153: Real Women, Real Stories with Emily Irwin

Sabrina: Welcome to the Shoot at Straight podcast, where honesty meets heart and real talk actually means something. I’m your host, Sabrina Gebhart, and each week we get vulnerable, practical, and just a little bit bold so you can feel seen, supported, and ready to take the next step in your photography journey.

Let’s go. Welcome back to the Shoot at Straight podcast, my friends. This is another installment of Real Women Real Stories. It’s this candid series that we’re doing where I’m sitting down with women who have been through the Root to Rise Mastermind, and these conversations are so fun because they are honest and vulnerable and they share these women’s growth stories.

And as a reminder, my hope for you, the listener, is that when you hear these stories where these women were, what shifted for them, how they evolved, that you will feel less alone in your business journey and that you’ll be more inspired and maybe even see a piece of yourself in their story. So let’s dive in.

Today I have my friend Emily Irwin, and before we get started in all of our chat, which is gonna be so fun, Emily, will you introduce yourself to the audience? I’m Emily.

Emily: I am a family photographer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I am a mom to two littles. They’re still pretty little. Um, so we’re still in the throes of toddler and early childhood.

I stay home with them, so I am intentionally part-time and I really enjoy getting the quirky fun. Sides of people out. So I’m always about the experience and how much fun I can have with my clients. And I jive well really well with kids. Um, littles especially. I have been a nanny. I’ve worked at summer camps.

I’ve worked with kids for a long time. The, uh, random adventures we go on are the best part for me.

Sabrina: Yeah, I love it. You’re also a super creative by nature. Like you’re one of those artists that truly like you dabble in like. All of the different types of being creative. Tell me about all the different things that you do.

Because every, like, I’m constantly seeing you either mention it on our calls or in Foxer or sharing it on social media and I’m like, she’s like the true definition of a creative person, which I love. So what all are you doing for

Emily: creativity? Well, kind of my background is I went to art school at the University of Michigan and so I’ve always known I wanted to be creative.

I actually, when I was in high school, my mom or my grandma said to me, don’t do that thing. When I was talking about maybe doing archeology as like my major, she’s like, do that other thing that you love, and she’s such a, she was such a pragmatic like down to earth person. She lived through the Great Depression.

It was very much the like practical side of things. But she like allowed me to live that dream. She just told me to do that and that just like triggered something in me that I could do this. And so I went to to art school and the art school that I went to was, you learn everything. So I know how to weld, I know how to 3D model.

I know how to work with fibers, like all of these things. Then the end, it was supposed to be all conceptual. I did intentionally or initially go in thinking I wanted to be a photojournalist, but that was right at the time that like digital photography started to come into play. And I decided I didn’t really want the live to work life.

I wanted the work to live life and all of the things that I would wanna do would be like National Geographic of course. ’cause that’s what everyone wanted to do. And that’s just a lot of traveling. And I realized I like the little small quaint life. So I kind of switched gears and focused more on painting.

I painted with this group in town called the Brush Monkeys, and we paint windows around the holidays, but kind of all through the year. Now, the person that owns it, she’s a muralist, so there’s tons of murals around town, and she grabs me sometimes, but I haven’t done that as much lately because my photography business has boomed more and I have the little kids and I’m taking care of them.

So it’s hard to to step away for the extended period of time that they would need, but. I’m just, I, I do everything. My mom used to make my clothes. Um, my dad was very much a, a crafter. Like he, I’ve been shooting archery since I was really little. He would make his own bow strings and so, so I’ve just always been around people doing things and making things.

Now we know it’s likely connected to all of our A DHD problems. We’re just like constantly stepping into new projects. But yeah, I just, I like building and like I’m building a garden right now. I like baking. I see that as like a creative outlet. Um, and that is the one area where I don’t feel like I need to monetize it.

And so it’s really nice to have that as my, like soul creative outlet where it’s just for my family or friends if I make too many cookies or whatever. So I, I dabble in a lot of things, but definitely like painting and photography have been the like main areas of focus for my whole life pretty much.

Sabrina: I love that.

