Through the flash.

The first time I stood in front of a camera for Empower Moves Collective, I showed up.

But I wasn't fully ready.

It was January. Winter. The mood was layered and so was I. It was the first time I had ever put myself in front of a camera for this purpose and I felt every bit of that.

Here is what I know now looking back. The video captured me in movement and that is what lives in the hero section of the website. Because when I was moving I was free. The stills though, they captured something else. A hesitation. Not because of the photographer. Everything to do with me and where I was in that moment. My vision was still coming into focus. The depth behind what I was building was still being layered.

But I was having fun. And that is what you see. What you don't always see is what's happening underneath. The uncertainty. The becoming. The work still in progress behind the smile.

That video on the homepage is one of my favorite things about the site. Not because it's perfect. Because it's true.

Then came yesterday.

I walked in knowing my suit. Knowing my poses. Knowing the shots I wanted. I came prepared with an inspo pic, logo wear, and a vision for exactly what I needed to walk away with. My mom was there. My photographer was someone I had worked with before. The energy was different from the moment I arrived.

Spring. Color. Confidence. More smiling. More me.

What I learned standing in front of that camera is that presence is not passive. You have to move through the flash. Literally. Because the camera only captures a moment and there are a thousand moments of self consciousness between each shot. The lights. The angles. What you see on the screen. All of it.

But I pushed through anyway.

And what came out on the other side was clarity. Because over the last three to four weeks something shifted. I know my speech. I know my language. I know what Empower Moves Collective is, what it stands for, and what it is here to do. And all of that carried through into that room and showed up in every frame.

This is exactly what I teach. Presence. Confidence. Knowing who you are when you walk into a room. Controlling the narrative even when everything feels uncertain.

I practice what I preach. Yesterday proved it.

Two shoots. One story. This is what ready looks like.

A special thank you to both photographers who helped bring this vision to life. The first shoot gave me the foundation. The second gave me the arrival.

Courtney...on the move