“Go to school, graduate, get a job, work your way up, and maybe one day you’ll start your own business”… these seemed like the most logical and viable steps to take through life. Up until 2020, everything was going to plan; I had good job offers lined up for once I graduated from Parsons School of Design. I felt confident I was on the right path, to one day, having gained enough experience and some courage, to potentially start my own brand.
I was a lonely kid. I remember in the early 80s turning the key to my mom's front door and wishing I’d open it to find a house full of people. But it was just me in the afternoons. I had no siblings, my parents were divorced, and my mom worked a corporate job to support us. I spent after school watching cartoons or playing video games alone.
With the amount of Vitamin D I’ve consumed in the past year, I should have gotten stock for it. Prevention, pain relief, these are the basics tenets of any product out on the market. Not getting enough Sun? Go for a walk. Can’t go out due to pandemic? 1000mg of Vitamin D, stat. Art is my vitamin/drug of choice. I’m a pusher of picturesque portrait pleasure.
I've always been fascinated by people and their unique narratives. I am dangerously curious and want to try everything. We only have so many years on this planet, so it's impossible to try everything unless you are lucky enough to experience a slice of life through candid conversations daily. I've hosted for The Travel Channel, NowThis, and Thrillist and fell in love with energetic interactions and the wealth of knowledge you can gain in just a few minutes from interviewing someone.
This is the time of year when we all attempt to clean up our acts, create new habits and lose those extra holiday pounds. As a health coach this tends to be a pretty busy time of year for me but 2021 is feeling a bit different. While there are still people looking to lose that extra holiday weight, there is also the fun new addition of pandemic weight (thank you 2020!), and for the first time there seems to be a bit more intention behind it.
I was lucky enough to apprentice with the late great Chuck Bogana. Chuck being the last of a bygone era having done the final printing and retouching of legends Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and other masterful photographic Artists, was a master printer who taught me not only the finer points and the artistry that is fine art printing, but in his quiet zen like way, opened me up to what a photograph is and can truly be.
Do you get it now? Are we all on the same page? The last few months have made it abundantly clear, you're in the Marketing run of your life. And I mean Run. I hate to say it, but this 24/7 frenzy of online media and social medication is going to slow down soon. Once cities are fully open, Summer rampages on and human contact is deemed OK, we're going to bask in life post digital detention.
I caught up with an old friend this week. It's been a year but it feels like yesterday since we last spoke. Midway through the conversation she says... did you know so and so is now a photographer? I chucked but she wasn't laughing. Ah yes, another five minute photographer. Not an uncommon statement in any craft which got me thinking of the millions of people, during this strange days that have now learned a new skill and confused it for knowing the craft...
With parts of the country opening back up for business, the need for quality imagery online and on the street couldn’t be at a higher premium. We tapped into the brilliance of Entrepreneur and Real Estate industry veteran, Monika Rais who has been helping shed light to owners, investors & proptech startup firms navigating the complicated NYC real estate landscape for over a decade.
She’s over it. Sweatpants, Non-Stop Screen Nonsense, Awkward Camera Angles featuring your Nostrils. Tania Sterl founder of Sterl on Style is an Image Coach, Personal Stylist, Fashion Expert, Speaker, and published writer. With 18 years’ experience as a fashion designer and an intuitive approach to style, she’s got the vision for not only your next Zoom meeting, but on who you’ll be on the other side of this Pandemic.
