Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Winslow.
Hi Samantha, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I got my start in graphic design during my junior year of college. I was originally going to school to be an elementary teacher but after realizing I didn’t have the patience for the job, I switched my major. I always considered myself as a creative person, I was interested in pursuing art so I decided to find a way to study something I loved in a practical sense.
I do photography as well, I was originally a model, then, I wanted to see what it was like to be on the other side of the camera. So during my senior year of high school, I bought my own camera and asked my friends to model for me. I’ve presented my work at numerous shows throughout Boise, Idaho.
After graduating with my degree in graphic design, I was offered a position as a junior designer at Agility, an advertising firm based in Draper!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Finding a job in the field that I love, wasn’t easy. I didn’t anticipate how competitive it was going to be and what I needed to do to make myself stand out from other applicants. Going through a pandemic while trying to job hunt after college was not something I anticipated at all and made trying to find a job so much harder.
My ego was shot, I started to question my choice of switching from a stable career to something that may not be as stable, and I also began to question all of my work as a student and designer. Regarding photography, I would say it’s been a smooth road to get to where I feel content and proud of my work. Having just relocated, it has been difficult to build my clientele but it’s something I’m ready to fix.
I’ve had an amazing support system for both of my passions which has made the whole process so much easier to deal with.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Right now I am a junior designer and social media manager at Agility. I specialize in creating motion graphic ads for our clients as well as assisting our head of creative with any of our branding. With social media management, I work with our copywriter to get content out at a time that’s best suited for our audience.
I started in July so I’m still pretty new, but so far I’m proud of a campaign that I designed for Purdue University! I’m set apart from others in my field because I’m very adaptable, I was hired in late June and moved out within the same week and adapted really well to the fast-paced work environment, living in a different state (I’m originally from Idaho), and dropping everything I knew to pursue my passion.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I would say with my photography luck has played a huge role in my success. As I mentioned earlier, I got my start because I modeled. I got my start in modeling because one of my mom’s friend’s husbands was a photographer and asked me to work with him.
I believe that was luck, he could’ve chosen to work with a local model, but he chose me. From there I’ve had multiple photographers reach out to work with me. If it wasn’t for that I would have never gotten my start in photography. I believe it was also luck when I was asked to present my work in Boise, there are so many other talented photographers and I was fortunate enough to be noticed by recruiters to present my work. Presenting at these shows helped me grow significantly.
However, with my graphic design, I would say it was more of hard work rather than luck. During my time in college, I participated in a national student advertising competition which allowed us to work with a real client (we worked with Tinder this last year, and my school placed 1st in our district!) so I was able to get experience working on an ad campaign before even graduating.
I also worked hard to maintain a high GPA while balancing multiple internships, multiple part-time jobs, and the extracurriculars I was involved in throughout my entire college career.
Pricing:
- all of my photography sessions include 45 edited photos with a print release
- creative session $100
- seniors/headshots/graduation $175
- couples $160
Contact Info:
- Email: samantha.c.winslow@gmail.com
- Website: samanthacabase.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/samanthacabase
Image Credits
Headshot was done by Greg Benson
