Recently I photographed LeNora for the purpose of leveraging her personal brand to create awareness for her business.  

She had a great experience with some unexpected surprises.  We chatted about the importance of image, how you can change the way you feel about yourself in photos, and how much she loves her gorgeous new canvas portrait!

The complete video is at the bottom if you'd like to watch our conversation, otherwise it's been summarized into question and answer for those of you who'd prefer to read!

Firstly, let's meet my spotlight guest!

What do you do and who is your audience?

My name is LeNora Faye. I am a Childfree Lifestyle Advocate, speaker and moderator. 

You may be thinking “Hey, what the heck is all of that?”  

Basically, I create public and private platforms for people who have chosen not to have children, and this is a global endeavor.  

I do podcasting. I do blogging, I do global conventions, and private speaking events. 

Really, the whole purpose is to create safe spaces for people who may be on the fence, had kids or they've chosen to not have kids but feel unsupported. 

It's a place for people to gather to express themselves, share their stories and just bring awareness to that choice. 

It's not about convincing, anybody one way or the other is just awareness that it's a choice. 

Having kids is a choice, hence, the childfree lifestyle Advocate title.  That's what I do!

What prompted you to realize that you needed personal branding images for your business? 

I initially started with the blog with zero audience and social media wasn't something I was really interested in.  

When I realized that the topic was gaining traction, I started creating images but I wasn't showing my face.  I hadn't started podcasting or vlogging yet.  It was just word images, basically.  

A few years ago, I started doing a podcast and added on conventions.  I was starting to show my face more and I started incorporating my wigs because I was using my personal story.  I realized people need to see the person who's behind the posting.  

I'd be looking at LinkedIn and seeing how people network and I thought. Yeah, like everyone has a professional photo and I just felt ready.

The end of last year, I met someone who’s a classical opera singer and had used professional photography.  The pandemic was happening, and everything was going online and she just felt that it was a boost for her self-esteem, and she ended up being a speaker at one of our conventions.

And the first impression was that these photos were like, wow!

She and I became friends and she told me that she'd just had that done kind of on a whim, and there's something that clicked because, you know, by the end of 2021, I was feeling confident in where I was going with my work and my name was getting out there.

I felt ready to take the next step, whatever that was.  I hate being photographed, but it was her story, her personal experience made me think I need to pursue this because, you know, it's one thing to reach out to your community that your advocate for, but then, the next step is to reach out to organizations who aren't in that space, but they align with the same values and you know, I'd be looking at LinkedIn and seeing how people network there and I thought, yeah, everyone has a professional photo and I just felt ready.

Well…. Kind of ready.

You saw me, how I wanted to do this, but I'm not super comfortable.

It felt like the next logical step business-wise.

But also what turned out to be it was a very good thing personally just for my own inner image journey.

Tell me why you chose to hire me?

The energy of the website, really.  What I typed in was “headshots Calgary” and “photo studio”. 

I knew that I wanted something more than headshots, but I wasn't looking for a boudoir shoot. Your site was a happy medium.

You were one of the first ones that came up and it was immediately the vibe. It was the images you had there. The women looked confident and happy.

AND, you gave all the information. That’s the thing, for me, that's a big thing.

I want to know, like, the procedure, the cost, etc, and you put all of that there!

I’m the type of person, when I go to a website I want information, so that was helpful to have your information there.

And, just how you laid it out.

It was very inviting and friendly.

And I felt, because this is way out of my comfort zone, I felt at ease being on your site.

I don't feel like I'm going to be judged.

I knew that any hang-ups I had were about me, so that put me at ease and then I looked at a few other websites, but I didn't get that same feeling that I was looking for.

And then because you did offer personal branding and digital images that I could use on my social media and website.  The fact that you offered that was what I was looking for.

I just got all the information and then it was just easy communication from there.

So, you know, to me that's a done deal.

So, for the sake of people who are thinking about doing this but have reservations, between when you booked and the actual photoshoot, what were you feeling?

I found the consultation on the phone super helpful.  When you hear someone's voice you know if you click or not and I felt that we did and then you walked me through so many things!  

I love paperwork, and you sent the forms, which was great! 

You covered everything. It really helped me streamline because I really didn't know what I wanted. 

