“Elsewhere, On Assignment”


Travel does something to me I can’t fully explain.


The closest I can get to it is this — it feels like I’ve been transmitted through the womb and birthed into a new body somewhere else. New vision. Heightened sensitivity. A kind of childlike curiosity that makes everything feel alive again. It’s almost astral. And every time, I’m reminded—this is where I’m supposed to be.

Smiling woman with braids wearing a shiny holographic jumpsuit sitting on red stadium steps in sunlight.
A smiling woman in a leopard print dress sits on a concrete planter in a sunny urban plaza.
Smiling woman in red puff-sleeve top and wide-leg pants posing against a blue and white brick wall.

Last year, I traveled to Nashville for two days with designer Shontae Buffington of Sewing For My Sanity. This wasn’t new for us — we’ve been building together for the past three years. But this time, it was different. There’s a certain weight that comes with someone trusting you in a place that isn’t home. On their time. On their dollar. With no micromanaging, just belief. That kind of freedom does something to an artist. Give me room to do what my soul does best, and I’ll show you why choosing me mattered.

A makeup artist applies cosmetics to a seated woman with braids in a dressing room with red door.
Young Black woman with braids in leather jacket and skirt sitting on stone steps outdoors in sunlight.
A young Black woman in a leather jacket shops at a retail store counter, holding a smartphone while smiling.
Display of decorative buttons and embellishments in white and gold tones, arranged on a retail counter in a craft store.
Smiling woman in shiny iridescent jumpsuit and sneakers poses confidently in front of a mosaic wall near a pool table.
Smiling woman in patterned jacket and navy pants leaning against a red brick wall outdoors.
Person wearing vibrant red wide-leg pants and colorful embroidered brown cowboy boots leaning against a white brick wall.
Smiling woman with locs in leather jacket enjoying fries and burger platter with drinks at outdoor cafe table.

Shontae creates from a place that doesn’t recognize limits. Her work carries this vivacious energy, the kind that makes her feel larger than life, regardless of stature. There’s a superhero quality to it. And what makes our dynamic work is simple: we don’t need many words. We see it before it exists. She steps out in something newly created, and somehow it’s already the best thing I’ve seen her make. And every time, it calls something higher out of me.

Smiling woman with curly blonde hair holding a red cocktail, wearing a checkered dress, seated on a teal sofa.
Person holding leopard print Adidas Samba sneakers with white stripes, wearing brown trousers outdoors.
A smiling woman in a red cut-out dress walks along a wet urban sidewalk at dusk near a white building.
Smiling woman in navy floral dress and heels posing beside a vintage black car on a wet street.
Woman wearing a yellow floral one-shoulder dress walking outdoors on a sunny day.
Woman in colorful swimsuit reading a book on a lounge chair by the pool wearing sunglasses.

We moved through the city quickly — outfits changing, locations shifting, light evolving. Six looks, sometimes more. Different textures. Different pockets of the city. Making something out of whatever was in front of us. Even though it was my first time in Nashville, it didn’t feel unfamiliar. We flowed the same way we do back home in Florida. That’s what synergy does. That’s what trust does.


Everything just… clicked.

There’s a certain kind of work I’m here to do.


This isn’t something I chose just to pay bills.

If I’m being honest, sometimes it doesn’t.


But I understand my assignment.


I’m here to transmute.


To take emotion, story, presence

and turn it into something you can hold onto long after the moment passes.


I’m not the photographer you hire if this is surface-level.

If it’s quick. If it’s just content.


I’m the one you bring in when it means something.


When you want it felt.

When you want it remembered.

When you want it to outlive you.

Woman in blue gown and pink heels standing on yellow barrier under red traffic light at night.

When I’m around, I become your third eye. The small things don’t escape me. The moment you feel the wind on a hot day and pause in gratitude—I’ve already seen it. The voice in the room that isn’t being heard — I’ve already responded. My sensitivity is what you’re hiring. Once I understand what matters to you, it becomes important to me. And I’ll do what it takes to preserve it—so you can feel it again… and again… and again.


⸻


If you’re building something that carries weight — a story, a brand, a moment, a transition and you need someone who can see it before it fully arrives,


I’m open to traveling.