Ep. 030 – Angelia Malbrew: Second Chances, Self Love, and So Much Energy

Matt Stagliano 0:00
Welcome back to Generator This is episode 30. And I gotta tell you My face hurts from smiling for the past hour. I’ve just been on an interview with Angelia mailroom and now Angelia is an amazing person. She’s a portrait photographer out of Arizona. And she is a firecracker. She is nonstop energy. This conversation doesn’t have a pause in it. And it’s phenomenal. I love what she brings to the table. Angelia is someone that never fails to inspire me every time I see her around the country. I feel better about me. This is the effect that she has on everybody. So unbelievably wonderful person, an incredible story to tell. You’re going to hear all about it. We talked about her photography, we talked about the products she designs, we talked about how she uses analytics in our business. We talked about a 40 over 40 campaign, we talked about her speaking circuit, there is nothing that this woman can’t do. I cannot wait for you to hear what she has to say. So without me rambling on anymore, let’s get into Episode 30 with Angelia Malbrew.

You know, I’ve never known how to start any of these things. I always want to have like some sort of welcome or now joining us. I don’t have any of that. Angelia, how are you my friend?

Angelia Malbrew 1:44
I am so good. I’m so honored to be here with you today. And I feel like we are about to take all the gloves off and we’re just gonna get down to the nitty gritty. I’m so excited to be here.

Matt Stagliano 1:55
How have you been in the past couple of weeks since I saw you last?

Angelia Malbrew 1:57
I don’t mind guys. I’ve got so busy. So it’s been from WPPI to getting your requests for the podcast to getting a request from local vers Arizona. Hey Angelica, we love Shawn, I speak at Penn. I’m like me living Yeah, we want you we love you, we want you to go. When did that that’s hard get to more opportunities and more speaking engagements. And I went to a conference or two in between. And that turned into another speaking engagement. So I’m headed to Dallas next month for a it’s like a financial webinar helping people to get their lives together. Because not everybody all over the place right now after PvP money because it’s going this route up, but I’m gonna reopen it. So let’s figure out how to get in priority and get inspired and make people feel beautiful again. So that’s what I’m going to talk about and my struggles as you know, going through entrepreneurship without a real blueprint because you know, you take a little bit from here and take a little bit from there and you try to make it your own and sometimes look like a hobbyist but it’s okay because we’re making a cute, because we’re photographers and we do that. But for the most part like I’ve just been conference at the conference after conference, trying to build on this 40 over 40 chat and get that taken care of. And yeah, busy out in the streets.

Matt Stagliano 3:09
I thought I was busy. You’re insane. One

Angelia Malbrew 3:13
magical thing like I’m looking at my life everyday like girl have a break and a KitKat

Matt Stagliano 3:19
would 16 year old Angelica look at you now and be like, go ahead. Like you’re crushing it. I

Angelia Malbrew 3:25
think she would definitely tell me that girl I am so proud of you. Because the 16 year old Angelica like she was more reserved a little bit she was just coming out of her shell. And believe it or not, I kind of used to be a little bit quiet. I’ve always been a firecracker around people that knew me. But now coming out of my shell doing these speaking engagements and you know, popping up everywhere meeting friends everywhere I go like this is a new Angelica. So I have definitely changed since 216 year old that you know, just wanted to wear cute clothes and shoes and take a picture of everybody at the school. So I have definitely evolved for sport.

Matt Stagliano 4:04
I know that you’ve been putting yourself out there more, and you’re doing more and you’re all over the place. And clearly you have no problem speaking to people from the standpoint of the speaking engagement that you were contacted for originally, did you reach out to them? Or do they reach out to you? Did you have like a spot on the news before and someone found you like how did that all turn around? Because I think most people wonder like, how do I start doing that? How did all of this come together for you?

