I love meeting new folks and new businesses in Durham, especially when they’re right around the corner, and especially when they’re as awesome as Dr. Adam Bowers and his team! Adam came to me looking for updated branding photos for his dentistry business and they were so much fun to work with. His team consists of Adam, Kayla, Izzy, Sana, and Flor, and we spent the morning talking about national parks (Adam has been to 39 and counting!), wheaten terriers (he’s a big fan), and the wonders of HGTV combined with the modern miracle of dentists having televisions on their ceilings (a true sanity lifesaver). We had a very wonderful patient model that the team worked with (thank you, Kelly!) and we are pleased to report that zero whole mouth extractions had to take place. I loved working with Renaissance Family Dentistry on their new branding photos!

These folks have been my clients for many years and I love seeing how their family changes from year to year! Their daughter still loves cats as much as I do, but this year I was honored when she gifted a bracelet that said “I heart cats” from her trademarked store, Bead Traders. Bead Traders is based in their living room and closed to the public unless she opens it. She’s currently testing slogans and mascots on folks she encounters (“Nothing is fun if you don’t have beads!”). Bead Traders is not, funnily enough, based on Bean Traders, a coffee shop which she has never been to.

Due to her fierce entrepreneurial spirit, she has also opened an Animal Hospital right next to Bead Traders (“Have a hole in the animal? Visit us.”), and a preschool for cats in the basement of a church called United Church Kittygarden (“Every kitty gets the best school!”). She has also posted an 8-point bulletin detailing how one should properly interact with the cats of the household, Brie and Stilton (“Pet cat’s fur only in the right direction from head to tail” and “If you hear the cat meow while petting them then stop what you are doing.”) She has also devised a Kidz Bop or Treat event where you can ring their doorbell on Halloween and choose to either listen to Kidz Bop or get a treat, and she made her own neighborhood mailbox so she can receive mail privately separate from the rest of her family. She is going to own 50 businesses one day, and I’ll be a patron of every one.

Their son, more on the tech-gadget side of things, is very into driving his electric car called Honey Red, taking photographs on his digital camera, and operating his cardboard microwave (he makes a mean steak). He diligently follows all of the posted signage around the house regarding his older sister’s various businesses and pets the cats in what she deems an appropriate fashion. He seems a little nervous when his sister drives his car. I love them and their parents and their cats and my new cat bracelet.

Sometimes you just meet a person and click. This was my first time meeting Sandy, but we both have a background in education (although Sandy’s is far more extensive and impressive than my brief stint!) and we both are certified plant ladies, crafters, and women who enjoy large earrings. We had a great time working together talking about all those things and more! Sandy left this session with photographs and also several houseplant pups, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! It was a joy to meet and work with her and update her headshots!