Daily Inspiration: Meet Kayla Esparza

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Esparza.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story begins with a mouth full of braces and a heart full of entrepreneurial spirit and flaming passion. I was a 7th grader almost 8th grader when I was gifted my very first standard DSLR camera one Christmas.

It was a joy I had never experienced after building a love for photography the past few years, taking photos of everything that made life beautiful – the outdoors, my family & my friends. Holding that DSLR for the first time made the first big impact on my future of becoming a full-time wedding photographer. This was my first tool to success, and so I took charge and went full throttle (this will become important later on.

I moved from taking photos of the outdoors, friends and family, and moved on to capturing strangers.

I had senior photo after the senior photo shoot, and was beginning to book out my weeks — I was only a junior in high school so you could see how I already fell in love with creating for a living vs. working at McDonald’s with all my friends (no shame to anyone who works at McDonald’s because I’ve done my time in Starbucks and five guys burgers and fries).

But falling in love with something or someone for me is hard — because when I fall, I have fallen and usually I can’t go backward. Photography became my outlet, my passion, my goals, and my dreams. Everything I did, all my time, was dedicated to wanting to become the best that I could be.

But there are also reality checks — I “HAD” to go to college, I “HAD” to get a “REAL” job. I say these with quotes because it’s all that I grew up knowing. Heck, I feel it’s even a fair argument to say this is what my generation grew up knowing — because it’s all that our parents knew too.

But the world is big and wide and we only have one life and the life I wanted to live didn’t include spending years in college to get a degree to then get a job that I don’t love. You see, my success story isn’t going to end with “and now, I make____” this much, or “I have this much passive income” etc. No, my success comes from the fact that I was determined to be a photographer whether I was making 6 figures or no figures.

The reason I’m a photographer. Well, there are many, I truly don’t know how I can simply define my love for photography other than beauty. Feelings. Connection. Togetherness. Moments to be remembered years from now. All of it sounds mushy and gushy to most, but to me, that sounds like the art of creating.

Now I get to photograph weddings all over the world, make besties with those who higher me, and get to teach other photographers how to take their businesses full speed at my online workshop Full Throttle.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Every successful person has seen challenges. Isn’t that a saying? If you don’t fail, you’ll never succeed. Because to know failure, is to know success.

I wish I could say it’s been an easy journey, but my career really started to take off after I moved to California 5 years ago. There’s always a choice to be made. One choice I could have made was to give up and move on with my life. Or my other choice was that despite moving states away from all that I knew, I was determined to make myself known in my new area, so my business could thrive.

And because I chose to NOT give up, I’m now booking weddings all around the world, and not just in California or Washington where I am primarily based.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in wedding and elopement photography. I thrive with couples who want a chill day with all their fam and friends, but also have moments dedicated to fun and JOY. I’m a pretty loud, crazy, and hopefully funny individual.

My goal is to always make couples shine in their photos, but mostly I focus on capturing their joy. Because joy, kindness, and happiness can truly change the world — so if I can capture that out in my clients and give them those captured reminders, I’ve done my job.

What I’m most proud of though is being able to support and take care of my family with my career. I also aim to bring my son on as many adventures as I can to introduce him to all kinds of people, religions, races, and backgrounds so he can grow into the human I wish him to be.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I wouldn’t really say I have a good example of luck. I believe the universe is always listening and always there to give us what we need. Ask, and one shall receive.

Of course, I don’t sit idly by with a platter in my hands waiting for things to be handed to me. But when I was first becoming full time I had to finally start being the person I wanted to be and that’s how I began to live the life I truly wanted to live.

I took action, and those actions all had reactions. It took action, time, and consistent effort for me to truly see my impact and growth.

Pricing:

• Wedding packages begin at $5k
• Combo photo and video pricing begins at 9k
• Mentoring begins at $1k

Contact Info:

• Email: kaylaaesparza@gmail.com
• Website: www.kaylaaesparza.com
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/kaylaaesparza