Angelia Malbrew 4:35
Honestly, I will take it back to me really not knowing the lady that referred me. So as you said, you know, and I will just you know piggyback off what you said I have been out I’ve been doing all the things that go on to all the events and what I found was in my marketing you know while it looks cute online, I can make it look real pretty. My biggest connector is me meeting people in person so I’m out at the networking events of Lausanne Chamber of Commerce events, like I’m all in all the places. But I decided to join local first AZ last year, my life has been so crazy. This is how crazy it’s been. I haven’t been to one meeting before the speaking engagement, because it’s always the opportunity for me to go, or it’s on the other side of the valley. And that’s like an hour and a half drive for me. And I’m like, I can’t do it today. I didn’t want to be stuck in traffic, but it was always in situation where I couldn’t make it. And so when the lady called me, she was like, Angelia, we have this amazing opportunity. And I just want to know, Are you available? And it was like, a month or so ago? And I said, What’s your guy? She was like, Well, you have been highly recommended and referred. And I’m like, thinking she was calling me to say, hey, let’s who’s miss shots or something? And she says, we really, we love you. I went to your page, and I was saying I need one more person is dynamic, especially for Women’s History Month. And she said, I went to your page, and I was blown away. She said, I love everything about you. She said you are very outgoing. You’re very relatable. And I think you will be a great addition to the panel. And I’m like, okay, she said, You’re so inspiring. Please do what you can do it. And I say, let me check my calendar. Oh, I have nothing to do. I’m coughing. So I ended up taking the opportunity. And I’m so glad I did. Like that was such a huge thing. Like granted, that was my first like panel speaking but guess back to what you were saying I have been on TV before I’ve been on AZ seven TV. I’ve been on snoring live and talking about you know what I do empowering women talking about my 50 shades a beautiful campaign I had two years ago. So yes, I think a little bit of this. A little bit of that kind of led me to it. But I think for the most part, they were really checking with the community and people that will make an impact.

Matt Stagliano 6:50
Now you’re out in Glendale, Glendale, Arizona, right? Yeah, well, I’m

Angelia Malbrew 6:53
as well my office is in Scottsdale, but yeah, I’m all over the valley. I go

Matt Stagliano 6:57
to Arizona about once a year, whether it’s for a conference or for magazine that I work for whatever it is, and I’m starting to slowly get to know the area, because it kept calling me maybe I’ll move out. But I don’t know. It’s like going from the freezer into the frying pan. I think I need like a West Virginia.

Angelia Malbrew 7:16
Honestly, I don’t think you should go that far, because we need you on this side. But I’m thinking maybe you could probably do like a Sedona or Prescott or something like that, because that was your pacing, you know, that will give you the best of both worlds. You still get the four seasons, the real four seasons, not hot, hot and hotter. I definitely don’t want you to go to Virginia. I don’t think you know, all right, they don’t be

Matt Stagliano 7:36
able to Flagstaff or Prescott it is yeah. So let’s step back a little bit. So you’re doing the speaking? How do you like? Do you find that you’re, you’ve got a keynote that you like to give? Or is it just you like to add live, I know there’s a million different ways to do the public speaking circuit. And there are people that you know, will go out with a keynote and they talk about the same thing a slightly different way every time. But there’s the one message that they have. I know you’re big on empowering women, I know you’re big on entrepreneurship. Is there one focus that you’re being asked to talk about? Or do you get to determine that and you’re just asked to speak and you say great, I’m going to talk about X, Y or Z? Yeah,

Angelia Malbrew 8:20
well, it really depends on the platform, the local first AZ it was all about empowering women. And then little did I know it was going to be men in the audience too. So I actually had men to come up and tell me that they were inspired. So now we’re gonna add men to the check list that I’m inspiring them to. So some people are sending me requests to say, Hey, if you want to talk about XYZ is cold, or you can bring your personality, bring yourself and talk about whatever comes up to you. But we want to do either empowerment or business. So it ends up being one or the other that I ended up talking about. And a lot of times, I am often led to share my story which really inspires and empowers people about my stint with cancer. And so that really helps people to identify why it’s so important for me to like, be so heavy on the empowerment whether it’s for men or for women. So I think once I start my story, and then they start asking questions that kind of just goes and it’s easy. Well, you

Matt Stagliano 9:18
didn’t open you got an open mic right here. Let’s talk about your story a little bit. So let people get to know you. For those

