Times and is being considered for the 95th Academy Awards.
You can follow and message Leah on her linkedin page!
If you would like to get involved with Focus On Women: you can review sponsorship and contribution options here, as well as become a member here.
Remember to stay safe and keep your creative juices flowing!
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S13 E124- Abi Cockcroft
Today we're talking to Abi Cockcroft!
She is the shoot producer at Giles Christopher Photography. She has a background in TV, commercials, and film, and has worked on various BBC projects.
You can follow and message Abi on her website page!
If you would like to get involved with Focus On Women: you can review sponsorship and contribution options here, as well as become a member here.
Remember to stay safe and keep your creative juices flowing!
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S12 E119 - Karen Williams
Today we're talking to Karen Williams!
Karen is a creative director, photo director, producer, and visual storyteller with over ten years of experience at major media and brands. She has created and art-directed images for campaigns that include Square, Airbnb, AARP, Masterclass, Wired, and San Francisco Magazine, as well as producing hundreds of photo shoots spanning the entire creative process, from securing talent to onsite logistics to post-production.
You can follow and message Karen on her LinkedIn page!
If you would like to get involved with Focus On Women: you can review sponsorship and contribution options here, as well as become a member here.
Remember to stay safe and keep your creative juices flowing!
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S12 E118 - Zara Katz (PART 2)
Today we're talking to Zara Katz!
Zara is a filmmaker and photo producer specializing in crafting character-driven visual stories. She is currently the photography director at NBC News and has contributed work to the New York Times Lens blog, Time magazine, Medium, The Guardian, US Pop Up magazine, and many more.
You can follow and message Zara on her LinkedIn page!
If you would like to get involved with Focus On Women: you can review sponsorship and contribution options here, as well as become a member here.
Remember to stay safe and keep your creative juices flowing!
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S12 E117 - Zara Katz (PART 1)
Today we're talking to Zara Katz!
Zara is a filmmaker and photo producer specializing in crafting character-driven visual stories. She is currently the photography director at NBC News and has contributed work to the New York Times Lens blog, Time magazine, Medium, The Guardian, US Pop Up magazine, and many more.
You can follow and message Zara on her LinkedIn page!
If you would like to get involved with Focus On Women: you can review sponsorship and contribution options here, as well as become a member here.
Remember to stay safe and keep your creative juices flowing!
---
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S10 E94 - Lisa Vortman
Tune into our chat with one of the San Francisco APA's board members, Lisa Vortman. Specializing in lifestyle, portraits and kids, Lisa's work is full of life, fun, happy, joyful imagery. Lisa wears many hats and talks about her COVID project which ended up getting her some really awesome new connections and work too.
This season's sponsor is Pedro & Jackie. Pedro + Jackie is a vibrant, forward thinking, photography consulting company. We focus on helping photographers scale their business to the next level.
The genesis of Pedro + Jackie happened over martinis and sushi in Portland, Maine. Our doors opened shortly after in 2014.
We help strategize, plan and execute ideas. We fall somewhere between old-school and new-school. We proudly serve-up clarity and motivation for the road ahead.
We offer website edits, print book edits, marketing strategy, promo building, creative direction, pitch decks, proposals and a bunch of other super helpful stuff.
Our headquarters is located along a brook surrounded by wildlife, trees and ferns. Our office stands tall at ten feet square.
Time outside of work: Avocados and hummus. Watching birds. College touring. Shinrin Yoku. Tasting NA Beer. Sebago Lake. Bike rides.
Offering a 15% discount for either a website or printed portfolio edit, use the code Pedro+Jackie15, expires May 19th, 2022.
S8 E74 - Jillian Knox
Jillian Knox is an interdisciplinary creative polymath based in San Francisco, California
With a BFA in Photography, concentrating in Fashion Photography from Savannah College of Art and Design, Jillian opened her online vintage store, Joules Jewels Vintage, in 2009 to hone her commercial photography, styling skills, and embrace her love for fashion.
Shortly after, she opened community art gallery and multi-space, TBA Space 1039, in Chicago, IL which hosted many local and national artists in juried group shows. The space was closed coinciding with her move to San Francisco in 2011.
She currently works as a food + fashion stylist and is the founder of The Astute Agency. The Astute Agency is a not-for-profit inclusive community that is founded and operated by BIPOC creatives. Not only that she runs an awesome little online shop called Casa Ojo.
Season 8 is brought to you by some of our closest friends, our networking chair, Betsy Davison's baby, Space for Arts. They are a global marketplace for professional production spaces. Think of it as an AirBnB like platform dedicated exclusively to the demanding requirements of our creative community.
