The art feeds my mind and soul and the job pays my bills. Finding the balance can be a challenge, but I am very fortunate for it.
I am not fond of giving advice; people are different, circumstances are different, motivations vary, but overall I would say that no amount of success or attention will create happiness in your life unless one is happy within themselves and we learn that the money won't buy it. So find out what brings you joy and inspires happiness, and fight for it.
There is an interesting and new way to be excited about the fashion world today maybe. The traditional path of fashion as simple magazine images has dissolved - we are seeing new and innovative ways to share, create, and enjoy ideas. I am challenged to learn and explore paths of finding new photographers, stylists, and vision-makers online or through direct contact, connecting with ideas and creativity in new ways, and making images with different outlets. Sometimes more unbridled avenues and unconventional ways lead to things I wouldn't have thought of yet.
The key to longevity in any industry is respect.
Strangely enough, for me, Instagram has been a creatively freeing and inspiring format lately. I have been so very resistant to nearly all forms of media, yet finally this made it into my atmosphere, and in discovering this I have been propelled into some movement and new ideas. Real life images, curated images, even the visual diarrhea are incredible fertilization for movement in some direction or another.