And when you just said baking is what you don’t have, like feel the pull monetize. I, I felt so connected to that because same like, I, so, uh, some OG listeners will know this. Not everybody will know this, but before my photography business, I sewed children’s clothing and I had an Etsy shop where I. Like sold these over the top, like super roughly lots of different crazy patterns mixed together.

Nobody is surprised by this. Um, if you know me and my love for color and pattern and wallpaper and all this, but that was what I did before. Um, I was a photographer and I didn’t grow up learning to sew. I kind of learned later in life, but it took off and I saw it as an opportunity to monetize when we were staying home on a one income and all that.

And then that led to photography, which again, I was like, Ooh, something good that I’m creative at, that I could make money and that I monetized it. And honestly, after that. It kind of became like a running joke in my family about like, what’s she gonna pick up next that she can turn into a business? And honestly, I kind of like pushed back against that.

Like I didn’t want to have that identity and I didn’t let myself pick up any new creative hobbies for like 10 years because I was afraid that that’s what I was gonna do. And just this year, just earlier this year, I finally was like. Dang it. I wanna learn how to watercolor. I am not going to monetize this.

I’ve like committed to myself that it’s just gonna be mine and I’m gonna take lessons and it’s just for me and it’s just for fun. But I’ve had to draw a really hard line in the sand because that’s what I tend to do. And I, I’m very happy in my business the way it is now, and I don’t want another one.

And I don’t wanna start again. And. So girl, I feel that,

Emily: yeah. And also now I think it’s been easier since I started. I didn’t start my business until 2021 when weirdly the pandemic pushed me to do it. ’cause I had to leave my job in 2020 to take care of my son. Then I was gonna be off unemployment and I was like, how am I going to take care of my son and have money coming in?

’cause we still needed money. And so I finally did this thing that I had been wanting to do for forever, and there was always something in me that I was like jealous of people that were doing creative jobs. Like even though I worked with the brush monkeys, it wasn’t my main source of income. And like I was working at a PR Fortune 500 research firm and like it was just not, I mean, I liked it.

It was something different. And again. Back to the A DH adhd. Like, it was just like something tickling a different part of my brain that I don’t normally, um, engage with anymore. And so it was good for a while, but then it got like, how do I get out of this? So weirdly, the pandemic led me to this, but now that I’m in this creative business, I don’t have that jealousy and feel like I can just do things for myself now.

Like for so long it was like, how can I make this into something where I can make money from it because I need the money. And now it’s how can I step away from the thing that’s making me money that I really love and is creative, but also do something for myself? So for a while I was doing like painting commissions and I finally, when I was talking to my therapist, he was like, maybe stop doing that because you don’t seem to like it.

And I, I don’t, I like painting for myself and that’s it. And maybe eventually like could turn into something else, but like not the intention initially being that

Sabrina: I love that. Okay. I wanted to kind of start there because. There are so many different women that come through the program, right? We have true creatives like you.

We have women who did go to film school, art school, have like more of a traditional education, and then we have women more like me who like picked up a camera because they had kids or grew up with a camera in hand and just kind of fell into this. And then there are women who had always dreamed of being a photographer, but felt overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start with starting a business.

We have women that come from literally all the different backgrounds, all the different walks of life, all the different personality types, and they come together in this program and it’s just magic how well they all see each other and mesh together and support each other regardless of the different backgrounds and how we got into the same room.

So I love that. Okay. I wanna kind of back up a little bit and start at the beginning. Summer 2024, you are about to start your first run of Route to Rise. Where were you? Like, where were you physically, mentally? Did you have work challenges? Did you have emotional challenges? Where was Emily? Summer? Summer of 2024 before Roots Rise began?

Emily: Yeah, I just felt a little bit lost. I was doing well, but I just needed that extra nudge of someone else kind of hovering over me, telling me, don’t do that, or, yes, do this. You know, I just felt a little disorganized kind of with everything I. Even like how I’m talking right now, I just like can’t formulate how I felt because it was just all over the place.

Like I had just launched my new website and that felt really great and like I was just like kind of broaching into the, this is really going to be something. Not that I hadn’t been thinking that before, but like I was finally organizing myself to be like, no, I’m really gonna commit to this. So that was kind of why I joined because I was like, I need to be serious.