Space for Arts presents a vetted inventory of production spaces with robust search tools optimized for the needs of production professionals. Their patent pending Space for Arts booking system mirrors our industry’s practice of using “holds” & “challenges.” And best of all there is no cost for production teams to book through Space for Arts.
Space for Arts is AirBnB, meets Resy, meets CRM for our professional production community and has over 1,000 spaces listed in key US markets, London & Berlin and adds new listings daily.
Find it - Plan it - Book it - Manage it
S7 E62 - Carrie Heather
This episode is an amazing chat with Carrie Heather - she is the Executive Producer for By Association. They are an an equity-driven multi-disciplinary production and creative agency who are championing creatives who identify as women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and individuals with disabilities. Working with a diverse network of breakthrough and established creatives, spanning all artistic disciplines. Our conversation with Carrie was amazing and we touched on some touchy areas about the industry and it's need to be supporting a more diverse group of creatives as well as teaching our clients to also stand behind what they say as a company around diversity by thoughtfully hiring a crew to create that vision that is the same, diverse.
American Photographic Artists (APA), established in 1981, is a not-for-profit trade association run by photographers for photographers working in the advertising and editorial sectors. They understand the challenges of this industry and advocate on behalf of their members. APA offers inspiration, education, and advocacy.
The APA membership structure gives every photographer an affordable way to belong to a community of like-minded professionals. APA members are connected by regional chapters providing both a national and local connection to networking, portfolio reviews, photo competitions, and activism.
APA supports women and minority photographers. Their Diversity Committee is charged with clearing a path to success for those who are traditionally underrepresented. The APA Scope webinar and podcast series includes discussions with photographers re-imagining the photo industry as one driven by diversity and inclusion.
APA is providing those who are listening to this Focus on Women podcast, an opportunity to join APA using a $25 coupon code. APA memberships start at just $50 a year, so that’s half off an annual Contributor membership. Use the code: FOW2021 (as in Focus on Women) to take advantage of this offer. The code will be valid until the end of 2021. Join at APA National.org. If you have any questions, reach out to Juliette Wolf-Robin, she is the executive director of APA and on the board of Focus on women.
S6 E55 - Melissa Cronin
Mel is a force of nature. She sees the big picture in a cluttered creative landscape, delivering order in a chaotic world. For 18 years she has run her own Creative Production Agency, Greener Concepts, where she has partnered with brands of all sizes to develop strategic creative processes that deliver high value branded visual content. She dives into her path of how she was introduced through her mom and aunt into graphic design before going to college for her BFA.
It was during one of her first jobs outside of school wearing multiple hats, when she learned how to work with photographers so that when she designed the print piece the design would flow with the imagery.
In her twenties, she opened her company!
Most recently she has formed a collaborative of like minded, passionate professionals skilled at developing still and motion assets called the HotHaus Collective.
You can connect with Melissa on Instagram at:
@greener.concepts & @hothauscollective
S5 E49 - Naomi Lindberg
Tune into our chat with the amazing Naomi Lindberg. She is the executive producer and founder of Northern Spy Productions. Her career includes working as an artist agent, a creative studio manager for William Abranowicz as well as a photo editor with Real Simple. All lending her such great insight, expertise and resources for working with a wide variety of commercial and editorial clients helping to create awesome visual content of all kinds.
S2 E19 - Carmel Bergholz
Tune into my chat with Carmel Bergholz. She is an awesome Producer with a decade of experience and we had a great chat about what it will look like to come back to set and how to decide when it's a good time to do so too. You can find her on instagram @carmelproduces.
S2 E12 - Connie Conway
Connie Conway is a force to be reckoned with - starting her career as a photographer and working with A and M records and then deciding that wasn't the path, she started her production company. Fortunate to have been paired up with the awesome photographer, Hunter Freeman for the last 20 years, she has created quite an awesome little gig for herself. And she keeps her creative juices flowing by shooting her fine art photography on the side - her recent project L.A. after Sunset gives you some insight to her love for the grit and architecture that surrounds her daily life.
S1 E6 - Hannah Soto
After earning a degree in photography from Columbia College Chicago, Hannah Soto worked with an in-house production team and found her jam in becoming a freelance producer. She then took that experience and with her unique perspective and natural tendencies toward leadership created her own company with a new approach called Grey House Productions. Our talk is about her journey and what she is working on now during a time that is challenging for so many in this industry.
S1 E4 - Filiz Rezvan
Filiz Rezvan is an amazing producer, writer and director based in San Francisco. She is also the co-founder of Zedafilms.com which has produced award-winning short films as well as commercial print and video work for clients that include the Golden State Warriors, Logitech, BioMarin and Hulu. We talk about her journey and the wonderful people who have led her to where she is now and more.
You can check out her amazing projects here.