Free to Succeed Tour: Los Angeles

A few days late, but worth the wait!

This past Wednesday, August 6th, I had the amazing opportunity to go out to Los Angeles to hear Jasmine Star and David Jay speak. This speaking engagement was part of the Free to Succeed Tour, or the Freedom Tour as some would refer to it as. I had been waiting for this day for a few months and was so excited, that I just could not contain myself! I had met Jasmine previously when her sister came to speak at APU, but I had not met David Jay. Tears come to my eyes when I think about the numerous things they have both done to impact my journey into the professional photography arena.

They have done so much for so many photographers like myself to make our lives so much more free. DJ is huge on freedom in the photography business and encourages others to become freedom ambassadors by spending more time away from our computers in order to have more time behind the camera and with our clients. And when it comes to Jasmine, she spoke eloquently about how we need to brand ourselves in our businesses, take care of our clients as we would want to be taken care of, and really find our own unique passion in our business. I appreciate both Jasmine and DJ so much for this rockin' evening and am so excited to share with them some of the things we will be working on this fall.

I also had the opportunity to meet [b]ecker, who is HILARIOUS by the way. He was too cute for words and was just hamming it up with everyone and sharing more about the up and coming [b]school. There were so many great photographers at this event. Some who have visited my blog or I had visited theirs. It is so nice to finally put a face to a name like Hanssie, and Christopher Wren and Shawn Kloster! It is a super small world we live in! I work with Chris's Mom and Shawn's Grandmother at APU. Crazy! Some people joke about the 6 degrees of separation of Tira. It may be true!

The evening would not be complete without meeting Allie, DJ's girlfriend, and Shyla. They were so sweet and encouraging, that it felt like we had been friends for years. Shyla moved to Boston recently, so hopefully I can connect with her again soon. Allie has a brother who attends APU and will be studying in South Africa this semester.

I can't wait to reconnect with everyone I met at this great event!

DJ and Jasmine, thank you so much for an incredible, life changing evening! You both ROCK!

*all of the pics were taken with my "pink" point and shoot! :)