Life & Work with Roxanne Engstrom of Knightdale

Today we’d like to introduce you to Roxanne Engstrom

Hi Roxanne, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am a visual storyteller that focuses on human emotion & connection. I help families, individuals, & couples to share their beautiful messy story.
I also partner with humanitarian, non-for-profit organizations, and individuals building their brand share their stories with intention, dignity, & excellence, so they can have a greater impact on their communities.

Photography sort of happened to me. It arose from a deep desire to honor the stories of women that became my dear friends.

Several years ago I moved with my family to a small island in East Africa where I soon realized I had very little to offer and much to learn. There was such joy in the friendships I found there- forged through differences and a decision to move towards one another in mutual respect and love. I did not photograph my friends until I until I was invited in. Relationship OVER images became so important to me.

These friendships left me profoundly changed and impact how and why I tell visual stories today. Being curious & open to learning is central to my approach. Focusing on our common humanity & calling us to action is my passion. More on my founder’s story here: https://hawaimages.com/2024/02/18/why-photography-a-messy-founders-story/

Images are powerful and can craft, reinforce, undo, or influence our thoughts and beliefs about others. Images have the potential to dissuade us from fear of the unknown and move us toward real love.

I am currently ready to build and serve in a new area- Raleigh, North Carolina after building my business and serving clients in Chicagoland for the last 10 years. I have also expanded to offering Brand Storytelling Sessions https://hawaimages.com/branding-storytelling

I love offering personal support for other entrepreneurs stepping out and helping them craft and share their story with others so they can grow their businesses in intentional and aligned ways!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have and continue to be so many struggles along the entrepreneurship journey. A recent reflection on failure as feedback:
Storytime: I recently invested in some new bougie lighting. I was confident I could teach myself how to use it because over and over again in the last 10 years of business, I have put in the work to learn new things and have been committed to improvement. Heck, I started my photography business by searching YouTube for “how to blur the background of a photo” and then going out and practicing on my kids at the park.

Back to me fumbling with trying to set up a softbox…
After multiple calls with support, watching videos, and trying for over two hours, I found myself crying in my office, thinking the natural solution is to completely quit my business and never again try something new ever again.

As a BIG feeler, that’s a pretty normal reaction which is okay to have and acknowledge. It just shouldn’t be what defines my action or the moments after that feeling.

Instead of accepting defeat, I took a deep breath and then took a break. I ate something, went on a walk, and prayed. After some perspective I realized that although the lighting was and is much harder than I initially thought, this was not a massive fail. It was feedback.

I now know I will need more time and possibly a mentor to help me learn these new skills. I need to give myself grace, gather more resources, and readjust my expectations. I also need to remember I can do hard and new things. I have proven that to myself over and over again in the entrepreneur journey. You can too, friend!

I’m honest about the gritty part of learning because I truly believe success and confidence is built, not found. My entrepreneurial journey has been scrappy and rough with lots of ups and downs, but somewhere along the way I’ve grown more comfortable with learning new things. That’s good because if I want to elevate my skills while raising the bar for myself and my clients, I have to keep stepping out and learning.

Anything from this story sound familiar? I think many of us need to check the stories we tell ourselves about failure. Instead of telling ourselves “I’m a failure, I’m not cut out for this, I should just quit,” we need to find another option. Would you ever speak to a friend or your child like that?

Neither would I.

What if we embrace everything as feedback instead? What if, when we hit the hard spots in our journey, we saw it as an opportunity to learn and grow? When we’re learning, we know and accept that there is something we don’t know, yet. We can recognize that we don’t have a certain skill, yet.

Changing our perspectives from defeat to feedback allows us to embrace learning and most importantly, it allows us to keep moving forward.

That’s not to say it’s as easy as flipping a switch. Embracing learning brings its own struggles and that means you are showing up and trying!

I hope you’re able to take a moment where you’ve recently felt defeat and think through how it could be feedback instead.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I ask my clients what sets me part- that has been so helpful in differentiating myself in the photography space. What they most often say is the way I help them feel more confident and show up authentically. I partner with humanitarian, non-for-profit organizations, and individuals building their brand share their stories with intention, dignity, & excellence, so they can have a greater impact on their communities. As a female entrepreneur I get it- the messy, the hard: Being an entrepreneur is not easy. It requires lots of failing forward, like tears in my car after not booking a dream client but still prepping for a session that night. I want to make entrepreneurship seem like it’s all flexible lunches with friends and little hard work. The flexibility is an amazing perk but one that rewards all the grit required. I started a community for female entrepreneurs to tell the real story I wish existed when I was trying to grow my business. I love partnering with organizations doing good and hard work in the world. I also help- especially women in business build their confidence through creating intentional storytelling for their business and brand starting with collaborating with them. Brand Storytelling Sessions are all about building confidence and communicating who you are and what makes you unique with your ideal clients through imagery. I am most proud of how my clients tell me they feel after our sessions- I take being your hype squad seriously!

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
This is tough as it is always hard to predict the future but I do see a trend of people sharing their authentic real self in their brand and online- it is not just about perfectly curated images and aesthetic feeds. People are more savvy- they want to know more than just the surface stuff. We want to know people in real ways and long for meaningful connections. I am excited to continue to partner with multi-passionate entrepreneurs and refine my process to help them share their stories with intention ad excellence so they can step forward in big and small ways as their authentic selves and build a business they love that serves people well.

Pricing:

• Session investment is based on your needs- here is more about Brand Storytelling: https://hawaimages.com/branding-storytelling

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hawaimages.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hawaimages/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hawaimages
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@roxanneengstrom8437
• Other: https://roxengstrom.com/

Image Credits
Black Blazer image in Emily Frazier- rest are me