Hello blog world! It’s me, Connor the intern, and I am back this week with a story of some serious girl power.
Lesle, the owner of Studio 13, has been in the business for over 20 years; when you’re in one career for that long, you’re bound to photograph some pretty cool people. I’ve heard amazing stories about all kinds of people from Peyton Manning to Thomas Binford to Senator Richard Lugar, and now I am glad to say that I have a story of my own about the women at Core Strategies.
Core Planning Strategies is a firm that provides planning services to other businesses for facility projects so that businesses can stay on track in their buildings while maintaining the brand image that the company is known for. Core decided to do a complete overhaul of their website, which required incredible custom photography such as Studio 13 provides.
Core hired ad agency MilesHerndon to spearhead the new website design. Along with Brice Holland, the creative director at MilesHerndon, and the three partners of Core, Lesle made sure that the corporate group photography she produced really captured the ideas that Core was looking for. At this pre-production meeting, Brice provided layouts and style templates, Lesle designed lighting schemes, and the head chicks in charge added their creative input to ensure that the finished product would ultimately represent the brand.
Our job was to create executive portraits and headshots for Core’s new website and our first location was stunning: D’amore on the top floor of the Chase Tower in downtown Indy. D’amore is an event venue owned by Thomas Caterers of Distinction that hosts wedding receptions, as well as social and corporate events. What made this a beautiful space for environmental portraiture is the Indianapolis skyline visible through the floor-to-ceiling, 48th floor windows.
Out of all the interesting sights and experiences found on this job, the most interesting things were the people. In a male dominated field, Core Strategies has established a female majority corporation. Out of the seven in Core’s group, six are women, including the owner and top project managers. Among these women there are architects, civil engineers, and award winning urban planners. The founder and owner, Deb Kunce, has been an architect for over 20 years and was National Vice President of the AIA (American Institute of Architects).
Deb is still very involved in the architectural community, mentoring budding new architects to blooming professionals. She told me the story of one young woman she mentors who worked for a firm where she was treated as less than because she was a woman. As her mentor, Deb encouraged her to leave her current job and helped her find another place to work where she was treated with respect as an equal to everyone else there.
As a young woman starting an adult life, I am thankful to have met Deb and all the women at Core. Their example of success and determination has inspired me to believe that I can do whatever I put my mind to.
Even work the flash on the camera.
(If confused, see the picture of the confused blonde.)
Thanks for reading! See you back next week!
