Meet Angelina Ong | Photographer/Videographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Angelina Ong and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Angelina, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
It all started with an intense motivation to get out of this 9-5 rut. Everyday I would wake up and absolutely hate that I had to go in and give 8 hours of my time and energy into making money in order to “live”. I was not happy in any sense and it really affected my mental health. I remember specifically being in a meeting and looking at the business structure and thinking to myself, “I could run this establishment so much better and with more empathy.” From that day on, that thought nagged at me until I did something about it.

Fast forward to the day I took the BIGGEST leap of faith and started my own media business. My thought process behind starting my own business was that I knew I didn’t know everything about running one but I was confident that I was smart enough to figure it out. If I could run a department for a corporate business, I could do it for myself and on a larger scale.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art is in the form of photographs and video. I believe the absolute best thing about photography and videography is that each person’s creativity is unique. I started off with taking photos and video for fun when I was younger and the love for it never really faded away.

It wasn’t until June 2020 that I decided to turn my passion into a business. Some may say that hobbies should be kept hobbies because once money is involved it takes the fun out of it. My response to that is to figure out a good balance between client work and passion projects. For every 3 client projects I take on, I make sure that I complete at least 1 passion project for myself. This balance has definitely helped me avoid burnout.

Was the transition into running my own business easy? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Worth it? For me, ABSOLUTELY! Being your own boss is hard. This role tests your confidence, patience, and everything in between. So if you are going into business, make sure that you are 1000% sure about yourself and your abilities.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My favorite thing to do in the city is to have picnics. So my perfect day in San Diego would be to have a picnic at Kate Sessions Park for brunch. Head down to the Zoo for some animal fun & to work up an appetite and then end the day having dinner with some korean bbq in Convoy!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This particular shout out will be to my support system. They are the ones that listen to my crazy ideas when I just get too excited and need to tell someone. They are the ones that are my backbone when I am feeling down or too hard on myself.

Website: https://www.sqvlinamedia.co/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sqvlina_media/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SqvlinaMedia/

Other: Email: Info@sqvlinamedia.co

Image Credits
Photo Credit: Aurora G’rie Photography