Ally Berry Quest Interview

Today I chat with Ally Berry who is a brand photographer and identity mentor for high achieving women who are already successful but know that they are meant for so much more. She photographs the next level version of you, so you can become her.

She doesn't just take headshots. She photographs your Main Character and the magic that happens after her shoots, is that women walk away continuing to live in their higher selves shoes and start getting the best results in their business.

You can find Ally on Instagram @allyberryphotography

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Success Starts Within. Today we have a wonderful guest who I'm so excited to talk about because she does identity and I don't do identity, but we do it in two completely different ways. So Ali Berry is a brand photographer and identity mentor for high-achieving women who are already successful but know that they're meant for so much for more. She photographs the next level version of you so that you can become her. And I can't wait to have this chat. So welcome Ali.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Thank you so much for having me on this podcast. I'm really, really excited.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Thank you, I know. I've been really looking forward to this. So we met at an event last year where you were a photographer and I was doing one of my first sort of biggest speaking gigs, I would say. Um and when we got talking, it was like we connected, and I was like, right, I mean to keep in touch with each other. And yeah, I was like, I need to get you on the podcast. So thank you for coming on. So tell me more about your work. So I I actually really love what you do, and it's something that I've never heard of before. So as I don't know if you know, but I'm like main character energy, and I know that's very in alignment with what you do as well. But tell me more about what you do because it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Oh, thank you. So I work very differently to I think pretty much every other brand photographer that I know, in the sense that I work with their identity rather than their marketing strategy. Now, don't get me wrong, marketing is a big part of a brand photo shoot. It would be silly to discard it altogether. And when I first started my business, it was all about marketing and biopsychology. So I still keep those elements in there, but they have become almost secondary to my main reason for a brand photo shoot, and that is to photograph the next level version of my clients. So I have always said, or I have been saying, that I don't photograph people who I don't photograph the version of them who they are now, because that version of them is the result of the previous previous thoughts, previous actions, previous beliefs. And what I like to do is to push them to encourage them to find out who the next level version of them is, the version of them who is already running their dream business, who is living their dream life, and then find out how this how does this version of them move, how does she dress, how does she show up, what's her energy like, what's her frequency like, and then that's the version of them that I photograph. And I am 100% convinced that that is exactly why my clients have such huge results immediately after a brand photo shoot with me because they have experienced this version of themselves, and therefore they automatically become her because they have no choice, they've seen her, they felt what it's like to be her, um, and they have the photographic evidence that she exists, um, which I think that's very, very powerful for our subconscious brain to take on board and to accept. Um, and then also it works on the external side in the sense that their audience sees this transformation in real time, like they also feel the up level, and therefore they are more likely to book to you know to want to work with them.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

And I love that because I've had two photo shoots, and very quickly after my first one, I looked at my photos, and it wasn't me. I had leveled up very quickly, and so those pictures felt out of date, and it took me a while because you know you obviously invest in a photo shoot, and it's quite a lot of time and money, and you know as well, what outfits you want to wear. So I left it for a while, but for a long time I was using these photos, I was like, they just don't align with the person that I am now. So I love that you actually get people to embody their next level before they are that next level, and as you say, to experience that and behind the scenes of like a photo shoot, uh not behind the scenes, sorry, in front of the camera for like a photo shoot as well, is that kind of quite bougie next level as well, isn't it? So once people get that taste, as you say, it's with with embodiment and identity work, it's about that feeling, and once they've got that fit that feeling, it's like actually this feels amazing, this feels really good, and I want to continue that. So I love that it that you give them that opportunity to step into their main character shoes, and then a lot of the time they get these incredible results because they're like, Well, I don't want to go back to this old version of me because it doesn't anymore.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

So, what got you into this? What why, as you said, and I completely agree, you are very different to any other brand photographer that I know. What made you go into this identity piece alongside it?