You asked if I had a vision and I was like, I don't even know what my vision is!  

I just want to like the photos at the end of the day.  It was very basic on my end, but going through the questionnaires made me think about colors, props and things I would have never thought about.  

We had the video consultation and then after that, ideas were coming. Things started to form in my head of the outfits and wigs I wanted to bring.  The back and forth conversations we had really helped unlock ideas.

Then, of course there was the three-week beauty guide. 

All of your guides were so helpful because I’ve never done a photoshoot before, I don’t know about the process or how to prepare, but you took care of all of that. 

It helped me relax and look forward to my photoshoot.  Not that I wasn’t nervous showing up, but the whole experience was really pleasant and so when I did show up, I was ready to go! 

You didn’t assume anything, you provided all the information I needed to help me prepare.

It was so fun! You work with great hair and makeup people. The whole vibe was fantastic.

Let's speak about the results.

I mean the digital stuff is gorgeous.

But the prints in person? Oh, my Lord. I'm like, can I stare at myself? 

The results were BEYOND.  They were exactly what I wanted without being specific. I knew I wanted to have something that captured how I felt inwardly and be glamorous but professional and I could not have imagined what they would look like.

Tell us, how have you been using your images so far?

What you did, something you did is really, really cool. Is that you sent behind the scenes photos while we’re waiting for the results.  I started incorporating them in my social media, which is Facebook, Instagram and recently LinkedIn.  

It was a fun way to say “Hey I did this thing”.  I wasn’t talking about what or why I had done it.  

People that know me know I like to be glamorous and I was having fun showing behind the scenes.

When I got the official photos done, I immediately started incorporating it, some I would just show the shot of myself, but then some I  would put a message on brand of what I do.  That’s when I started using LinkedIn. 

Tonight I’m speaking at a university in the Philippines with an advocacy group, the youngest congress women in the Philippines and a trans activist who is a scientist.  This group approached me after I started using LinkedIn on a professional level to network with other people.

I hadn’t been using LinkedIn before, because what I do is very niche. It's hard to bring to people that aren’t in that space.  The images have helped because I present myself as the co-founder of the global conventions we do.  

I use them on the business side, here’s what I make, here’s my audience.  It turns out there are people who are looking for what I do on LinkedIn, because it’s so niche, people don’t know how to Google or search it.

I started using those images online, because you are presenting yourself as a professional.  That has been fun!  

There is the fun vanity side of it too.  On my childfree blog Instagram I document my journey as a childfree woman and what I’m doing, it’s more personal.  I use the head shot as a profile photo there and for other ventures.

It’s been a fun combination.  People do take you seriously when you have professional photos, that was part of the intention.  

The topic I’m on is still considered taboo by a lot of people even here in Canada.  This is why I wanted to have this done, to showcase this is actually serious.  

This means something to me.  

We are working on something that is vital, but people don’t understand it.  It’s a balance of  how do you communicate the importance of this kind of conversation?   

Let’s be real, people look at the messenger, that was the biggest struggle.  I wanted to put all this content out there for years and I did for years but I didn’t show my face.  Then I started podcasting and doing the web series.  I realized I had to show my face, which is fine but that was a whole other journey, this is part of it.  

In order for people to take you seriously and the work that you're doing.  Imagism is important, it’s not about being pretty or hot.  I do the same thing if someone’s going to present me with something like who are you?  What are you doing?

You would still be you as a photographer, but if your presentation was haphazard, I probably wouldn’t have chosen you.  It’s nothing against you personally, it's just how it’s presented.

In the last three weeks since I’ve had these photos, people responded and that was the hope.  

Whatever it is that you are doing you have to get the word out, because everyone’s doing the same thing.

On Instagram there’s the explore page and that’s all algorithm driven.  Everything is now hitting the explore page when I use my photos.  

That’s free advertising, if people don’t know what that means, my posts are getting between 10,000 - 30,000 views.  I now have a following of 1800 people on instagram.  

That’s big, I don’t have a big social media following in this space.

The algorithm is liking the images and people are responding, so it’s consistently doing that now.  So thank you for the photos!

Laurie: You are so welcome, I loved how you touched on being a representative of your brand.  

Having professional imagery means you’re taking yourself seriously and therefore your audience will too!

