Meet Christina Avalos | Maternity | Newborn | Children | Family Photographer

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

Hi Christina, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
At the time, I was a mother of two, I was in college full-time and working full-time as a manager for Jamba Juice. I was driving from Palmdale to Carson where I attended California State University of Dominguez Hills. If you are from SoCal, then you know that traffic was a nightmare! I would drive to school two times a week and go to work the other five days, all while juggling being a mama. It was during this time in my life that I decided to purchase a camera and start taking photos as a hobby.

Life began to do its thing and eventually I was married and expecting another little bundle of joy. I quickly realized the 9-5p work schedule was not for me. I was burning out slowly, I did not have energy to do much with my kids, and the constant back and forth was extremely exhausting after a while. One day, I decided to quit my job at Jamba Juice and transfer from CSUDH to an online hybrid program in my area. This transition gave me the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom and slow down.

After becoming a mom of three, I quickly found joy capturing their memories and creating my own art. I decided to enroll into an online education program for new photographers and immediately realized how much I love capturing life’s precious moments. I started off by offering sessions in the living room of my home with a set of lights and backdrops I purchased from Amazon. Having the flexibility and control to set my own schedule was heaven sent. I was now able to enjoy the simple pleasures of being a mama and a wife, while also generating an income from doing something that brought me genuine happiness. That happiness has allowed for my husband and I to grow our family and provide for them in ways we never could have imagined.

Now, as a mom of four, I never expected my business to turn into what it is today, and I would be lying if I said I have always had this vision. To be quite honest, the vision started to form the more I tapped into my passion for creating. I have always had a creative bone in my body, whether it was writing poetry, creating dance routines in my room, or making scrapbooks from scratch; being creative was my passion. This passion slowly developed into a career and has provided me with so much gratitude over the years. I am able to do what I love, with people I love, and create a schedule that is designed to balance my work life and my personal life.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Mylah Moments has developed so much over the years. Originally, I was like most photographers who offer their services in exchange for xx amount of digitals , xx amount of time and xx amount for price. I would upload clients their digitals via a compact disk and mail it to their home. They would have the option to print their digitals on their own and enjoy their artwork at their discretion. In time, I would often have clients message me telling me the color quality was off or somehow the images were distorted. I would go back on my computer, re-edit thinking it was an issue on my end, only for clients to come back expressing the images still did not look appealing. After some digging, I quickly realized how many of my clients were taking their images to Walmart or Walgreens to be printed. With little experience in the printing department, and still fairly new to the business, I was completely flabbergasted at how I could fix this issue for my clients.

After joining a mentorship program, I eventually began to learn more about prints, editing, SEO and more! I slowly began to transition Mylah Moments from a digitals-only service to providing heirloom keepsakes, convenience and a better quality of service to my clients. Soon enough, I started offering wall art, portrait albums, folio boxes and more. This took lots of effort on my end to go through various vendors and find the right fit for us. I started off by going to our clients home for their ordering appointment and bringing examples of their prints for them. Clients would give us space in their home to setup and provide them with the convenience of viewing their images in their home. This process was not easy, and I ended up losing quite a few clients during this transition.

Clients would often message me requesting our services but opting out of booking once I would explain the different products and heirlooms we offered. Their main focus, as with most of us, was the immediate gratification of having their digitals readily available, and were not looking for their artwork to be displayed in their home. This was discouraging for me, and made me question whether my transition was a smart one. I decided I should stay the course and began filtering through potential clients to find the right audience; clients who wanted their artwork in their hands and not just on a digital screen. This took time, lots of rejections and a few great conversations before business started to pick up.

In 2022, my husband and I decided to open up a studio and start offering a full-service to clients. We began to advertise for a hair and makeup artist, and at the same time, we began to build our client wardrobe closet. Before we knew it, we were offering clients a full-service of glitz and glam with the opportunity to get their prints and products all in one place. Clients now book us, come to our studio for hair and makeup, put on their wardrobe from our client closet, and head to the back of the studio for their portraits. This process has become one of convenience and relaxation for our clients, especially for our maternity clients and mama’s with busy schedules. This process has set us apart from other photographers in the area because we offer an all inclusive service. Our clients are able to show up to our studio and we take care of the rest!

Throughout this process, it has been a lot of trial and error. I have had to get out of my comfort zone and take risks that made sense for my business. Juggling four kids, being a wife, and a business owner has not been the easiest, however, my motivation to build the brand of Mylah Moments is unwavering. I want Mylah Moments to be known as an inclusive service print studio of heirloom products with convenience and a worry-free experience for our clients.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I have grown to love Lancaster Blvd. It is one of the most interesting places in the Antelope Valley for creatives like myself. There are a variety of amazing small businesses, from restaurants, bars, cake shops, live music, etc! Having lived in the Antelope Valley for over 20 years, Lancaster Blvd has brought some life into our small community. It has provided small businesses like my own to thrive and tap into a whole new base of clients. I have been to Lancaster Blvd multiple times, and cannot say I know every business. This small stretch of the BLVD has so many hidden gems, one could spend the entire day there and find so many activities to enjoy!

We could stop in for brunch at The Modern Tea Room, grab some desserts from FlorraDonna’s, go bowling at the underground bowling alley, stop in for a tattoo at any of the local shops, check out the gaming arena at SpadeFox and more!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Not only am I extremely grateful for my husband, Edwin Avalos, and my mom, Shereese, for being my biggest supporters throughout this process, but I also want to thank Josie Tan of SunnyMelon Photography. I joined her mentorship program back in 2020 with absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. Over the years, Josie has been a huge inspiration for me and for sure represents #GOALS in my book! She has worked hard to develop a program for photographers like myself to hone in on their craft and do so with guidance. She has built a community full of support and I could not be more thankful I took the leap and joined her program. It is because of Josie that I have been able to take my business to new heights and be as confident as I am. Thank you, thank you, thank you a million times over Josie!

Website: www.mylahmoments.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/mylahmoments

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mylahmoments

Youtube: Mylah Moments

Image Credits
Mylah Moments