About Kaylie

The crazy thing is that my boyfriend at the time (who is now my husband hehe) always told me I was going to be a photographer... but I never believed him because I didn't think you could actually make that a full time career??

But I never put my camera down. So that same year I started taking pictures of anything & everything. Branding, portraits, local events, bands, families, you name it. I became addicted.

I grew up in Charleston, SC & back in 2018 it was much different than it is today. So it wasn't really hard to get my name out there. So for a solid year and a half, I only relied on word of mouth. From that I was able to expanding my portfolio, making new connections & building something I very quickly, became very proud of.

But I was still a full time college student, had 2 jobs at local restaurants, all while commuting 30-45 minutes every where I went. But guess what? I started finding my passion & my depression began to fade. Things started to change for me & it was only the beginning...

towards the end of 2018, i started something...

Word of mouth only got me so far, so I started marketing on Instagram in 2019. I had not a frickin clue what I was doing & at the time there were only so many things you could do with it, but I figured "why the heck not?" ya know? Like what was the worst that could happen?

Well flash forward to 2020 when I began posting Instagram reels & holy freaking cow did that rock my socks off!!! I got my first viral reel in 2020 & to be honest with you... it just kept climbing after that.

In just 6 months, I grew to 10k followers. I started to find my niche, booked workshops & content days all across the US, and started putting myself in rooms filled with business owners that were doing EXACTLY what I wanted to be doing too.

It was that moment where I could officially say "I know what I want to do with my life. I want to pursue photography & be my own boss."

in 2019, i began using instagram to market my photo business

2021 hit & that year hit differently. BIG things were happening. The years of constant work, dedication & a drained savings account were paying off. My passion actually started making me money & allowing me to live out dreams I had living rent free in my head.

My heart was free. My mind was at ease. My creativity was running wild. My life was a movie.

I documented everything on my Instagram. And if you know me, you know I am a huuuuge over sharer lol so I am talking the wins, the losses, the times I felt stuck, the rants on my car rides home, the new things I was trying in my business... all of it was documented. That's why I believe I build such a loyal & engaged following in such a short period of time because I fully went for it & brought my community along for the ride with me.

I started getting messages out the wazoo asking how I finally got everything to work & other photographers started requesting more info. So that's when I began to pivot.

the year is now 2021 and I'm booking weddings & sessions across the us

I mentored a total of 15 amazing photographers in just a 7 month time frame & realized that everything I did didn't just work for me... it was doing WONDERS for other people too!!

My DM's were flooding with other business owners wanting to learn how to grow their brands & once again, that kinda took off.

I was helping photographers grow with everything from doubling their pricing, generating more inquiries, booking out their calendars a year in advance, using Pinterest to market, how to create a convertible website, you freaking name it!!

After getting a lot of positive & helpful feedback, I realized "wait a minute, I think I can do something with this!!"

And that's when...

in 2021 i started offering 1:1 mentorships for photographers

Elevated Education Co. was officially born!! My move across the country was ultimately what led me to making the decision to start a 2nd passion project.

My journey isn't your typical "how I got rich overnight" success story you see on social media. Instead it was a battle of me vs. me. In 2018 I set out to find my passion and that ended up being the world of business ownership. Which was honestly the literal cure for my depression.

Through my journey of finding myself & going after what I wanted, I was able to help others do the same. Becoming my own boss wasn't easy mentally, emotionally or financially... but it was where I felt safe, was able to express myself unapologetically, and for the first time in my life... be entirely in control of my future & how I get to spend my days.

Elevated Education is about more than just running your own business, but about becoming who you want to be, building a community that feels like we've been forever friends, and encouraging you to create the life you want.

i started elevated education co in 2022 (aka my 2nd child)