Jen Rozenbaum Finds A Profitable Passion and Purpose Helping Woman See Their Beauty with Boudoir Photography Starting From Her Bedroom!

Jen Rozenbaum

In 2008, Jen Rozenbaum left her job with a family business to have her first child. With what little time she had as a stay at home mom to an infant daughter, she taught herself how to take photos. Turned out she had quite a knack for it and her passion photography was born. 

In an AOL video profile, Rozenbaum says shortly thereafter, she discovered Boudoir Photography and fell in love with the genre, telling her husband, she knew what she wanted to do when she grew up and that was to become a Boudoir Photographer. Forty Eight hours later, Jen started her business out of her bedroom!

Rosenbaum explains to AOL that she perceives Boudoir Photography as an opportunity for woman to explore their sensuality, intimacy, and femininity through an amazing experience of dressing up, putting on make-up and above all, stepping out of their comfort zone.

Jenerations

Jen wants woman as clients that want to participate in the boudoir session for themselves, but can also serve as a gift to husbands or boyfriends, Rosenbaum’s passion for Boudoir Photography drives her purpose which is to make a difference in women’s lives by encouraging them to feel “confident and desirable by showing women they are beautiful, worthy and can be a little fearless” through photos that are tasteful and sexy at the same time.

She has worked with women who have survived breast cancer, woman who have lost everything and woman trying to save their marriages.

In the AOL Video, Rozenbaum says she believes every woman is beautiful. Her job is to help them find their particular beauty and to empower woman with a side that they may not show every day, but is inside of them.

Jen coaches her clients every step of the way, saying she does not just tell them to stand there and look sexy. Posing has become a specialty of Rozenbaum.

Jenerations

In a Q & A with the Boudoir Forum, Jen explains her love of Boudoir, “I love the transformation. There is nothing better than when a client sees themselves all done up and how awesome their bodies look and they say ‘WOW – that doesn’t even look like me!’ Except it totally does! It’s such a thrill to show them the beauty that they behold.”

In a mini profile for Entrepreneur Magazine, Jen says that “She meets personally with every client before a shoot. During the session, she makes sure to focus on both taking compelling photos and making her client comfortable. She tells them about her kids, makes fun of herself and makes it clear that her studio is a ‘no judgment" zone’”

In response to many requests, future plans call for couples shoots. Rozenbaum tells Entrepreneur Magazine, “We'll just have to set up boundaries and make clear what people can and cannot do together during the shoots," she says. At the end of the day, boudoir needs to be about beauty and sexuality, nothing else."

In November 2011, Jen Rozenbaum opened a studio called Jenerations in Long Island City NY.

In Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi, I write about passion, purpose and finding your profitable passion in great detail. Passion means what interests you the most. We all have unique passions in life separate and distinct from anyone else. By giving it some thought, you can easily figure out what your passions are. Many of our passions, however, may yet to be discovered. Jen Rozenbaum did not pick up a camera until 2008 and quickly discovered a new passion which she has turned into a profitable passion with her Boudoir Photography business. Don’t be afraid to try new things, you may discover a passion you never knew you had and turn it into a profitable passion.

Passion and/or a profitable passion drives purpose. In Jen Rosenbaum’s case her purpose is to empower woman by showing them they have a sensual and sexy side they may never have thought they had.

When you add the other principles in the Be Happi model to passion and purpose; belief, enthusiasm, heart, attitude and imagination, success cannot help but to find you!

On her website, Jenerations, Rozenbaum says, “I believe in hard work, doing what you love, and challenging yourself in any way that you can. If you do those three things with all your heart - you will learn and grow in ways you can't even imagine.

Well said.

To learn more about passion, purpose and finding your profitable passion, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

MB

Artist IO Tillett Wright Finds Passion and Purpose in Fifty Shades of Gay

Artist and Photographer IO Tillett Wright found her passion and purpose in life through a personal struggle with her identity while growing up in New York City. In a video for Ted Talks, entitled Fifty Shades of Gay, Wright explains;

“If this was a war with two disparate sides, I, by default, fell on team gay, because I certainly wasn't 100 percent straight. At the time I was just beginning to emerge from this eight-year personal identity crisis zigzag that saw me go from being a boy to being this awkward girl that looked like a boy in girl's clothes to the opposite extreme of this super skimpy, over-compensating, boy-chasing girly-girl to finally just a hesitant exploration of what I actually was, a tomboyish girl who liked both boys and girls depending on the person.”

IO asked hundreds of people she met along the way to quantify themselves on a scale of one to 100 percent gay. What she found was many were just like her…somewhere in between.

This begs the question, if so many are not completely straight or completely gay, where do you draw the line when it comes to discrimination?

