Most of you don’t know this: when I joined this space I was 41, broke, sleeping on my moms couch because a perfect storm of events decimated me (fathers death, covid, lost my business, relationship ended). I’d been an artist on the side for years, basically working for free. My passion for image making started at 4-5 years old. I’d amassed a pretty impressive list of accomplishments before I entered here and my work was gaining both acclaim and notoriety. When I entered in Feb-mar of 2021, nobody cared about photos, let alone provocative photography. I had every hurdle thrown at me you can imagine (don’t believe me, ask around). The moral of the story here is that I didn’t give up on myself, my craft or my beliefs. I knew then, and I know now what I am capable of. You need to believe in your heart and in your soul what your possibilities are and then hold on to that and never let go. It’s not easy, and frankly it’s not meant to be. There is something waiting for each of us on the other side of that difficult journey but we don’t get to see it until we unfortunately have suffered enough to reach that destination. I’m still on the journey.