Angelia Malbrew 9:24
that don’t know, I moved here to Arizona 13 years ago, and I moved here with two suitcases and I never I’m from Mississippi originally and I never looked back and once I got here I stopped working for JPMorgan Chase love my job, and I felt something was wrong with me. I knew my body was off I thought you know hey, I’m extra to hire and hey, you know my skin is really dry. I’m losing my hair what is going on? Because hair has always been like my love like it’s been photography didn’t hair, well got photography in here like those are my three things and then going I’d having a good time with the friends that I meet online and stuff. But that has always been my thing. And so my buddy kept telling me hey, something is wrong, something is up, went to four doctors, and all of them turned me away telling me different things. One of them said, Oh, you’re just tired because you are on a crazy shift at work. Like flu. Okay, that doesn’t sound right. Then the other one was like, Oh, your skin is so dry because you just moved from Mississippi. So it’s you know, humidity over there. And you don’t have any over here. So you just need to use a different lotion, Angelica, you know, do better, more stress and like I’m slathering myself by now. And so I just consoled myself with so many different products. And it was nothing was working. And I realized a lump in my neck. And I was sitting there watching Doctor eyes, like immediately, like, I found it maybe like a week before. And then I was watching a little doc to us. First of all, shout out to Dr. Oz, because I think had I not saw that video that day, I probably would not be sitting here because he urged me to go to the doctor, I will sit in there. And you know how they get ready to go to commercial break. And they’re like, Hey, this is this is fine, you may be having a thyroid problem. Let me see what I have to ask pat on the back, because this is my day off. And I’m gonna watch that to Adam. So when he came back, he was like, um, are you experiencing any of these symptoms, it was everything that I had just told you. And my way was up and down. I couldn’t figure it out. Dr. Oz was like, go get a glass of water stand in the mirror and drink. He said, You look at your abs up. If it goes up and down really fast, you have a thyroid problem. If it goes up and down like that you’re good. Three glasses of water. And I’m like, I don’t know what he’s talking about. You don’t know what he’s talking about. And so I wrote it off. And I was like, next day, I’m like, let me go check it again. And then the next day, I noticed my neck was a little bit more. So I was like, did I sleep wrong? What’s going on? So I said, let me go to another doctor, this one, I’m going to do a biopsy, like I’m not gonna take any chances, worst pain I’ve ever had in my life. The biopsy was worse than the cancer went through all of that. And he comes back and says, nope, is inconclusive. And I said that. You don’t have an answer at all. And he said, Well, we have to do it again. I said, You’re a liar. And so is the devil. And we’re not doing this. And so I was like, forget this crap. I’m out. I left. And I immediately and this is crazy. Thinking about it. I went and found a surgeon. I was like, I don’t know what this is on my neck. But I’m not taking any chances when and found. Thank God for Dr. Theodore Haley. I have to give props out to him because he sat me down like I was his little sister. He say Angelina, Something is definitely wrong. He stood behind me did the test on my neck. He says something that’s wrong. I’m not gonna play with your life. Let’s go ahead and get you on my calendar. Not not let me show you give you a timeline of how quickly this happened. This was a Wednesday. He had me on his schedule. And it was for Monday morning. I didn’t have time to get scared. I had to prepare. And you know me, I’m always trying to be optimistic about everything. Oh, it’s gonna be great when in there. And he came the next morning. And we’re like, Angelina, I’m so sorry. And he said on the bed and he said is canceled. And I’m like, what? And so he said, it has spread to your lymph nodes in your neck, your entire thyroid and you had a 6.9 centimeter of water on your neck. You couldn’t really see it because it was pushing up against your esophagus. He was like, Were you having problems eating or drinking and I said, only drinking water. I only got choked up drinking water. And I knew something was off with that because I didn’t drink sodas or anything like that. I’m new to Arizona. They say hydrate, we got to get in the water in all time. And so went through that. And immediately I had to figure out where do I want to go get my treatment, he was like, because I don’t want to leave it to chance. Because you know, when you open up the body, the cancer spreads. And the cancer has spread to three spots and much that weren’t there before. That’s how fast it’s spread. Now I have no left notes, no thyroid. So I’ll be on thyroid medication for the rest of my life to kind of regulate my numbers and stuff. And it’s literally like a lifeline. And so I had to decide at that moment. Where did I want to go Ironwood Mayo Clinic or cancer treatments and I went with the most recognizable name at that time for me cancer treatments and went there and they were phenomenal. They I had the most amazing team of doctors. Well, everyone except the head doctor. He was a miss but I had 12 doctors, and they did everything they could do. And I was like I did a Felicia read into my head. I had cancer in 2014. So this is like my 10th year remission. And I told them, I don’t want your support groups. I don’t want to little knit hats. I am good. And they were like Oh, I didn’t delete that. You’d need a support group. I said we’re not gonna talk about tariffs and we’re just my I don’t want What is going on? Mike is better, but let me get my Lambo right into the house. And so they took me in a limo because a lot of times I was so weak, I could not like I couldn’t drive. And so it was crazy. But going through cancer, I feel changed my life, I feel like it gave me another chance, I thought God gave me another chance to live. And to make an impact. Like, I have always been, like, for the party girl, right? Never really did parties, but I’ve always been like the person that’s gonna get the crowd going, I’m always gonna come in and make people happy and smile. But I feel like because this almost took my voice, it was just that crazy for me. And this lake, now I have another opportunity a second chance at life. So, absolutely, I’m gonna be at all the things you’re going to be hit, we’re going to have a good time, and I’m gonna see the people. So that’s where I’m at. Now, I’m all about empowering, educating people and letting them know, if your body is telling you something, if you feel off in any way, like, I don’t care what it is, like, go get it checked out. And if they keep telling, you know, go to another doctor, because sometimes people, I’m not gonna say all doctors with some doctors, they will write you off and let you ever say, hey, you know, this is not what you’re feeling. And unfortunately, that happened to me. And that happens to a lot of people nowadays, because, you know, there are so many symptoms and so much going on, and they try to get these Fly By Night doctors, and they want to get you in and get you out really quick. But get a doctor that understands and sits down to listen to you, it’ll make a tremendous difference in your life. That’s

