10/25/2026
Today is October 25th—my son Avery’s birthday.
As I watch the countdown clock on this competition—with exactly four days left—I want to step past the jokes and the leaderboard updates to tell you what this actually means to my heart.
When I graduated from college, I did it to prove people wrong. I did it to prove that I wouldn't become what skeptics expected, and that I would never settle for a small life.
Starting Viva Por Tí, however, was not about proving anything to anyone. It was an unmistakable calling from God, and a vow to my son. Avery inspired me to take the leap because I wanted a different kind of life for him and for myself. I refused to let him grow up watching his mother trapped in the survival loop of a 9-to-5, exhausted and absent. I wanted him to see a mother who creates, who stays present, and who builds an enduring legacy with her own hands. I am an artist. It is how I was made to breathe.
For a long time, I struggled to explain my work because the industry always tries to fit photographers into neat little boxes. But my art doesn't live in a single box. My voice is editorial meets storytelling—bringing fine-art intentionality and raw, sacred human truth into the exact same frame.
Now, we are in the final public voting round of the Maxim Flash competition. Finishing in 1st place is the only thing that guarantees me a seat inside the interview room with the judges.
The grand prize—$20,000 in cash and $5,000 in camera equipment—would permanently alter the financial trajectory of my life. It would give me the ability to invest deeply in my business, relieve years of struggle, and provide for Avery in ways I have prayed over for years. I won't pretend I don't want that relief with every fiber of my being.
The assignment to Italy, however, pulls at my soul.
I don't look at Italy as a vacation; I see it as an artistic pilgrimage. I want to document the history, the food, and the locals moving through the ancient stone streets of Rome and the Amalfi coast. I want to capture the exact way the Mediterranean sun hits a weathered wall, where the golden air fills the frame so deeply that you don’t just look at the photo—you feel the space in your chest.
I cried making it through the last two rounds. To come from where I started and find myself standing four days away from that interview room is something I can only thank God for.
There are four days left. I am fighting to hold the #1 spot, and I am not backing down now.
I cannot cross this threshold alone.
I need my village:
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Thank you for holding up my hands and believing in my art.
Viva Por Ti Photography @ MAXIM Photography
