(Part 3) Pivoting Pursuits: From Photographer to Creative Community Builder - Marley Parker

Growth takes many forms in our creative journeys—sometimes it's about expanding our business offerings, but often the most profound development happens within ourselves. Marley Parker's story of building Wild Magnolia Studios perfectly captures this dual evolution.

During our heartfelt conversation, Marley opens up about a critical turning point in her entrepreneurial path. "It consumed me in an unhealthy way," she admits, describing how her intense focus on business success began affecting her family relationships. This revelation led to fundamental changes in how she approached both work and life. By establishing clear boundaries—setting aside weekends exclusively for family and creating structured work schedules—she discovered that nurturing her personal relationships actually strengthened her business foundation rather than detracting from it.

Perhaps most illuminating is Marley's candid discussion about overcoming fear-based decision making. She describes moving past the anxiety of someone "getting there first" and learning to trust her unique timing and journey. This shift from scarcity thinking to patient development has allowed both Marlee and Wild Magnolia Studios to flourish authentically. Looking ahead, she shares exciting plans including quarterly photography workshops, expanding into brand and content photography, and pursuing her longtime interest in fashion photography, all while embracing a new season of family adventures as her three children grow.

What makes Marley's journey so valuable is her hard-won wisdom: "The health of your relationships will translate into the health of your business." Whether you're a photographer, creative entrepreneur, or anyone balancing personal and professional dreams, her insights offer a refreshing perspective on sustainable success. Ready to reimagine what growth could look like in your own creative life? Listen now and follow Wild Magnolia Studios on Instagram to connect with Marley directly.

Marley's E-Book: https://marleysinclairephoto.gumroad.com

Marley's Personal IG: https://www.instagram.com/marleysinclairephoto?igsh=YTVuOHUxajY4ZGVy

Wild Magnolia Studio IG: https://www.instagram.com/wildmagnolia.studio?igsh=b3h5ZHdjbm12M2Z0

FilmStory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/filmstory/id1641955836

What do we do: https://myfilmstory.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@myfilmstory

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

All right , we're here with Marlee Parker Wild Magnolia

Meeting Marlee Parker of Wild Magnolia

Speaker 1 0:03

Studios . Thank you for taking the time . What a joy it's been to be able to hear how you've grown and grown into what you're doing now . I think it's really cool to see both the business grow but also the person grow , and I think this is where I kind of wanted to hear your insight going from what you're doing to where you are now . Of course , that's a big change , business-wise , you know , I'd say business-wise front and back end . So like branding online websites and building different systems and platforms and social media and changing the name and business registration , like all that fun stuff , right ? I'm curious , just , you know , from your perspective . I'm curious just from your perspective how has Marley , the person , grown ? Changed Maybe things that you have noticed in yourself from where you were in the photography world when you were starting out to where you are now Taking a little bit of inventory of self ? I'm just curious how that's been for you or what are the things you've recognized ?

Speaker 2 1:01

Yeah , you , or what are the things you've recognized ? Yeah , well , I think , with having three children married , you know that all is a huge role in what I

Balancing Business and Family Life

Speaker 2 1:10

do , of course , and I went through a time where , I'll be honest , all of my attention was on this . It consumed me in an unhealthy way , and so that has honestly been the biggest curveball that came to me around that time . Now , this was a few years ago , but and I think it happens especially with people that have vision for something it's easy to get consumed by it and it's easy to like , only want to focus on that , and hard to switch gears to something else consumed by it that it was affecting me as a wife and a mother and the things that I have to take care of , that realm in a not healthy way , that if I continue to do that then there's no way that this would be successful .

Speaker 2 2:13

And so , having that healthy balance , which sometimes , when things get crazy and busy , I have to find my way back , but now I know the trigger points or the things that are the things in my mind that start to happen , where I start going back down in that rabbit hole .

Speaker 2 2:28

I'm not saying I'm perfect at it , but it's something that has helped me to readjust and be able to have a balance between home life , business life , creator life , you know , kind of balancing those things , and I can't even really put into words what I've learned from it , other than building just the healthy dynamic of the things that has helped me to be able to be okay on the weekends , having family time and not feeling like I have to do a million things . I even got to the point . The biggest thing that I had to do was set a schedule for myself and close off weekends , because my family , of course , is super important to me and will always come first . I always tell myself if this fails , at least I have my family . That doesn't matter , and so making sure that that's healthy in turn creates success in my business . Making sure my relationships are healthy in turn creates healthy growth and success in my business .

Speaker 2 3:40

It's hard to explain . I start doing things that aren't either I'm not ready for or that could essentially take me down a path that isn't for me . You know , making decisions based off of like fear or thinking what if somebody gets there before me , kind of thing , and kind of coming to the realization that this is for me and as long as my fear on the ground is happening , and it's okay to rest , it's okay to take a few days out of the week to focus on my home , or it's okay that I have to reschedule and rearrange some things for my children . You know , yeah , and it was a hard lesson to learn because of the tension that it did cause initially , but I'm so glad I learned that lesson early on , before it got to now . You know it was an important lesson and I think that is like the biggest growth and even still from moving into here to now as well yeah .

