“She Says” with Tania Medina

There’s something to be said about the power of being surrounded by women. The nurturing, the care, the resilience, the limitless possibilities, and the gentle push needed when self-doubt and Imposter Syndrome try to tell you what you can’t do. Tania Medina can attest to all of the above. Not only is she the product of what happens when the women in your life breathe and speak life into you, but she has positioned herself to do the same. In her professional life, at the Boys and Girls Club of North Central Illinois, she nurtures kids in grades K through 12 by creating special initiatives and programs, but she also helps to enhance women’s confidence and capture precious family moments with her photography business, Tania Media Photography. And, thanks to the Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub (WE Hub), Tania has been able to seek the resources needed to better run her business, get her questions answered, and realize that her success does not have to look like everyone else’s.

In this month’s “She Says,” Tania Medina shares with us what it means to follow in her parents’ entrepreneurial footsteps, how she Centers Women’s Voices in her work, and her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Tell me about yourself.

I’m Tania. I’m 28, a Rockford/Belvidere, IL native, and one of five children raised by a single mother. Growing up, my parents owned businesses, but it was really my mom who was in the main wheelhouse. As one of four girls, with only one brother, I was always surrounded by women, and that shows up a lot in various areas of my life. I’m very proud of the work that I do for the Boys and Girls Club, as well as my photography business and the relationships that I have built.

People have described me as attentive and I’m very empathetic. I care and am very passionate about everything that I do. I like to listen, and I always make sure I listen just as much as I am talking. It goes both ways.

I’m also a jack of all trades. I’m my mother’s daughter and like to do everything, much like her. And I love to learn. That’s one of my favorite things. If I don’t know something, I’m super curious, and I want to learn more about it. Having a lot of hobbies helps with wanting to learn more.

As for my photography, I am very observant. I like getting to know my clients because it helps with understanding their ideas and it really shows in my photos. For a while, I didn’t realize how unique my process was. Unlike other photographers who just create submission forms and questionnaires for their clients without talking with them, I like to take my time and meet with everyone I’m working with. Whether it’s an in-person meeting or a virtual call, I make sure to talk with every client so I can get to know them. I’m very detail oriented, I like to help them curate playlists for their sessions, and really respect our time together. I want them to feel comfortable with me.

How did you get into photography?

I actually wanted to go into film, photography, and TV while in college. I love movies and movie history. For a while, I worked in video and audio production. But with photography, I have more control. I can preserve moments better. While you can get more with movies or videos, with photos, you only get that one moment of time. And it’s such a beautiful thing to look back on these memorable moments.

Growing up, I remember my mom using disposable cameras and I would be so excited to look at the pictures after she got them developed. Especially when she would let us take photos. I thought it was so interesting to have a tangible item to help us look back on various moments. It’s the closest we’re going to get to that time, and it was and still is very magical for me.

So, I enjoy having that skill set to enhance those moments for others. Recently, I did a family shoot, and they had never done anything like that. I delivered their photos, and they were so grateful. It was exactly what they wanted. I often do events where I provide photo booths with custom-made backdrops and props, and this family came to the events for years. And one day they asked me to take photos of them. They didn’t think they would ever do anything like that because they didn’t think they deserved it. And I reassured them that they did. They weren’t going to have this moment in time again and I wanted to help them capture it.

I love photography. I love helping families like that. I love getting into the flow of work because it shows. Whenever my friends see me in my element, they are shocked because they’ve never seen that side of me. I turn into a different person.

When did you realize you wanted to turn your photography hobby into a business?

I knew I wanted to take photography more seriously when other people realized it first. That’s kind of how it goes for people who are introverts like me. I used to have a lot of self-doubt. People often told me how talented I was and that I needed to push myself more and put myself out there. So, I attribute me turning my photography hobby into a business to my chosen family. Especially the women in my life. They’re very successful and like-minded, and I needed them to push me when I didn’t think I could do it. They forced me to open my eyes and realize what I was worth and that I needed to be paid for my work. That, and I can be a little competitive. I saw others being paid for their photography and realized that I should be paid for mine.

Would you say that you inherited your entrepreneurial spirit from your parents?

Absolutely. They owned Mexican grocery stores in the Belvidere and Rockford areas. My parents also owned Mexican clothing stores and were part owners of a bar. They were very busy and to nobody’s surprise, I’m busy just like them.

And I loved my childhood. Me and my siblings didn’t have a lot of toys as kids. Not because my mom didn’t want us to have them, but because we were always in the stores. So, that’s where we played.

