Tanya Alvarez is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of OwnersUp, a business coaching and accountability system for service-based entrepreneurs. She’s also the new mom, with a baby born in mid-2020.

In this conversation, she talks about her journey, defying the odds to get to where she currently is, and how her perspective has shifted as she moves through this period of transition. For her, the photo shoot we did is part of bringing more authenticity, vulnerability and alignment to her life.

Here’s a summary of the interview. The full video is at the end of this post.

Tell us a little bit about your story, Tanya

My story is one of defying the odds. When I was young, I was diagnosed with dyslexia and they were about to put me in a remedial class. My sister stood up for me and insisted that I be allowed to do AP classes instead. I did all the AP classes and got straight As. I was also the top runner not only in my school, but my district.

As a Latinx woman brought up by a single mom in Miami, nobody expected me to succeed. The default path for someone like me would be to go to a local or state school and be married or pregnant right after that. Instead, I went to Wellesley College, started my first company at 25 and have been an entrepreneur ever since.

How did you find your current mission?

When I reflect back on my journey, I recognize the one critical factor that helped me defy the odds every time: an amazing team of people around me who I could count on for support. It started with my mom and sister, and expanded to co-workers, friends and other entrepreneurs. I couldn’t have done it without them.

When I decided to start my first company, I was terrified. My mom asked me why. I said, “What if I fail?” Her response: “You’ll be exactly where you are now, so what’s the problem?” Her unwavering support helped me take the plunge into entrepreneurship.

Over time, I began to see something: most entrepreneurs are trying to do it all by themselves. They don’t have that community around them that I was fortunate enough to have. I believe that if every entrepreneur had a community of supportive, empowering people to hold them accountable, we wouldn’t have 95% of businesses failing. I want to see the business success rate rise to at least 50%, and I believe community is a critical piece of that.

Why did you decide to do this photo shoot?

I’ve always been in very male-dominated environments, so one thing I’ve very conscious about is that I want to be respected for my knowledge and skills, not my appearance. I specifically didn’t want a photo shoot that would make me ‘look like a model’. I want a certain realness and authenticity in my photos.

I’m at this stage of life where I’m really trying to be present; where I value time a lot more than money. You can always replenish money, but you can’t replenish time. I wanted pictures that capture confidence, but in a natural and welcoming way. Oftentimes, confidence is depicted as these ‘strong’ power poses; arms crossed and such, but I wanted to convey, “Hey, I know what I’m doing, and I’m here to help you.”

Ultimately, I wanted pictures that are in alignment with my values and what I’m all about.

You mentioned before how becoming a mother has changed your perspective. Could you share more?

When I was in my 20s, I was non-stop. I grew and sold companies, I traveled, ran marathons. My batteries were always on. I was driven by the desire to constantly prove myself. Nobody ever expected me to succeed, so I was determined to show them all that I could do it all!

But now, I don’t give a f*ck about what others think. I don’t feel like I have to prove anything anymore. I have my son, and it was a miracle having him in my early forties using IVF. So I want to be present for him, but still have this business that impacts many people.

What was the planning process like for you, with the Mood Board and other steps?

It was fascinating! I’ve worked with other photographers who’ve just asked me to show up, and maybe asked me to send a couple of pictures I like. I’ve never actually had a conversation with them about why I like those pictures! For example, I might like a picture because of the colors or the background, but not the pose.

One powerful question that you asked me repeatedly was, “What is the emotion you want to evoke?”

What I realized while I was doing about the Mood Board was that people interpret values differently. What looks confident to me might not to someone else. The Mood Board really helped me drill down into what my vision of confidence and my other values looked like!

I loved going through the photos and identifying the different themes I wanted to convey. You constantly asked questions that helped me narrow down the shots. Planning for the shots that we needed helped me feel that it wasn’t just going to be random.

How did the actual session go?

For most people, when you work with a photographer, you have this internal voice that’s always wondering, “Do I look ok? Am I smiling right?” and so on.

But with you, because we had gone through this deep process of sharing stories, identifying themes and emotions, the session just felt like talking to a friend. It was much more natural than my past photo experiences.

Usually, the process of hiring photographers has been: search around, look at some websites, do a call, show up and hope for the best. With you, it was a much more personal experience, which allowed me to be much more natural.

I had confidence that with everything we discussed, I would get photos I was excited to share!

I was also very comfortable with the COVID precautions you took, with masks, shooting outdoors, maintaining distance. It felt perfectly safe.

How did you feel when you saw the pictures?

One thing I hate is when photos are too edited; for example, when people remove smile lines. I love my lines because I smile a lot! I loved the fact that your photos look so natural!

With COVID, I’ve not been as active as usual, and so my face is probably a little bit … fuller than usual. I was a little bit concerned about that. But the pictures turned out great! You’re really good at lighting and posing to make me look my best.

I was also excited to get the opportunity to include my son in the shoot!

How do you plan to use these pictures?

I already did! I just got off a speaker panel and I sent them one of these photos as part of my bio. Besides that, I plan to use them to update my profile photos, in lead magnets, as well as post specific stories on social media.

Would you recommend this to a friend or fellow business owner? What would you tell them?

I’ve already recommended you!

One of the things I see entrepreneurs in my community doing is investing thousands of dollars in creating and maintaining these really complex websites. You don’t really need that nowadays! I’d rather invest in really great photos because you can use those to tell so many powerful stories, both on your site and social media.

It’s also a strong credibility indicator. Sometimes you see someone update all of their photos with high-quality, professional ones and you think, “Wow, they must be doing really well!”

I’ve been encouraging my community members to prioritize having powerful photos rather than a really intricate website.

Tanya is the founder of OwnersUp.