Speaker 2 4:42

I think the biggest thing that I've grown in and learned and I know that I mean , of course I've learned things in photography and like grown in , of course the basic things , but I think behind the scenes things is really what propels you forward . And so being patient and not spending all my money in a bank account because I want something to look a certain way and understanding that it takes time to build on , I think all that just kind of is represented in a business and how healthy it is . Does that make sense ? And so , and one of the biggest things that I learned early on is the what's it called , I guess , the health of your relationships , whether it be friendships , marriages , kids , all the things will

Overcoming Fear and FOMO

Speaker 2 5:26

translate in the health of your business . And so having that mindset really kind of changed the way I do things , yeah .

Speaker 1 5:39

Yeah , absolutely Sorry about that . I had to write this down what you're saying , man . I think that's great and I'm so glad . I know it's tough , but I'm so glad you went through it .

Speaker 2 5:50

Yeah , I'm glad I went through it early because yeah , true , yeah , glad you went through it .

Speaker 1 5:58

yeah , I'm glad I went through it early because , yeah , yeah , true , yeah , um , and you know she , she alluded to it to it earlier , ladies and gentlemen , but three kids ain't easy , you know .

Speaker 2 6:02

I'm saying and they're all little .

Speaker 2 6:06

I know they're all they're all together gosh man yeah , but you know , the cool thing about that is , though , they get to grow up knowing the studio . They get to grow up seeing me and my husband both make decisions and take steps into dreams , you know , and so I just feel like that's just gonna make it so much easier for them to be able to grow up and have that same mindset , or at least I hope you know , regardless of what they do because they see , like whoa , like my son , when he first walked in he was like what is this place , like this is yours , what you know ?

Speaker 1 6:41

for his little brain to comprehend that and so wow yeah yeah , I can imagine oh that's great man , that's , that's encouraging . I'll take that . I'll take that . Um , yeah , I mean , you know , we just had our first and he's seven months now and I , you think about all those things . It's like , man , what are we gonna ?

Speaker 2 7:02

set up for him , and how will this affect this exactly ?

Speaker 1 7:06

yeah , and I , from the perspective that I at least have right now , I can easily understand how you want the world for your children but you also . I don't want to say , have to be there for your children , but you , you also have to be there for your children yeah , you know yeah , so yeah when , when there's only one Marley and there's so much going on .

Speaker 1 7:33

I mean and you know we're talking about Marley here , but no shots out to Caleb . Everything that he's done to be there for his family and to help with making ends meet and your partner and getting through these things and having those tough conversations about making moves on the studio and like all that stuff , like that's . That's a collaborative effort , you know that's not just yeah , yeah that's not just uh , let's see what happens like there's some tough conversations lots of conversations , yeah and I'm sure , yeah , so , but very cool .

Speaker 1 8:06

I think one of the things that I pinpointed what you were saying was before you had the desire of I wanted to get there first , and I think I have to hone in on that because , man , that that's like wanted to get there first , because what , like someone else is gonna open up a studio space ? Like get their first right ? Is everyone just lined up in downtown out austin trying to buy a student ? Like get their first in front of who for ?

Speaker 2 8:41

what exactly ?

Speaker 1 8:41

yeah , that's what I'm saying ? Like we just we make up stuff , like we just don't know . Yeah , well , I was gonna say , we just don't know where it comes from but , I know where it comes from and it's not good . Yeah , um that , the fear of , of the fear of missing out , you could say , um , yeah , for me , you know for me and you know us .

Speaker 1 9:02

I'd say spiritually , there's a lot there to unpack as far as the , the fear definitely yeah missing out and the fear of someone is going to beat me to it and I need to hurry up and scorched earth before I lose my opportunity to win at something you know and you know , and that's that's . That's where that originates from .

Speaker 1 9:25

But , yeah , I think , being able to get that in check beforehand and , like you said , you said it it so even recognizing , like man , I I'm kind of like putting these things , these , these , like I said earlier , stumbling blocks in front of me and it doesn't have to be there , like there is a way to walk appropriately , where I'm not trying to scorched earth and burn all the bridges in order that I might succeed . And then I succeed and then I'm like , yeah , this is nowhere near what I was trying to do .

Speaker 1 9:59

So I think that's really cool that you're having those conversations , and it's always my encouragement to to myself to do the same . And the truth is , you know , even you know you're married , you have three kids , I'm married , I have a seven month old . Even

Family Support and Future Visions

Speaker 1 10:14

amidst all of that , sometimes that road can feel lonely . Um , there's only you are in that position . As you know , I'm wanting to pursue this thing . Like you have that desire in your heart . Caleb has the desire to support and wants to be there for you and wants to help 100 . But you are in that driver's seat trying to figure that out and sometimes it can be lonely . So able to recognize man , I have all these desires of wanting to get there first and all this stuff , but then checking yourself , that's like man , that's key , like that's something that if Marley was hosting a workshop and trying to help photographers pursue things that they want to pursue , that like all right .