I need to have some accountability. Um, something that I miss about art school is having assignments. It takes away one le, one step of a blockade of thinking of something. So it kind of felt like that to me, where I just needed someone to like give me a little bit more structure because it is all up to me, like the household, the kids, the everything, and like I just needed one area of my life where I, I could have someone helping me, I guess, like holding my hand a little bit.

Sabrina: I get that and, um, I totally understand what you’re saying about like, you missed having assignments. It’s that, it’s that piece of being your own boss versus somebody else being in charge, right? Like you are not only responsible for like what you’re doing and where you’re going, but like how quickly it gets done or if it happens or not, and which direction you go.

And it’s so much freedom, which is truly a beautiful part of being an entrepreneur, but it can also be super overwhelming because it’s so much freedom and you literally can do anything or not. And not having somebody, like you said, looking over your shoulder saying, actually go this way. Actually do this thing.

Actually this is gonna be better for you. Just a little bit of guidance and it’s not. I don’t want anybody to hear this thinking that my goal is to create a bunch of mes in Root to rise. My goal is to create the best version of every woman that comes through the program. So the advice and the guidance that I’m giving is unique across the board.

Every single woman in the program has a different experience and it’s not even really roping you in, it’s just helping wrangle your thoughts and decisions a little bit. Right? Anyway, so I love that you, I love that. That’s. What kind of brought you to the program and where you were when you started. So I’m curious, what do you think has surprised you the most about participating in the program?

Emily: The introspective parts of it. So like learning about what my kind of blockades were, and specifically around money. Like we read, what was it? You’re a badass at making money last time and that. Really got me thinking and kind of going back to my grandma, that grandma that told me all the things of like, just go do the thing that you love.

She grew up in the depression and there was this thing that she always said to me, which was when I would say like, I don’t feel successful, and she passed away long before this, long before I even got married into my adult life. And she would say, do you have a roof over your head? Do you have food on the table?

Then you’re successful, which is a beautiful, wonderful sentiment. However, it made me kind of demonize money and having that realization last year that money isn’t bad. It’s a reality of life, and I want to live comfortably, and just because I make money doesn’t mean I’m a bad person. That has helped me just kind of push past some of those, and it wasn’t even necessarily like outwardly I was doing anything wrong with like pricing.

I had good pricing, profitable pricing, but I just, I. Like internally, it like turned something off in a good way in my head. And so some of those like introspective moments are, are what surprised me more than anything. I thought I was just going to like learn new skills and all this stuff, but like, and I, and I’m not a, like, as much as I love the idea of being this like boho lovely woman and like all about astrology, whatever, I’m very pragmatic and logical too.

So I just never really thought that that would happen, those like aha moments and like that. So that is really what surprised me the most. ’cause I’ve never had that real experience of just like a breakthrough of, wow, I, I need to really think hard about how I’m thinking about this.

Sabrina: Yeah. And that’s, I.

Honestly, like probably my favorite part of the container that is root to rise is that I kind of force these women to do this a little bit of inner work and, and have like, I hold a mirror up to you all and I point out the things that I’m hearing that could be blocks that I wanna make sure you’re thinking through.

I mean, on a weekly basis, we’re talking about, like, think about this mindset. Maybe you need a journal about this. Maybe we need a new mantra, maybe whatever. And so I’m, we’re always, yeah, there’s a lot of like practical, tangible, go do this, make this update, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, those things. But there’s always the underlying work of it too, because I do not believe that you can rise into the business of your dreams that you’re meant to have without doing that work.

It’s so funny because like you are not alone in that. You come in thinking you’re just gonna learn these skills and do these things because I, I recorded a podcast episode about this recently. People want the tangible steps, right? They want the checklist. They want to be able to work through this and this and this, and then have this happen.

And that is great and there is absolutely a place for that. But a lot of business growth happens in the back door with the mindset stuff. And that’s what people think is quote unquote not as important. And so they skip it because it’s not as tangible and obvious, but that’s why the women in this group have such incredible transformations because we do both at the same time.

