The Wider Lens: Powered by Focus on Women

Tune into Shelly's chat with Krystal Collier, better known as KC Styles. A recent Los Angeles transplant from Dallas, following her dream of working as a stylist in the commercial world of photography and film. She started her career working in props, wardrobe and production for companies like JCPenney and Neiman Marcus, then went in house working for a big jewelry company. All these roads we...

Tune into Shelly's chat with this amazing female creator, Kimberly Murray . She is based in Atlanta and not only is a photographer but also a product stylist specializing in food, products, and interiors.  Her path to photography wasn't direct, she first got her Ph. D. in psychology. She has taken her knowledge of psychological principles and applied it to her photography,  creating comp...

Tune into our chat with the bay area photographer, Michelle Russ. We talk about her journey that took her to the world of photographing dogs, cats, and the brands that love them. From her beginning shooting in an ecomm fashion world, to changing coasts and taking her passion for animals to the photographic side and building a commercial career around that, to today, being a new working mom. We unp...

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 galler...

Tune into our chat with this lovely Bay Area native, Kirstin Cofer . She specializes in portrait and lifestyle work as well as having a background in design, some experience as a radio host and an upcoming podcaster too. When it comes to capturing a person’s nature, she’s a magic-maker. Her energy is calm, kind and creative - you will find this episode like taking a deep breath and inhaling copiou...

Tune into our amazing chat with this Australian photographer living the dream in Vancouver, Canada. Rachel Korinek is better known as @twolovesstudio, a food blogger, professional food photographer, stylist, and teacher of some awesome master classes teaching you all of her best tips and tricks on all of it. Her journey is an inspiration to all over-achiever listeners  as well as our lighting and...

Tune into our episode featuring Cat Jimenez who is a Host Community member at Las Fotos Project. Along with one of the winner's of the annual Foto Awards, Smita Sharma. Smita is a photo journalist based in Delhi who has documented victims of gender-based violence, sexual crimes and human trafficking in the Global South through long-form visual narratives. She is also a TED fellow and an IWMG...

We end this season with a chat with Emma Wood , she is a Senior Art Director based in NY. One of those kind that actually hires the talent to create visual content - woo hoo! Her experience in Art Direction and Design includes, but is not limited to, production, lifestyle photography, brand identity, out of home and digital campaigns, UX & UI, and much, much more. She helps break down what thi...

Tune into our chat with Tabatha Fireman, a UK based photographer turned agent, and the founder of Female Perspective . She started her work journey in the photographic department at EMI Records and then went on to further her career working inside and out of major photographic establishments. She founded her agency in 2018 and represents a super talented selection of women photographers. Always on...

Tune into our amazing chat with my good friend and colleague, Mary Dail. Mary is a force to be reckoned with and admired. She is the founder of Big Leo , an agency representing a constellation of amazing visual content creators, photographers, directors, and stylists. She is also the co-founder of Focus on Women and one of our leaders, Traci Terrick's mentors. Through their amazing friendship...

Tune into this fun filled chat with Jessie-Sierra Ross of the infamous blog - Straight to the Hips, Baby .  A native Bostonian, turned Berkshire-area mum to three little boys. A former professional ballerina and ballet coach, her fast-paced urban life gave way to the farm-to-table landscape of Western Massachusetts. From TV appearances to lectures, menu-planning to big-brand collaborations, clubho...

Tune into this insightful chat with the founder of HumanKind Casting , Kristie Raymond. Kristie aligns with creative teams, using grassroots efforts to seek out and find those faces and voices that reflect diversity and inclusion to deliver an impactful and powerful story. Her wealth of experience in our industry is vast and she brings such an important message now to the profession of producers,...

Tune into our chat with Ashley Thompson and Ana Homonnay , the fun loving photo duo based in San Francisco. Ana and Ashley shoot lifestyle, kids and teens and their passion for their craft and working with amazing brands who share their passion for causes runs deep. They strive for authentic, of the moment captures and never settle for the ordinary. They have been recognized by the International P...

Tune in to our chat with Stacy Swiderski. Based in Philadelphia, Stacy is a Creative Consultant and photo agent with an extensive background in commercial photography, education and consulting. She's worked with hundreds of photographers from all parts of the globe during her time in the industry. She holds an MPS in Digital Photography from The School of Visual Arts and a BFA in Photography...

Listen to this fun-filled chat with the amazingly talented, Victoria Granof. Victoria found her way to food styling over 15 years ago after being a pastry chef.  She has been a Cordon Bleu crew, a James Beard Award Finalist, as well as having the privilege to work side by side with Irving Penn for a number of years. All of this has been adventure filled to say the least and then at the height of h...

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 c...

Tune in to hear some great tips from this amazingly positive, sunny and knowledgeable, photo consultant, the infamous Julie Skarwecki. With almost a decade of experience in the industry working directly with artists and advertising agencies, editorial clients, and Fortune 500 companies, her past experience as an artist rep, and producer lends to her no-nonsense, straight forward attitude and passi...

Tune in this week to hear our chat with Lucy Schaeffer. She is a NY photographer shooting food, kids and lifestyle with 15 years of experience under her belt. She studied painting and printmaking at Yale, taught art in Italy and was a photo editor for Food & Wine magazine too, all leading up to her photography career. Her passion project -  the cookbook that just released this week - School Lu...

Tune into our insightful chat with the amazingly talented, Sue Tallon. Sue specializes in still-life, and conceptual still-life of products, concepts, and food/beverage for advertising, packaging, editorial, retail and corporate clients. Her work is unbelievably creative, innovative and modern although she could probably shoot most anything having been in this business for thirty plus years. She i...

Tune into our chat with Kailee Mandel, Toronto-based commercial and editorial photographer specializing in food and product. She has worked with top clients like Nestle, McDonald’s, The Globe and Mail, and Reader’s Digest. We had a great chat with her about  building a community and network and more. @kaileemandelphotography The other great thing about this episode is that it is sponsored by anoth...

Join us to listen in on Brandi Moore's journey - from textile design to creating a line of successful handbags, then as one of her many jobs to make rent in CA work, she got into the Fashion world and production. That led her to the introduction of JE Models and their agency's founder,  who is now the father of her child. With that relationship she finally found the opportunity to live o...

This is an exciting conversation with one of our own board members who happens to also be an ward-winning beauty and fashion photographer, Alicia Stepp . There is something so magical about Alicia's work - maybe it's the combination of having the love of photography since her youth, and then getting a degree in graphic design which gave her the knowledge of composition and use of color,...

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 he...

Shelly Waldman is a San Francisco bay area based photographer with roots in LA. Shelly's experience as a child with parents who took tons of photos influenced her later in life. She's worked in pro sports, the banking industry and in 2009 opened her photography business. We touch on the turning point that took her from photographing families, kids and events to focusing more food and lif...

Tune into our chat with Robin Greene, the founder of Holl and Artists a new creative agency representing some awesome photographers/directors that include Ren Fuller who has also been on our show. Their motto - "We believe collaboration is the surest way through uncertainty. An ever-evolving media landscape merely promises new opportunities and different ways to tell our stories. " Liste...