Watch the full video with IO Tillett Wright below;

Wright says, “I loved these people, and I admired their freedom, but I watched as the world outside of our utopian bubble exploded into these raging debates where pundits started likening our love to bestiality on national television. And this powerful awareness rolled in over me that I was a minority, and in my own home country, based on one facet of my character. I was legally and indisputably a second-class citizen.

I was not an activist. I wave no flags in my own life. But I was plagued by this question: How could anyone vote to strip the rights of the vast variety of people that I knew based on one element of their character? How could they say that we as a group were not deserving of equal rights as somebody else?

And then it occurred to me, perhaps if they could look into the eyes of the people that they were casting into second-class citizenship it might make it harder for them to do. It might give them pause.”

IO has since photographed over 2000 people who fall somewhere on the spectrum between gay and straight.

“I had spent a year photographing this new generation of girls, much like myself, who fell kind of between-the-lines -- girls who skateboarded but did it in lacy underwear, girls who had boys' haircuts but wore girly nail polish, girls who had eye shadow to match their scraped knees, girls who liked girls and boys who all liked boys and girls who all hated being boxed in to anything.”

IO’s photographs can be viewed at Self Evident Truths. 

Wright's ultimate goal: 10,000 portraits and a nationwide rethinking of discriminatory laws.

Whether you agree or disagree with IO’s cause, Ms. Wright has found passion and purpose through an issue that was personal and important to her. She uses her talent and passion for art and photography to portray this group of people that “fall in between the lines” and combines it with her passion for equality for all, giving IO’s life purpose and meaning.

I applaud IO Tillett Wright’s passion, talent and purpose. As a conservative, I believe in personal liberty for all and abhor discrimination is any form and against any group of people. Admittedly and unfortunately, this is a minority view within the conservative community, but to my way of thinking it is the only consistent and responsible position for conservatives to take. 

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator Ron Portman are shining examples of taking a consistent position of personal liberty for all. They did so after personal experiences with a gay family member, but it should not have to come to that. Conservatives should stand for personal liberty for all and despise discrimination in any form against any group of people, regardless of lifestyle.

For more on passion, purpose and finding your profitable passion, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

MB

“Don’t Focus on Success, That Will Really Do You Wrong," Says 18 Year Old Photographer Olivia Bee..

The other day, I ran across an article and video interview by The Weekly Flickr, profiling 18 year old Professional Photographer, Olivia Bee.  

Wise beyond her years, Ms. Bee is living the Don’t SeekSuccess – Be Happi Model to the fullest.

While in middle school at age 11, Olivia could not get into a video production class and her school counselor placed her in a photography class instead.  “It was kind of like the best mistake that could have been made by my school counselor, because I just, like, fell in love with this art,” she says.

Olivia’s passion for photography did not come overnight, however, it took some time for her to warm up to the idea.

She says, “I was really frustrated with it,” she says. “But then, slowly I became less and less frustrated and more determined to make really nice photos.”

Lesson: Keep an open mind, you never know when a new life changing passion could be discovered.

Olivia started posting her images to Flickr.  “I just really liked to show the world what I was seeing,” Olivia says. Than something amazing happened to this young talented Photographer.  Athletic Shoe Company Converse noticed her photos on Flickr and contacted her about working on a photo shoot for them. Olivia was a freshman in High School and only 15 years old!

Watch Olivia Bee's interview;

She says, “I was a freshman in high school when Converse approached me. Their ad agency kept sending me Flickr messages, and I just kept ignoring it, (Thinking the messages were spam) and so finally, Converse emailed me directly and was like ‘Hey, this is Converse, we wanna shoot with you’ and I was like ‘Whoa, I know about Converse.”

“I was so scared, but by the end of the day, I was like, ‘You can do this for a living?!  Sign me up!” said Olivia.

Since that initial shoot with Converse, Olivia has worked for Adidas, The New York Times, Le Monde, Levi's, Subaru, and many other high profile clients.

Olivia’s advice to others;

“Don’t focus on success, that will really do you wrong. Success in terms of money and fame — that won’t mean anything. You should focus on success in terms of what you love and what makes you happy.”

To paraphrase, Dr. Victor Frankel, in his book, Man's Search for Meaning, first published over 50 years ago, says don’t aim at success because you will often miss the mark. Olivia Bee at 18 years of age seems to have grasped this concept well.

In order to be successful, to find meaning and joy in your life, follow your passion, derive your purpose, and strive for excellence. In other words, “Be Happi.” Aspire to follow the core principles of Belief, Enthusiasm, Heart, Attitude, Passion, Purpose and Imagination and success will find you!

It does not matter how old you are, what challenges you face, or what your past has been. Find your passion and you will accomplish amazing things.

Tomorrow I will profile somebody who has found their profitable passion in spite of a severe disability. Stay tuned.

Be Great!

MB