And I love that you told that story, um, about the book we read last time. Side note, you’ve done the program twice. Yeah. And so that was in your first run of the program that we read that book. The really cool thing, I won’t spill the beans, but at the end of that run you had a huge financial breakthrough in your business.

Do you wanna share what that was?

Emily: Yeah. I had my first five figure month, so I never really, like, my goal was to make, just kind of replace the income that I had had originally in like. Eventually thinking five years from now, I would be at this point. But yeah, I, and I, it was easy too. That was the scary thing.

The scariest part was that I had, through the, um, process of starting up bru rise in the summer and into the fall, I had. Like just organize myself a little bit better and fix some of the systems that I needed fixing just with those extra little nudges. And that meant that like everything was running really smooth and I was able to get through all of that crazy month with.

Family time with making the money, with doing all the things because most of my systems were running kind of automatically like that nudge to get things to go more, a little bit automatic. I had already had that set up for my mini sessions, but I kind of pushed it a little bit further to just my main sessions.

It was surprising. I was really surprised.

Sabrina: Yeah. And like you said, it’s not something that we were actively working toward. It was like a byproduct of the work you did. And I will never forget when you sent me that Voxer and I was like, no way. I think I was literally like yelling at you in response because Hi.

That’s what I do when I get excited. Um, it was so cool because you were still, you sent me that and I wanna say you were still like 10 days out from the end of the month. And then you kept sending me updates and I was like, this is so amazing. It was really, really cool to see such a positive, like, like I said, byproduct of all the other things that we were doing.

It was really cool. Okay, so again, you’ve done the program twice. You were one of the women who joined the program first as an online only student, and then you re-enrolled as a full participation student so that you could come and join us at the retreat. How do you think being in that room, in person at the retreat.

Room full of women that had big dreams that all were marching towards different goals and different transformations. How did that impact your energy or your clarity for your business? What was that like?

Emily: It was something that I didn’t anticipate was, so again, going back to art school, that was, we were all in the trenches together.

We were in the studio together, everything. So it was very community based. And then from there, I didn’t even talk about this, but I used to work on films too. I was a set decorator on films for a few years, and that was all about community. And like, I didn’t realize how much I missed that. And especially a community full of people that are doing the same thing that I’m doing.

So, and, and, and don’t feel like competition. Like even though I love the photographers around my area, there’s still a little bit of, I don’t wanna give you all my secrets and like tell, tell you everything because. You could take a family from me, but, which is fine. It’s okay. But I, it was just nice to be able to like legitimately talk to other, especially women parents going through this together, figuring things out, people at all different levels, how long they’ve been in business, what kind of things they do, they focus on, but.

Yeah, just gaining that community was so nice. And also just up until that point, I had never been away from my kids. My son was born in 2019 and then my daughter in 2022, and it was a few days away and like I was nervous. I knew my husband could do it. I was still nervous to just leave them, but it was such a welcoming atmosphere to step into and we, I felt so taken care of.

Like I didn’t have to think about anything for anybody but myself, and that is not something I ever get at home. I’m always the one that’s in charge of everybody else. So. It was just a lovely time together. I mean, I, I like revamped a lot of things in my business after that, and that was great. And it was so nice to have like the portfolio review because I hadn’t really had that with anybody inside of the business.

I’ve always, I’ve had a lot of like friends from art school all the way up. Like my husband’s a graphic designer, so he is in art also, so he sees things in differently than a lot of people. Those people were saying like, this is great. And then having some of that critical eye on my my work really has helped me solidify who I wanna be and realize that I was trying to be someone that I, that I was just trying to follow people as opposed to do what I know I can do best.

Getting the, gaining the confidence to actually go forward with that was really amazing and it kind of sticks with me. I like think about a lot of the things that were said at the retreat. Anytime I’m editing or shooting or thinking about a location, um, and just seeing things differently. So yeah, I gained a lot.

Yeah.

Sabrina: Yeah, the retreat is such a fun experience and the portfolio reviews are always so impactful. No matter where women are in, you know, how long they’ve been in business or, or shooting or whatever, there’s always. Something that is taken away. Another perspective, an idea, a suggestion, a recommendation, whatever.