SPEAKER_00 5:04

So I think there were, as usual, with business, you kind of grow and evolve, and you so part of what I was doing was exactly what you've just mentioned, in the sense that I really wanted to give my clients longevity for their photos. I was working more and more with ambitious women, and I knew that they were growing at really at exponential speed right now, and I wanted them to have this longevity. I didn't want them to, exactly what you said, go home and within a few weeks go, oh, these photos are not me anymore. Like I've I've already like I have launched something else since and I have grown already since. So part of that was the longevity part uh side, and but for ages I wasn't sure how to say it. Like I was um, you know how I think in the world of business we try to fit in too much, and we try to be like, I was like, well, how would I, you know, what would people think if as a brand photographer I still start talking about identity? Like that makes no sense whatsoever. People are gonna look at me and go, no thanks, I'm gonna go with somebody else. So there was a lot of that. Um, probably going on for a good six months to a year where I knew I was doing it, but I wasn't talking about it enough. And then I experienced a taste of my own medicine when I had a brand photo shoot done, and I went all out. Like I am also a big believer that sometimes you don't have to have your vision fully formed to have a brand photo shoot, and actually, it's quite fun to you know, obviously push yourself out there, go you know, become this next-level version of you, but also be open to see what comes up because I think often we have this inner knowing, this inner wisdom that we just need to allow to shine, and this is what I create in my spaces. I create this kind of openness to to just be and see what happens, and I will come back to that in a minute. But what happened is I went to this brand photo shoot for myself, completely open. Um, I bought the most ridiculous, ridiculous outfits. Um, one of them being this gold sequin jumpsuit. I couldn't even wear a bra with it. It was just this most, you know, like that's something that you'd probably never wear. I'm like, how am I ever gonna wear this? But I was like, fine, whatever, we'll roll with it. And I had these photos and I had a wind machine going, my hair was blowing, and I had this photo of me where I had my eyes closed and I had my hand on my chest, and I was and I saw the photo when it came through afterwards, and I was like, I can't use this photo. Like, this is not a photo of a brand photographer, like this is a photo of somebody who works with energy, who kind of feels stuff more than just you know holds a camera in her hand and takes photos. So for about two or three months I completely refused to use this photo altogether. I was like, it's not happening. Um, but I kept being called back to it, and I was like, but this is me, this is who I am. Um, and yes, I do pick up on people's energy, and yes, I capture people's energy on photo on you know, with my camera, and I capture their frequency because this is what I think it's all about. It's about being in that frequency of the next level version of you. So slowly I started accepting this photo and I started using it more and more, and by using it, I was able to embrace this side of me and talk about it more openly on social media and in talks. And obviously, when I met you as well, I was far more comfortable talking about this side of what I do, and it has literally transformed my business. And it just goes to show, like, I and this is one of the reasons why I love having my own brand photo shoots because you I also get to experience what my clients experience.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Yeah, and it sounds like, and I'm I find this all the time with women, we feel like we can't just fully be ourselves because we worry about fear of like judgment, what other people are gonna say, whether we're gonna fit in, whether the right clients are gonna come to us. And people are just not fully embracing like the real them, and it's tiring having to wear a mask. And I've experienced this myself. You wear this mask, well, I should be like this, so I'm going to show up in this way. And actually, when you are open and honest, and you're you, you connect with the right people, and those clients come in because they're like, you're speaking my language, and of course, you know, a lot of people say I'm pigeonholing myself to like a small group of people. But the way that I see it is, you know, with success and how much we you know what success would make our life look like, we only need a small amount of people to make that happen. You know, a lot of people think about the population and the world, like millions of millions, but actually, we don't need that many people in our business to make it successful, we just need a small amount of people, and we want to call in the people that are like us, that understand, you know, where we understand each other, um, we get our past experiences and how they've shaped us and why we're showing up now. And it's like, you know what, let's just start showing up as us, but it is such a journey to actually get there. What kind of what kind of beliefs do you find that the your clients have that really hold them back from showing up as themselves?

