Shanté Carlan

Having officially become self employed in 2021, I spent years before that point in community with creatives and entrepreneurs on micro-influencer levels with following counts between 1K and 50K at the time. I made fantastic connections and friends, whose works allowed my photography to be featured in online platforms including SELF and Inverse. My photography focused on lifestyle and fashion work, centering plus size fashion bloggers and Black and women owned businesses. Currently, my photography still centers unique portraiture with a dash of corporate event photography. I've been honored to work with organizations like Working Families Party, Women in Development, and the New York chapter of the American College of Cardiology. Being able to blend my vibrant style of work for DJs, influencers, C-Suite rockstars, and everyone in between has given me the opportunity to sharpen my skills while providing my clients with an amazing experience all around. The champagne hours are a plus, too. 😉

Weddings, Anniversaries, Mitzvahs, Huge Corporate Events! My time at Natural Expressions NY truly showed me an example of what a work family can be, and drove home the importance of everyone bringing in their highest skills to achieve goals while working in a small team. Between communicating with clients to schedule photo sessions, putting together contract proposals and invoices using Excel, and fielding questions regarding any part of their experience with us to appropriate parties, seeing the final result - their big event - come together was an accomplishment. I assisted with real-time editing and on-site printing during social and corporate events, and designed albums for wedding couples as well as bar/bat mitzvah parties. I did social media coordinating and marketing, with a focus on our Instagram account. With consistency and engaging images posted, we saw an increase in client inquiries and engagement amongst fellow event professionals. I also assisted in updating the official website portfolio to reflect a more diverse background of clientele in both social and corporate events. I also got to see Patti LaBelle and Questlove perform while on the clock - what's better than that!?

Answered customer inquiries and rectified issues with orders using both Open ERP and Magento. Was responsible for maintaining the website live-chat and conflict resolution matters on both TrustPilot and eBay Seller Hub.

Assisted in batch editing and retouching of product images for the A4C website and seller channels using Adobe Photoshop.

Assisted editor-in-chief Andrea Blanch for Issue 13: Woman. Interviewed and onboarded new interns, reached out to featured artists to confirm interview times with our Writing Department, and general administrative tasks. Lead weekly team meetings to ensure all departments were on schedule for fulfilling their deadlines and reported all updates to Andrea. Completed general administrative tasks, inclusive of clearing her inboxes and updated both her physical and digital calendars.

Participated in Photographic Styling summer class.

Spent time pursuing my BFA in Photography.