I have a history, I have a backing, I do have a community behind me, I am ready to say here’s me and this is what I’m doing, what we’re doing.  

This is the purpose of the work.  

The photos are like the icing on the cake as far as presentation.

Would you recommend personal branding? 

There are two schools of thought, how I operate is not how someone else is going to operate.  I fell into this, this was not the intention.  

Some people launched their idea after a lot of thought and a lot of preparation.  I’ve seen them start with personal branding, they have been working behind the scenes on something for 6 months to a year and they are ready to launch.   

Everything's in place and they do use professional photos.  If that’s you then do it!

For me, I started as a blog with zero audience 4 years ago and was just talking about my journey and things have developed and snowballed to me getting to this point.  

If that’s you and you're just trying out ideas, you don’t want to invest a lot of money into something you're not sure where it’s going to go yet.  

You never know where it’s going.  Things show up every week.

If you are still figuring out where you want to go, I personally wouldn’t go all in yet.  

When I started my style and my message was not developed at all.  I was still testing the waters.  

Now I have a definitive idea of what I’m doing.  

I know how to present it and even the title of Childfree Lifestyle Advocate, that happened and then I started doing these photos.  

I’m ready to present myself.

I was busy developing this platform and now I know what I’m doing in this space and now I need photos to represent that.

Not everyone is going to have the same trajectory.  Some will be ready for it, but if you’re not, don’t invest too early.  

It’s a great investment for your brand and you are the only who is going to know when you're ready for it.

Do you have anything else you want to tell people about?  How can we follow you online?

I will speak to people that do have kids because people tend to zone out.  If they think I don’t think it is for me.  

Part of the work I do is to create allies.  

This conversation is where people feel uncomfortable, people who have chosen not to have kids feel uncomfortable, stating that they don’t have kids and they don’t want kids.  

They’re not sure of the reaction.  

I’m over that, I know how to defend myself if I have to.  

What’s really cool about this is you asked on your form “What do you do?” “What is your brand and what is your purpose?”

I want people to feel comfortable to say I or We have chosen not to have children.  If you are on the receiving end saying “What?” “Why?”.  I want the conversation to feel natural.

The whole point is to normalize this choice, and it is a very tall order.  

If someone is listening or reading this and is asking why?  

If you are someone who doesn’t want to have kids and is unsure, my contact information will be included below.

If you do have kids and are very confused by this, by what I do, have questions or hates what I do. 

That happens.  I still want people to reach out. The whole point is to have a conversation.

A Lot of people ask why am I talking about this?  

 It’s programmed into us to ask “when are you going to have kids?”  That’s how I grew up to and we’re in a pretty fairly open minded country.  

I just connected with someone in Russia of all places.  She tagged my account and it was in Russian, I had to use a translator to see what it was about.  They’re trying to ban childfree content in Russia.  

We had an hour long conversation via text.  She’s trying to bring awareness, I mean of all places.  I mean people are speaking up about it in places where you are not supposed to.

A lot of people ask me why are you talking about this?

They don’t realize people are feeling pressured because either they never felt pressured or they’ve chosen to have kids or nobody talks about that.  

I love that you talked about reading the comments on my posts.  Your reading through and you’re like “Oh Okay”  Then that assumption that most of us say “So, are you going to have kids?”   

I hate that question.  Now I’m prepared for it.

Many people aren’t, they don’t know how to respond.  Some people do have kids because they don’t want people to keep asking that question.

There is a lot of conversation happening.  Scrolling through and reading comments, that in a nutshell is why I do this.

It’s just having a conversation.  It’s not to convince anybody that one choice is better than the other.  

It’s just, it’s life.  We get to choose things.

Laurie: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me and discuss all of these things.  I really appreciate it and it was super fun to photograph you.  I certainly hope I’ll get that opportunity again.

I had to rein myself in from doing another photoshoot a month later!  

I want to do another photo shoot, I had to tell myself ‘use what you have for now!’ because it was very, very fun.   

Thank you for creating that environment because for anyone that really doesn’t want to do it, I was that person but I knew I had to just try it.  

It was phenomenal.  

It was such a fun day!

Check out LeNora Faye!

Listen to the Conventions and The Podcast which are also on Video!  You can find articles she’s written on her social media.