Hidden Gems: Meet Jess Suworoff of Suworoff Food Styling

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Suworoff.

Hi Jess, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I ended up in a creative career because it always felt like the right fit for me and has always been the most fulfilling. I grew up in a household where one parent was a professional artist, and the other a professional art conservator.

This early exposure to two very different forms of the art world (an artist vs a career that supported creative/artistic work) is something I’ve experimented with in my career since I began working in Advertising Photography. To me, being a professional creative is a different calling from being an artist. I identify with the term creative, more so than the term artistic.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Hindsight is 20/20, looking back I can see how all of my professional ventures helped me get to where I am. I was lucky to know from a very young age I was deeply interested in commercial arts and always worked in the professional photography field, either as a photographer, studio manager, retoucher, photo editor, photo producer, and eventually stylist.

My biggest professional struggle was navigating the Australian work visa process when I lived in Sydney for 2 years. Ultimately I ran out of visa options and returned to Washington DC where I got a job as a photo producer for Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus… as they say ‘when one door closes, another one opens’.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
A lot of food stylists come from a culinary background, I’m a bit different in that I come from the advertising photo world. I found my career over time, working in advertising food photography studios and producing photography for advertising/commercial use.

Many years ago, while working as an assistant for a commercial photo studio in Sydney, Australia, I would fill in as a food stylist when one wasn’t available or there was no budget for one. I have such fond memories of those projects and remember loving the creative challenges that came along with those jobs. While working as a photo editor for a magazine, I frequently need to find and hire, freelancers for projects domestically and internationally.

I learned a lot about the inner workings of estimating, finding creatives, booking jobs, and the realities of client-creative relationships. During this time I was also moonlighting as a freelance image retoucher for clients like the Food Network and Cooking Channel. Hiring freelancers, and also being a freelancer at the same time, helped me hone my understanding of the business behind being creative for hire.

The missing puzzle piece to figuring out my career was combining my professional experience with a personal passion and appreciation for cooking. I love to cook, and being in the kitchen creating is a happy place for me. Over the years I’ve looked at a LOT of food photography and developed an eye for how best to convey a client’s needs thru still photos or videos.

What are your plans for the future?
This year going to be full of some fun new challenges! I’ve got a few big projects that will be published this year and I can’t wait to share them on my website and instagram @PlayingWithFoodPHX. I can’t share the details just yet, but stay tuned!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.suworoff.com
• Instagram: @PlayingWithFoodPHX

Image Credits
Adrian Delsi, Natasha Mishano, and Rick Gayle