Because we can always get better, you know? And that’s the beautiful thing about having peers in the industry who know, quote unquote what the rules are and, and what’s expected, and. Also who have different opinions and creative views come at your work with their eyes. We always start our portfolio reviews by saying like, we’re gonna give you recommendations, but you absolutely have the right to ignore everything you hear if your gut tells you otherwise.

Right? And that’s the truth. That’s always the truth. But I also love how you said, um, you felt so taken care of. That makes my heart so happy because that is my goal at the retreat. I want the women to come and feel like they are pampered and spoiled and they get all of their favorite snacks and they don’t have to make a meal and they don’t have to take care of anybody’s nap time.

And you know, we get to do yoga or move our bodies. I mean, we just get to be women and be taken care of. And that’s such a. Big part of the way that I structure the retreat is I want women to feel taken care of like that. And so I love that you felt that way. That means that I, yeah, I did Really, I was successful in doing that, so that makes me so happy.

Emily, I’m curious. I know we talked about hitting your first five figure month, and that’s incredible. We don’t, I don’t wanna skirt past that at all. That is a massive, incredible goal. But again, that was like a, just a, like a byproduct of what we were doing. It wasn’t actually one of your goals in the program.

Do you think there’s something that you have achieved in your business or your personal life that would have felt too hard or impossible or like too big of a stretch before joining the

Emily: program? I think the confidence in my work, like in what I am good at, and not trying to follow what everyone else is doing.

I think that’s the biggest, it’s gonna be the biggest change. Like obviously some of the little things like, and like they’re not that little, but they’re little tasks of just write this email and make sure it sends out automatically. Like those things are big and impactful for my personal life because I’m able to, like, I have a photo shoot.

This weekend, and I haven’t had to email this person, but they felt taken care of because my system is automatically doing it. That’s great because then it means that I can go and build my garden. Those little things are great and wonderful and not so little. But the biggest thing for me has been the confidence in, in who I am as an artist and seeing myself as an artist and not trying to just fit into the box of what someone else is doing or even just like.

What the industry says you have to do. Like you said, some of the things that were said at the portfolio review are things that I did not take into what I’m doing, but it’s, it was important to hear those things, to know that that is a stance I want to take. Just all of those little things that happen to lead up to that.

And then I definitely was like, I texted my husband after the review and I was like. Oh my god, it’s all good, but oh my God, I feel something. Um, but that was needed and like that little push and like recognizing and feeling comfortable enough to accept that like, uh, it’s okay to get emotional about what’s happening.

I. And then move forward from it and like use that to guide my work. So I think in all honesty, like that has been the most amazing. And like if I had said that if I had had this conversation with you in the fall, it would’ve been the systems. And now I feel like it’s definitely the creativity that I get to have now.

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that the, you saying that, like having the the space to be emotional over something and have a response to something. I love that you said that because there’s like a running joke that we have that someone always cries at a retreat. It happens every year, and honestly, most retreats it’s more than one.

It’s because it’s, it’s partly because I’ve created this space where I’m taking care of you and you cannot think about anything else and like truly relax and absorb, but also it’s this really safe space. We are all there being vulnerable for different reasons because we’re in different seasons of life and there’s different things happening, and sometimes the tears are over business things and sometimes they’re over personal things, you know, because we’re, you know, at, at the core it’s a girls’ weekend.

Yes, we’re learning and we’re educating, but we’re spending time women with women. And it’s a safe place to get emotional and to be seen and to let yourself open up, which also makes me so happy because we need that, you know, like you said. Many of us don’t even realize what we’re missing until we have it.

And then it’s like this Pandora’s box is opened of, oh my gosh, I didn’t realize how much I needed these women in these relationships and these conversations. You know, I love that confidence in your work is one of the biggest transformations because that is a seed that is going to go with you for years and years and years to come.