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Um I think the clients that I work with right now are actually quite self-aware, and the ones that I am attracting are obviously already into identity, they understand the concept, um, they are ready to to kind of embrace the next level version of themselves, but it does still come to exactly what you were just saying just now. Some like social conditioning, things that we have heard as a child from parents, from grandparents, from teachers, and they are very small things in the you know in the grand scheme, but they are but they have affected us in way like in quite powerful ways, very subconsciously, very subtly. So I don't think anyone comes with like huge, I don't like the word blocks, but you know, huge um kind of things stopping them from doing things, but they are subtle, they are very, very subtle in how they show up. In fact, I photographed a client last week and she has said that as a child she was quite um extravagant. She tried to, she was, you know, she experimented with outfits and hair and clothing and makeup, and she was bullied for it at the time because people didn't understand her, and it's taken her this long to get to a point where she could express herself in that way again. And we did the most incredible brand photo shoot, and she was lying on the floor like on top of a giant pack of cards, and she just looked incredible. But if it was one of my brand photo shoot retreats, so there were there were seven, eight of us there, and everybody said, Oh my god, you're so inspirational, and she was so she's now she's allowed herself to step into this version of her that she's always been, but society told her that it wasn't safe to be that version of herself for such a long time, and now she's at the point where no, I'm going to be this person, and now she's inspiring others to do the same. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

And I it you're right, it's this conditioning from childhood experiences at school or as we're growing up, and we do internalize those beliefs, and they do they do hide away parts of us that really we want to be allowed to just be allowed to be expressed and just be allowed to be seen. But you know, even though as an adult, logically you know, well, if somebody doesn't like the way that I dress, whatever, that's their decision. But actually, because if you haven't dealt with that subconscious belief and release that belief, then you are always gonna hold yourself back.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

So just picking up on what you said, you said you don't like to call them blocks. Could you explain to me why you don't like to call them blocks? Because that's what we hear all the time mindset blocks. So, what what's your reasoning behind not calling them blocks?

SPEAKER_00 13:46

I think it's I understand the concept, and I'm not saying that um, you know, it is very, very true. I think there are things that are stopping us from doing certain things in our life, but I think block is such a strong word that it almost makes you believe that it's unsurmount, like you can't get over it. It's a block. I can't like it's a roadblock. You can't go past the roadblock, can you? You're not gonna, you know, you can't drive through the bollards. Um and it's that concept. I'm like, well, is it a block or is it just a bit of social conditioning that you can work on and that you can overcome? So I'm not against the concept, I'm just against a word that I think is used, and I think there's a lot in the coaching industry that I think there's a lot of money being being made out of blocks when actually, yes, they you know, there have been times in our lives when we have heard things, things have been said to us, things have been, you know, things have happened and they have caused us to be to behave in a certain way, to act in a certain way, to believe certain things, but I just don't like the word block because it makes it feel very final.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

And I actually am on board with that. As you're saying that, I can I can completely understand your justification for that because you're right. A block, when I think of a block, I think of something like a really tall, thick brick wall, and it just seems such a hard thing to try and climb or to knock down. But actually, to reframe it and say, well, it's more like um uh a societal conditioning or it's something I was told as a child, and it's it feels a lot more like my nervous system, as you were explaining that to me. My nervous system was like, Oh, actually, it's it's something that I can overcome quite easily compared to this is a block. But you're right, the coaching industry do use blocks, so you've definitely made me think about how I explain it because I actually quite like that um that concept. I think that's a really, a really nice way of putting it and less scary, like you say, like a block is like ah I know, uh yeah, and same as you.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

I'm like, I've got this kind of vision, like grey concrete style, like oh my god, like you're gonna have to like scramble and really struggle to get over this when actually sometimes just a small reframe, just hearing something say some sit there, sorry, hear someone say something can just clear something, you know. Yeah, um, so it doesn't have to be hard. Some things are harder than others, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Yeah, yeah, no, that's so true. So, what what identity struggle? I know obviously you work with high achieving women, so these are women that have already gone through their own identity work themselves. Um, and you said about that they are aware of their blocks, but what identity maybe not struggles, but what identity not blocks because we're not using that word anymore. Um what identity um, yeah, I'll say struggles do you find that they go through, even though they know that they are ready for the next level and they have already up-leveled so many times before to get where they are, but what what do you find that they're still struggling with?

