Do you struggle to see your own beauty? Are you one of the many women who scrutinizes her own perceived “flaws”? Photographer Jessie Rolton of Love Me True felt exactly the same way – so she went on a journey to love who she is – the drama geek, the bookworm, the creative photographer. Now her mission is for all women to find their own unique beauty and confidence; to help you reconnect with yourself and be in awe of who you truly are – through photography. We spoke to Jessie to learn more.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
Growing up I had always known I wanted to work for myself, I just didn’t know what I would do or what that would look like. As a teenager and growing into my adulthood I had struggled with feeling good enough or empowered and the more I talked to other women the more I could see a trend. A few years ago I started doing some self-development along with managing with a ongoing chronic pain condition called vulvodynia. This started me on a journey to not only learn to love myself but also to empower all women to love who they are. It just happens to be that I achieve this best working one to one with women in a photography session where they get to see themselves in a new light.
The Launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
When I first started out, I was photographing anything I could get my hands on to make some money (as most photographers do). To be honest I still feel like I am at the beginning – at least with the women’s empowerment photography as I have only really been focusing on it for the last eight months.
It’s been a lot of networking and talking to other like-minded women to spread the word on what I do.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
The best thing I did was start going to networking meetings like BNI and Venus. This has grown my confidence tenfold. I learnt very quickly there is only so much you can do from behind a computer before you have to get out in the real world and start showing up. Through this I have met so many incredible women (and men) who have helped me grow and develop on this journey.
I guess the biggest breakthrough for me however was mentally. To even get to a point of going to a networking event (the thought of talking about my business in front of a group of people used to terrify me), I had to shift my imposter syndrome mentality. I was only 25 when I started on this journey and I struggled with “Who am I to be talking about this?”. I have now switched this to see how lucky I am to be able to speak with women about loving who they are and believe in my WHY 100%. There are days where the imposter syndrome rears it head, but I just go back and ground myself in my why and get back to speaking about self-love and empowerment.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Right now I am in a position where I don’t have a family and recently have ended a four-year relationship. So I am currently terrible at balancing life and work. In saying that though, I live for my why and my purpose so a lot of what I do inside of my work spills over to my personal life. You will constantly find me talking to anyone who will listen about women’s empowerment and how important it is to exist in photos. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by friends and family who support me and have the same values around empowering women.
