Who am I?

I love God, my daughters, my family, and my friends. I am loyal to them all. I am addicted to social media. I like artsy movies and low brow comedies.

I am in love with love. I believe in making a stellar first impression. I am often called the Black Martha Stewart by my friends. Flowers are my passion. Animals and babies make me happy. Faith, coffee and success keep me motivated. My word is my bond.

What do I do?

I specialize in boudoir and portrait photography. Flower and food photography are my personal passions. I found my passion for photography in the strangest of ways. All my life I watched my siblings shoot, and I never thought I was artistic or creative enough to do what they did. I met a man whose photography I admired, and when I asked how to do it, he said, "just shoot." I thought he was being silly.

Right before my daughter's birthday, I could not find my little point and shoot camera. I looked and looked for it before I finally gave up and bought a more advanced camera. After her birthday party, I went shooting the people on Devon Street in Chicago. Within an hour, I had 173 images on my camera, and I was hooked. I posted them on Facebook, and I was BLOWN away by the response. People loved my work. People started asking me to take their portraits, and that is how TLD Photography was born.

About six months later, I found my old, rinky dink camera locked in my safe. The irony of locking something away was not lost on me. I never looked back after that. I gave that camera to my daughter, Trinity, and went on to buy two more professional cameras.

I guess I should not have been surprised with the way I captured people in my camera. I have always been an empath and a people watcher. I've always been in tune to the emotions of complete strangers. I've often looked at someone and wondered what they were going through, I wanted to know more about them. What I did not know was that I was capable of capturing that same curiosity through my lens.

It was also around this time that I lost my job. Over the course of the year, I lost my home, my life savings, and my credit. I no longer question why it took 40 years to find my artistic calling. God put a camera in my hands to save my life.