What a divorce, a Harry Styles song, and my brand values have to do with you

The recent Launch Your Daydream rebrand (June 2023) was a lot more than simply updating the look and feel of my business, and it’s important to me to share the WHY behind all of this with you.

As you may know, most of LYD’s journey consisted of a duo—not just me on my own. But this shift from business partner to solo business owner conveniently aligned with something that had happened in my personal life, too.

In 2021, I made the unexpected decision to leave my marriage. I say unexpected because I really did surprise myself with this. There wasn’t anything innately wrong with our marriage. My husband was a wonderful person. But I started to question a lot about my life. I started to dig deep and realized that the majority of decisions I’d made as an adult didn’t really feel like my own. It soon became clear to me that everything I thought I wanted out of life was just what society told me I should want. I accepted things that society told me were acceptable. I did the things society told me I should do. And while my life was technically good, it started to not feel like mine. I didn’t feel like I was being true to myself, whatever that meant.

I remember going on one of my “stupid little mental health walks” in my neighborhood back then and listening to Harry Styles in my airpods. The song Lights Up came on and when his voice asked, “Do you know who you are?” echoing through my airpods and seemingly deep into my soul, I immediately knew that the answer was no.

You might chuckle at the idea of an ex-boybander playing a role in one of the biggest decisions I’ve ever made but, it took someone else asking me that question to even consider it.

2021 became the hardest yet most rewarding year of my life.

I can’t even fathom how much I cried that year. I’m an emotional person anyway (shout out to my fellow Cancers) but flipping my whole life upside down, starting COMPLETELY over in a new city where I didn’t know a soul, and hurting someone else in the process amplified those emotions x10000. But I knew it was the right move.

So what the fuck does this have to do with you?

This ongoing journey of self-discovery, self-love, and embracing my truth has changed everything for me. I make decisions for me now and this has reflected on my business, too.

I realized that I’d also been holding back in my business decisions. Speaking out, using my real voice, being myself—these were things I wasn’t doing fully. Because society told me I should present myself a certain way to be a “professional.”

So about a year later, when Britt made the decision to take on a new role in her career, I ultimately decided to take on our business by myself. I saw this as an opportunity to embrace my truth and align my business with who I am as a person. And FUCK, it feels GOOOD!!!

Now that I’ve overshared with you on my blog and cried all over my keyboard, let me get to the point. All of this personal shit has led me here. Like I said, it feels GOOD to be true to myself and I want others to feel that, too. I want the photographers I work with to embrace their truest self within their business and I want to help them communicate that on their websites.

I worked with the amazing Crystal Lily Creative to figure out a clear way to communicate all of my intentions to you. And here’s what we came up with…

My promise to you:
(THIS PART IS IMPORTANT!)

To always show up as my true self with enthusiasm and open-mindedness, so that you will have a welcoming and brave space to do the same. When we do this together, we can tap into what makes you and your business unique. (And then I can help you showcase that on your new website!)

That confidence, self-truth, and excitement will also trickle down to your photography clients. This is the ultimate goal for our work together because when your clients feel encouraged to be their truest self in front of your camera, magic happens.

You deserve a designer who gets you. Let’s do this.