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Um I think at this level, um, I a lot of the women that I work with have grown a business and they've grown it quite easily up to a point. Um, and obviously there were, you know, like the social conditioning that they've had and the you know the nervous system kind of has allowed them to get here regul relatively easily. I mean, obviously running a business is never easy, but they found it easy up to a point, and now they are at their next level, and it feels a little bit harder because for you know, there'll be like we said, levels like struggles with social conditioning, with doubt, with other people's perception, and I think sometimes that well actually a lot of the time that does come into play in the sense that they have grown a business to a point where not many people can grow a business to, and therefore they are judged now for being successful, they are judged for wanting more. I think that's what a lot of them struggle with, to the point where they have got so much, um, and it's you know, they've grown a business to the point where so many people are like, I can't even, you know, that's not even possible for me, and yet they want more. So it's not giving them permission because that's not my job, but creating a space where they give themselves permission that it's okay to want more, that it's okay to want to express yourself in a different way, that it's okay that you want to, you know, to inspire people to want more for themselves. Um, so I think I that's I think the running thread through what a lot of my clients are are going through right now is this kind of internal battle of should I want more? Because we've been conditioned to be humble, we've been conditioned to be grateful for what we have, rather than go, do you know what? I have created an incredible life, but there is more out there for me, and I know I'm capable of more.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

So um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Yeah, that's so interesting. I was having a conversation with somebody the other day, and we were talking about um like new level, new devil. So, you know, however much you up level, you are we're all experiencing the same thought, you know. Whether you've started your business or whether you're like multi-millionaire or whatever, you we all still have the same thoughts, it's just at a different level. Um, and it's interesting as well what you were saying there around women getting to the point where they want more. If it was men, let's be honest, they wouldn't have these thoughts of, you know, I feel a bit guilty having more. So, this is where we are behind, like with the societal conditioning and what we believe is possible for us, is that we have to kind of stop at this point. And this is what women do, they they reach this point where yes, they want more, and I want women to want more because we do better things with money and power. Absolutely. So we need led businesses. Um, but it is that guilt around, oh, you know, I I should probably just stop where I am. But actually, when women generate more money, they don't just generate more money for themselves, they generate it for the the world, they they set up charities, they give money away, they invest it, they use that time that they have to teach other women or girls or that you know, I just they do better things when they have money than the men do. And I always say I don't ever feel guilty for wanting more. I know this because I I used to feel guilty about it, but I don't because the more money that I earn, the more money I can invest in myself, which means that I can then invest in other people, I can invest in my two daughters, and it's it's all positive. Like, I'm never gonna do anything bad with money, and I think women need to remember that is it is okay to earn more because if you are gonna use your money in a way that is gonna benefit you and other people, why should you feel bad about it?

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Absolutely, absolutely, and you're right, not one person would bat annihilate if a man was making was having a great business and wanted more, they'll be like, Oh, yeah, he's driven. But if you're a woman, suddenly you're like, Oh, why does she want more? Is it why isn't she happy with what she has? Um, so yeah, I think that's absolutely yeah, I couldn't agree more.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Yeah, well, I could literally talk to you all day. I love I love chatting to you. I just think this is the next level, you know. People talk all about the mindset work, and as you say, you hear all of this on social media like mindset, money mindset, mindset blocks, etc. etc. But actually, the real sustained change comes. When you work on your identity, of course, you have to work on your subconscious beliefs and what you believe to be true about yourself and other people and the world around you. You have to work on your nervous system because a lot of the time people just do the mindset work and then they hit this ceiling where it's like, Why can't I grow anymore? Why can't I expand? It's like your nervous system doesn't feel safe at this level that you've got to. So work on that, and then you can start stepping into the identity of like your next level, your main character. But you can do that now. Like I say to people, do small little actions that make you feel safe as the person that you are now. That is the shoes of your main character. And I did um, I was talking to somebody yesterday, and she was saying that she does uh she she tells people about having confidence props. So whether that's put red lipstick on, put some high heels on, or stay at the top, and it's like that could be your your main character, your next level. She wears this lipstick, or we she wears this, and do that for five, ten minutes a day, and just you will feel differently. But when you start doing these little things, you will become that next level version of you, and of course, you know, you are still gonna have the mindset things that come up, but you work through them.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

So tell everybody where can they find you?

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Uh they can find me on Instagram as AliBerry Photography or on LinkedIn as Aliberry. Um, I don't know, I don't know if there is anyone else with that with our name on it. So um, yes, Aliberry, either LinkedIn or Instagram. They're the main places where I hang out at the moment. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Amazing. And I'll put your details in the show notes. But thank you so much for joining me today. I've really loved chatting to you.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Thank you. Same here.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

All right, and thank you for joining us today, and I'll see you next week. Bye.