Speaker 1 10:59

Step number one don't rush yeah don't rush this , you know , because it's that's the , that's what we're in now , like we gotta , we gotta go um . So it's really cool that you brought that up and I'm glad that you're able to kind of check yourself on that .

Speaker 2 11:14

Um , that's big , that's big absolutely , yeah , yeah , yeah , definitely sweet cool .

Speaker 1 11:20

Well , I think the last question I have and you shared a little bit on it throughout a little bit but I want to give you kind of a platform for it , for you , for wild magnolia , for everything you're doing there in valdosta uh , what , what now ? Like what , what happens now with the things you're trying to pursue ? What do you desire coming into the rest of 2025 and in 2026 ? Like , what is it ? What are the things that you are wanting to ? You could say pursue for wild magnolia . Or you could say grow in for marley , the person and her family um you know things that maybe you want to take purposeful potential steps in .

Speaker 1 11:59

What is it ?

Speaker 2 12:02

What is it for Marley For the Wild Magnolia side ? I think that these workshops are something that I'm really trying to , you know , make happen . It's looking like once a quarter . I was going to do once a month . No , that's not going to happen , but these workshops are something that I definitely want to start doing at the studio .

Speaker 2 12:31

I would say for my photography side and , like you said before , your photography or your videography , things that you've kind of done have changed so many times and so I feel like I'm kind of transitioning out of and which I have for a while , like the typical family stuff , whatever I used to do it , just because now I just kind of , you know , don't do it anymore , really focusing on brand and content photography for brands . I really enjoy working with brands it's been like my favorite thing in the world but then also just traveling and doing things that I enjoy . I've always had a heart and an excitement for fashion photography , which sounds crazy , because not all stuff , but there have been some opportunities for me to be able to go back to New York to do some things and I don't really have super crazy details on that yet , but that is something that I am just sitting in excitement for Something completely new , new territory and something crazy that yet . But that is something that I am just sitting in excitement for something completely new , new territory and something crazy . But I think I'm , you know , gonna take that step forward because it's always fashion photography has been something that I've been interested in but haven't been able to pursue for a super long time . Even as a kid I can remember just daydreaming about fashion , industry and stuff like that , which is funny . But so I think for me , moving forward , that's a huge thing .

Speaker 2 13:44

I can answer all three For my family . My kids are starting school . My middle child starts kindergarten next year and I think that once school starts and once they start getting older , there's just so many more opportunities . And so I think I don't know . Know , it feels like we're finally entering into this season of like fun with our family . Um , you know we want to buy a house and stuff , but we've kind of just been , you know , just letting that happen , how it's gonna happen , because buying a house is not easy , and so just stuff like that . There's like little family stuff , you know that . But it just feels like we've kind of hit over this little hump and like and I think it's probably because our kids are getting older and stuff .

Speaker 2 14:26

And so we just want them to experience like fun stuff . You know like we want to take

Studio Announcement and Services

Speaker 2 14:34

them places and have them experience like all kinds of amazing things . And then for us , to you , you know , and so any chance that we get to do something like that , we're gonna take it . So , yeah , I mean , there's a lot , there's always something nice but yeah very nice cool .

Speaker 1 14:53

Well , that's cool . Thank you for answering all those things . I think that's great man . That's so cool . Well , thank you so much for being on today . I've really enjoyed getting to know Marley the person that much more the entire story , all the things that you're pursuing the community there in Valdosta , as well as impacting Marley the person and making sure she's growing as well . So , thank you so much for all the work that you're doing and this is great . I just loved hearing that man . All the stuff you're doing , I think , is great . Thank you , guys , so much for listening . If you have thoughts or questions or anything for Marley , she'll have all of her stuff in the bottom there . Feel free to reach out to her . She told you about her . Was it an e-book that you made ? Was it Cultivate , captivate ?

Speaker 1 15:45

Captivate Captivate she has that going on ? She's got workshops coming up every month . No , I'm joking , just , of course , workshops coming up and just an all-around resource to to connect with um in south georgia , or even maybe not even south georgia if you just want to get inspired . Uh , piece of person . Um workshops coming up for us . Be so excited to have you guys . As always , if you have more questions , feel free to let us know . Other than that , thank you so much for hopping on and we'll see y'all next time . Thank you so much .

Speaker 2 16:17

All right , bye bye , I am a portrait photographer and studio owner and I just wanted to introduce you to the wild magnolia studio , open to writ , for your photo shoots , for your content , whatever you need . Um , we have all kinds of little details that you can use . Everything in the studio that you see you can . There's a whole closet full of backdrops , props , chairs , seating , all that kind of stuff . So , yeah , we also host multiple workshops throughout the year , so if you want more details , follow us at Wild Magnolia Studio on Instagram .