Authenticity
Photo by Simon Ng
I read an article recently. It's called People Can Sense Bullshit in Your Marketing.
The author discusses how marketing tactics and advertising campaigns on social media no longer works because it's not authentic. All people look for are numbers, not real business. Brands and "influencers" alike are relying on gimmicks over honesty.
“People don’t buy what you do but why you do it.”
This quote blew my mind. I've never thought about business like that. Many people can produce the same work or create the same product you do. But what makes customers believe you're better than your competitors? It's your authenticity, your "why" behind everything you do. If you offer your services just to make money, your business will suffer. Especially for us artists, if you can show your true passion, people dig that shit.
Honesty is so important in my philosophy behind my work and everything I aspire to do. My website homepage introduces Studio Sophy as a world of truth, imagination, and dreams. Staying true to myself couldn't be harder at this stage in life, but I'm pushing towards it everyday. I never want my personal brand to sell out, because there's nothing I hate more than gimmicks, and...well, bullshit.
The thrill of amassing cute clothes on my own dime was addicting. I overconsumed, convinced I was winning because I saved so much money.
Trusting my body, becoming a mother, and rebuilding myself during a long, transformative year.
I insisted on directing and editing my own wedding film, and one year later, it’s finally done.
Pregnancy is a magical moment in your life when you discover the extent of womanhood, something that connects you to all the generations before you. Depicting the essence of maternity had to be done against the backdrop of the natural landscape.
This website has seen all the twists and turns of my career, mirroring my journey in all its messy splendor. I’m proud of that.
I’ve been working and grinding so much in life that it’s surreal to be like oh… I’m here, I’ve arrived.
Grateful to be at an age where my beliefs are more steady than they’ve ever been, shaped by my own lived experiences rather than outside influence.
Simon and I got married at an Italian villa in the beautiful hills of Southern California, and Studio Sophy gets the exclusive inside scoop.
We planned our entire wedding doing what we wanted rather than listening to what other people thought we needed. And it resulted in one of the best parties ever. Come behind the scenes.
Photos albums are highlight reels of our lives, where I get to tell my story through my own eyes.
I’m happy to be growing into the self I was always meant to be — an unapologetically ambitious, gut-listening, calendar-jamming, relentlessly curious, introspective, and solitude-loving eternal optimist.
Learning Photoshop, buying a domain name, getting laid off, and other failures that defined my life and turned it for the better.
Simon and I always joke that we act like we’re in our late 30s: paying mortgage, taking care of ourselves, and honestly just working towards things we truly enjoy.
I recently sold my first car, and even though I really don’t care what I drive, I’m a little sad to have lost a piece of my early adulthood.
I get so lost in where I want to go I forget that the place I'm in is already quite magical. - Rupi Kaur
In my early adult life, I bounced from one sublease to the next, trying to get through the days on the cheapest place I could find with the least commitment required. This was the journey to our first home.
I ran 13.1 miles this past weekend. That’s 12.1 more miles than I thought could ever do.
Exactly 20 years ago, on this very day, I landed at LAX. My dad packed my luggage into a rickety Toyota Previa, drove us home to our one-bedroom apartment in East LA, and I started my new life in America.
Not doing it all doesn’t mean I failed. Instead it just means I am really good at a few things.
It’s easy to convince myself that an entire year of my life has been wasted. But in retrospect, lots of stuff happened. Because even though you’re at home, life goes on.
They enrich my perspectives, expose me to diversity and new opinions, and allow me to look at life and the human experience in new fascinating ways.
I think if we get anything out of this year. It’s that we can live our lives a little more calmly, a little more authentically.
Spending time with a baby is the perfect antidote to all this AI addiction.