Since we lived above the grocery store, we would come home from school, drop our things upstairs, and go down to the store and get to work. We stacked cans, helped cashiers clean up, and did whatever was needed. So, from a young age, I was working. Was I paid? No. But I was exposed to the ins and outs of running a business.

What does it mean to follow in your parent’s footsteps as a second-generation entrepreneur?

Well, technically, it’s first generation. My parents came here from Mexico. I don’t take for granted the sacrifices that my parents made to uproot their lives to give me and my siblings a better one.

If you can’t tell, my mom is very important to me, so I really celebrate her. And that’s just a reoccurring theme in others who come from first-generation households. I’m proud to say that I paid for the new flooring in my mom’s house, from money that I made from a skillset that she might not have ever even thought was possible had she not come here. I’m very blessed and very lucky to be here, and it’s because of my parents’ sacrifices. I will never forget that.

How were you introduced to the Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub (WE Hub)?

It was through Shelby Flores, Women Employed’s (WE) Events and Volunteer Manager. I saw her over the summer at an event where I had one of my photo booths set up. I told her about how I was still learning the ins and outs of owning a business, and how I eventually wanted to own a studio space and needed funding for it. She started telling me about the Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub (WE Hub), and it was exactly what I needed. She pointed me in the right direction, and I later signed up.

The WE Hub is nice because it serves as a search engine for women entrepreneurs. Whatever questions I have, there’s an answer for it. Before signing up for WE Hub, I was a part of different Facebook groups, but sometimes you don’t always feel as welcome as you would like.

Before my current job, I worked in the media industry and it was very white male-dominated, and it made me very uncomfortable at times. That kind of deterred me from continuing in video and media production. I often felt I was unable to ask questions without feeling dumb. It made me feel excluded and like I wasn’t taken seriously. I’m happy that the WE Hub allows me to just be and that I can ask questions as candidly as I like because that’s the only way to grow. I may not always have the right terminology, and I sometimes don’t even know what questions to ask, but the WE Hub helps me navigate the hard parts, and I am very happy to have been introduced to it.

In what ways do you identify with WE’s mission?

I actually just found out about Latina Equal Pay Day. I had no idea we were the lowest-paid women in the country. I work with mostly Women of Color at the Boys and Girls Club of North Central Illinois, and I am very proud of the work I do there, but about 60 percent of my colleagues are Latina/x women. So that means although we make up most of the organization, we still aren’t paid properly. WE is very aligned with what I do professionally. I love elevating women. And it’s not that I choose to only work with women, that’s just who I am drawn to. It’s a happy coincidence.

I also love that WE is creating spaces for women who need it. I really thought that I was well equipped after college, or at least better equipped than when I graduated high school. But then you get out there and you don’t know anything about negotiating your pay. It wasn’t until I got my first salaried job that I understood the importance of salary negotiations. For example, I have a white, female colleague who once asked me how much I was making. She learned she was making less than me, and I watched her ask for an increase in her salary which resulted in a bump in not just hers but everyone else’s salary. But it was because we talked about it. They were making less than me when I started, and they had been in the same position for over two years. So, I thought that was really interesting.

We need advocates on all sides because it takes a village to uplift everybody. So, I love that WE is creating that space for those hard conversations that otherwise wouldn’t be had.

Each year, WE has a different theme, and this year’s is Centering Women’s Voices. How are you centering women’s voices, or how are you centering the needs of women?

I think that is the perfect theme for this conversation. I grew up surrounded by women. And when you watch your mom and the other women around you provide for and nurture you, you realize that you can do anything. It’s not that I don’t need anyone, but I really can do anything I want and need to do. I have a lot of women who come to me for photography, and they often talk about how nervous they are or that they don’t feel pretty enough, or that they aren’t models, and I remind them that 99 percent of the people I’ve worked with have never been in front of the camera.

I say that with pride because I love my work and I’m very proud to be able to enhance what I see because it’s a reflection of the work that I’ve done on myself. I attract a kind of clientele who knows what they want but sometimes needs that push. And I gladly, gently, push them and show them that they are worthy. Because the more you invest in yourself, the more you care, and the more you care, the more the world notices.

What would you tell other aspiring entrepreneurs?

Don’t think that you need to fit in or do what other people are doing to be successful. For a long time, I compared myself to other photographers. I thought I had to do things just like them to succeed and after trying to be like everyone else, I realized that didn’t work for me, and that was when I started attracting the kind of clientele that fit me. So, don’t try to mold yourself to be like everyone else. Just be you. People will find you and meet you where you are. And when you get to a point where you’re ready to grow and you need help, you’ll meet an organization like Women Employed where you can ask the questions you need to expand.

To learn more about Tania Medina, visit https://taniamedinaphotography.mypixieset.com/.