It is going to keep blooming and keep giving, and. That is something that is absolutely invaluable to have. So that makes me so happy and I, I, I can totally empathize with what you’re feeling because the very first time I went to an in-person retreat, that’s the same thing. I went in thinking like, oh, I’m doing this and I must be kind of okay.

’cause people are booking me and people are paying me, but like, I am not really sure about my identity and what I’m doing and like, I didn’t realize that I was lacking confidence. But on the other side of it. Given the clarity that you get at a retreat and a learning experience, but also gaining the friendships and the support and the safe space to ask the dumb questions and to get things.

Just all of that mixed into one. You walk away and you’re like, dang, I’m pretty good at what I do. You know? And you have this confidence all of a sudden that you’re like, I can do this. I can be successful at this. I do have a good eye. My clients love me for a reason, you know, and it takes away that confidence.

Takes away, honestly, a lot of other problems.

Emily: And then I never felt judgment either. Like that was a big thing. Like it was all constructive. There was no one saying, and like, I think that would’ve been different had I talked to someone in my local area, you know what I mean? Uh, not to say again that they’re not wonderful, amazing people, but it’s just there’s a little bit of that competition that and, and whatever that creeps in.

And so there was no competition with people. So it just was genuine, constructive comments about what my work was.

Sabrina: Going back to a little bit of, of the more like practical things, do you think there are some habits or some boundaries that you have now built into your life and in your business that are gonna stick with you long after the Mastermind is over your

Emily: like mentality about.

How to structure your time has been really helpful to me. I think I was doing it but not intentionally and that intentionality is really what will solidify that. I will continue to do this. So whenever something comes up that’s even a possibility that we wanna do with my kids’, school or daycare, just something fun like a, an activity.

I throw it into my calendar so it blocks the time so that no one can book that for a phone call or whatever. So I make sure to set aside the time to do everything with my family first. And I make sure that my personal life is taken care of before I do business things. So I think that that has been the most helpful for just time structure, which is something that I definitely was having trouble with before and I’m still having trouble with like the comments that I got on, uh, my one area of concern at the retreat, which was how do I organize my time when I’m kind of have very limited time and don’t.

Don’t have as much structure because of the kids and taking care of them throughout the week was like, that was to set aside time on Sunday and block out the week, and I haven’t done that yet, though. It’s in my, my brain. I, at the very least have a little bit more structure and guidance on where to go next that I think will just continue to help me as a, my kids get older and there’s different types of responsibility, but less of the naps and cuddling and all that kind of stuff.

Things that don’t necessarily need me hands on. The recognizing that my family comes first is the biggest thing.

Sabrina: Yeah, and like you said, you were doing it, but not intentionally. But the beautiful thing is now that you have the awareness of doing it intentionally, that’s exactly what you said, continuing to do it and making a choice to do it, and not just like I happen to accidentally be doing it.

Right. It’s, there’s a different mentality there. Of intention, and that lays the groundwork for so many other parts of your schedule. And it is so simple, but it does make the biggest impact. And honestly, that’s probably why you had such a quote unquote easy fall, last fall when you hit your five figure month because you had time for yourself and your kids and your family, and away from the camera and away from the computer, right?

Because you’d started doing that. So that makes me so happy. I love it. Emily, I would love to know if you run into a woman or somebody dms you and they are on the fence about joining groups rise, what are you gonna tell her?

Emily: Uh, do it. If you’re on the fence, just do it. Like if you’re thinking about it, just do it.

It’s worth both. I’ve been through the no retreat and the retreat and both are worth it in different ways. Like I don’t think I was ready for the retreat last time, and that’s okay. I think it would’ve been beneficial, but I don’t think I was ready for it. I have gained so much in my personal life, in my, my brain space.

Just some like, like I said in earlier introspective boundaries that I have. It’s been so beneficial in all parts of my life. Even though like if I think about it and just like do an overview, I’m like, oh yeah, it’s been great. If I really think about every single thing I’ve learned about myself, every single person that I’ve met through this, I still like chat with people that I never have physically met and we talk about things, you know?

And, and that is so amazing. ’cause I’m not normally, like, I don’t have like internet friends. In my personal life, in, in business a little bit more, but like I just never, I, if I don’t see you face to face, I, it’s not, I can chat with you, but I, it’s not a connection that I normally make. And having that now has been great, because again, they’re not in my area, they’re far away.

