The Renaissance Room Podcast

When you look in the mirror, whose voice is in your head? Yours — or someone else's you've been carrying around for years without realizing it? This episode is about the male gaze, the female gaze, and everything in between. We're talking about where these concepts come from, how they quietly run in the background of the way you see yourself every single day, and — most importantly...

I didn't think I was queer. Not in my teens, not in my twenties — not even when friends tried to tell me otherwise. It wasn't until I was 30, deep in a pandemic TikTok spiral, that something started to unravel.  This is my coming out story. And yes, The L Word is involved. In this episode I'm talking about why my perfectionism kept me from ever considering existing outside the lines...

Content Warning: This episode discusses eating disorders, disordered eating, and body dysmorphia. If this isn't what you need to hear right now, I totally get it. Take care of yourself first. Last episode, we talked about the patriarchy and how it teaches women to hate their bodies. Today, I'm telling you how it happened to me. This is my story: from high school, to college, to my 20&apo...

Your body image isn't personal. It's political. The way you see your body, the things you criticize about it, the voice in your head that says you're not enough — that's not an accident. That's the system working exactly as designed. In this episode, we're talking about the patriarchy. What it actually is, how it shows up in your everyday life, and why body shame is a...

Before every boudoir session, I ask my clients to write one word on a slip of paper: How are you feeling right now? They write things like "terrified," "not enough," "ashamed," "uncomfortable in my own skin." Then at the end of the session—after they've been photographed, after they've seen themselves in ways they never have before—I ask them again...

If you've ever thought "I want to do boudoir but..." — this episode is for you.  "I need to lose weight first."  "Boudoir is only for certain bodies."  "I'll do it when I'm more confident."  These are just a few of the myths I hear literally every single day. And every single one of them is a lie. In this episode, I'm busting the biggest...

After nearly 10 years as a wedding photographer, I walked away from the industry to photograph boudoir full-time.  In this episode, I'm telling you exactly why. This isn't about hating weddings or judging anyone who loves them. It's about watching brilliant women criticize themselves in front of mirrors—even on their wedding day—and realizing the problem was never their bodies. It w...

Welcome to The Renaissance Room—where we cure “not enough” with a heavy dose of “you’re already magnificent.” In this episode, I’m sharing what the past 5 years have looked like since my first podcast, The Picture Imperfect Pod —from career shifts to building a boudoir photography studio centered around helping women see themselves differently. I’m Katie Karlberg, boudoir photographer and professi...