For my birthday, I wanted to do something different—something that truly spoke to me. Every time a friend asked, “What are you doing for your birthday?” my answer kept changing. First, it was, “Oh, maybe a birthday trip.” Then, “Maybe a birthday dinner?” And later, “How about a solo trip?”

Finally, I sat with myself and asked, What do I really want this birthday to mean? What I want is for my photography to finally reach the level of recognition it deserves. I’ve been doing this for so many years and met incredible people through photography. It’s opened so many doors, and most of the people I’ve connected with, I’ve only met because of my work behind the camera.

So, I decided to host a birthday gallery, showcasing my work throughout the years, starting with my first viral photo on Tumblr featuring CJ Hart and Lulu Simmons. I’m so grateful to have collaborated with CanvasDiscounts, who sponsored all of the canvases—saving me so much money I didn’t have to spend.

This marks the beginning of me showing up for myself, a rebrand, and a fresh start. Because this year around the sun, I’m giving it my all—and I deserve that.

I was just saying how I am recently inspired by late 90s early 2000s photoshoot campaigns and I found a store in downtown LA that has exactly that type of clothing. It's a vintage store with pieces that are authentic to the decade, including Von Dutch, RocaWear, and other brands. Darius, the owner, is super nice and has been blowing up because of TikTok. What I love most is that the clothes aren't made now and sold as Y2K fashion; these are legit clothes with the original price tags from those years. He gave me the butterfly shirt at the end, so I'm excited to shoot something with it!

I talked about in my last video how I’m building a creative empire, one stream at a time. Photography is my foundation, so I'm turning my shots into products to diversify my income. With photography being the main hub and everything I do being an extension of that. My next stream that I'm building up in this journey is my photos to products. Basically selling graphic tees. It started with a photoshoot that I did for Dope Smoke Shop in Pompano. Out of the collection of photos I took, there was one that I really liked.

At first, I was thinking I would just sell prints of this photo but I wanted to take it a step more and sell it in a way that would reach a wider audience. And everyone loves a t-shirt.

So on my journey to being a full-time creative, I need to have other streams and photos to products is one of them. I’m going to release the shirts and I commissioned more designs, even a design for the city I’m in now (Los Angeles). Keep following along to see how I put this next collection together!

This video kicks off my ‘On The Road’ series, where I’ll share my journey to becoming a full-time creative here on my website. I believe a successful creative career needs diverse income streams, similar to how Issa Rae outlined her empire. Photography is my foundation, and right now I’m focused on creating a standout portfolio.

To achieve this, I’m obsessed with specific aesthetics, like the early 90s and 2000s vibes. My goal is to land campaigns for brands like Prada and Wonderland who share this aesthetic. Stay tuned as I recreate these iconic looks and build my dream portfolio.