They have different things that they’re looking at. So it’s not just all the same parks or whatever that are in my area. And then just different perspectives and obviously people that are not in your own little bubble are really great to have around. And so that has been an amazing, transformative part of my journey, I think is just like the community, but all of the other things put together too.

I love that.

Sabrina: Okay. I wanna end with a question that I’ve been asking the women who have been to a retreat because it’s so fun to hear everybody’s perspective. What is your favorite retreat memory from a Savannah?

Emily: I think just like the evening chats, like just sitting down after everything’s done, where some people are still kind of.

And working, but we’re all just talking about different things, like I thrive in those types of situations. Like I said, I was a camp counselor and that was like one of my favorite parts of the day was just like once the kids were asleep and we were all back up in the lodge, like we could just hang out and be silly and talk about really important things or not important things.

Like I think just having that because like. I am so focused on family at home. I don’t have that type of ability anymore to just like sit and chat with random people. I think that was the best part for me. Obviously there are so many other things that were great about it, but that was just such a nice like relief and release for me that I didn’t realize I needed.

Like meeting everybody in person obviously was also great.

Sabrina: The all of the downtime and the retreat talks really are, I mean, that’s where you get super unique to each group and every retreat, and it really is like different, you know, I do have women that have come through the program that have done like four and five retreats and they have a different experience every time because it’s the energy of the group and.

Um, and so it’s really, really fun, but they’re always great. Like there’s never been a thing where it like wasn’t fantastic and women didn’t connect and we didn’t have these great conversations. Again, business personal, it’s all meshed together, but that’s where women get to be women, and that’s the like girls’ weekend part of the retreat where we.

Have been together all day, and now we can just hang out and enjoy each other. And we do need that. We need to be seen and connect with people outside of our kids, outside of our partners, outside of our communities. My mom told me when I, um, was pregnant with my daughter, my first child, I. Just remember that you were Sabrina first because she did not want my identity to turn just into a mom, and that was the most impactful piece of advice she ever gave me, and this is that this is like getting to return to ourselves and have something that’s just our own that’s not being productive.

We don’t have to justify it with a to-do list or a paycheck or check with our partner or make sure our kids are taken care of. And it’s just such a beautiful thing that we all need. So I love that that was your favorite part of the retreat.

Emily: Yeah, and like normally when I go on an adventure or something, the first like little bit, I normally get like a little weepy just ’cause I’m very, uh, like I’m a homebody.

I love traveling, but I’m a homebody and change is hard and it always has been and I’m seeing it now in my kids. So I get how frustrated it was frustrating. It was for my parents. I like one little thing that I was doing to kind of connect back to home was I brought a little toy duck so that I could take pictures along the way for my kids.

’cause this was their first time away from me too. It was so cute how many people kept reminding me to bring the duck with me and like take, oh, this is a good spot to take a picture. And that was just like a funny little like thing. And so like all of that type of connection was, was really great.

Sabrina: Yeah, I had totally forgotten about the duck.

I. Didn’t you forget about it for like a half a day or something and then we like made up time.

Emily: Yeah, we talked about making it into like a sticker that we could put on different places. Yes. But you know, I just kept forgetting it. The kids still talk about it. They’re like, this is the duck that went with you on the planes.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. I

Sabrina: love that. I love that. We totally all had your back. Um, that’s so fun. Okay, Emily, this has been such a great chat. Thank you for sharing your experience in the program and. It’s been really cool too because we’ve worked together for a year now. It’s been really cool to kind of condense it all into just one chat and see just how incredible your transformation is and how much hard work you’ve put in.

And I told you this before, but I’m super proud of you. So thanks for being here and thanks for sharing your story today. Of course, yeah. Thank you. Alright, that’s it for today, guys. We’ll see you next time. Thanks so much for listening to the Shoot at Straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes and details from today’s episode@sabrinagebhart.com slash podcast.

Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gebhart Photography. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review. Until next time, my friends. Shoot it straight.