Welcome to the first episode of Behind the Portrait! For this episode, I have my lovely client Courtney who… is quite accomplished, to say the least. Courtney, as you can see by the title, is a lawyer, opera singer, and an equestrian. Courtney needed a photoshoot for her professional career so we spent some time on the phone doing a deep dive into the Courtney Daniels brand.

Of course, as I was starting to hear about the incredible career she’s built, I was envisioning a bunch of ideas on how to touch on all the different aspects of Courtney’s life!

At the end of it all, Courtney’s personal branding photoshoot came out to be a whopping 7-hour experience going from the studio in Sacramento to her beautiful home in Winters.

In this episode we cover:

1. How Courtney decided to just conquer the whole world
2. Growing up in Nashville but fighting all the stereotypes of growing up in the South
3. A word of professional advice from Courtney who was nominated as the top lawyer of Sacramento
4. Courtney is quite involved in the wine world as her husband works in the wine industry and names her go-to wine if she had to pick one
5. Courtney’s unusually long photoshoot with me but what was more unusual was how much energy and stamina Courtney had throughout the whole day

Memorable quotes from the episode:

• “I think I just don’t like people telling me no. I grew up always singing and my parents thought I’d be an attorney because I also argued a lot.”
  
• “Integrity is everything no matter what field you go into. Standing by your work and coming through when you said you’re going to. Your reputation is everything so commit to things that you’re going to follow through with.”
  
• “It’s very hard for women in today’s society where there are such high expectations for women’s beauty that nobody can meet. There is a lot of critical thinking when we’re looking at ourselves that makes us feel nervous looking at our own images, especially when posing in front of a photographer you don’t know but you made it so easy and fun. Which then helped me get excited about the whole shoot and keep the energy going.”
  
• “Take the time to celebrate you! I don’t that that often and this photoshoot was an opportunity to do that besides the fact that I needed it for auditions and my website. Women work so hard in different facets of our life whether its profession, family, or home and are many times the unsung hero. Take the time to acknowledge that and celebrate you.”

References from the episode:

• Courtney’s favorite images from the photoshoot: Cinderella
• Amadeus and Gary
• My favorite image from the shoot: Black and white on piano
• Courtney’s Lawyer headshot

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