Matt Stagliano 16:32
it’s an amazing story that you have, right. And it’s one that unfortunately, as I get a little bit older, I’m hearing more and more, the thing that has always separated folks, for me has always been mindset, the mindset of I’m going to advocate for myself, or I’m not going to give in to the negative, this isn’t the end of my life. Those are the people that are like whatever comes my way, I’m going to deal with it. I’m going to move past it. And I’m going to have another, you know, 2030 4050 years ahead of me, except people that come to the negativity I find have a much harder time with treatment, with recovery with whatever comes their way. So there’s something to be said a lot for the metaphysical. I am not a man of faith. I know you are I’m sure that must have really helped quite a bit and putting, you know all your faith on the table and saying, Listen, you and me are in this for for the long haul like hell Absolutely. It’s the advocating for yourself, which is the big part. When I was younger, this probably goes back about 10 years, 10 or 12 years anyway, I was going through very similar things. Fatigue, I was rundown mood swings like this weight gain up and down. Like it was just I couldn’t figure it out. And I would go to doctor after doctor after doctor middle like Nope, you’re fine. Your testosterone is in the right range, all your blood work looks fine. After 10 years of that, and a divorce and severe depression and all the things that go along with it. Yeah, I finally found a doctor that listened and said, Alright, let’s, let’s take a look at this. And she’s like, Oh, you’ve got Hashimotos disease, your thyroid is way out of whack. And your testosterone doesn’t exist in your body. So let’s fix those things. But it wasn’t until I just kept going saying you may have the medical degrees. I know my body, I know what feels right and doesn’t feel right. And so working until I found someone that wasn’t just telling me what I wanted to hear about said, hey, look, they were looking at this number. And they couldn’t tell you what was going on. Because you have to look at these three numbers together. Exactly, exactly. So I’m super glad that you just kept pushing and just kept pushing and just kept pushing to, you know, find the thing that you knew something was off, but you had to, you know, find out what it was. And I’m so so glad that you went into that. Because this this version of you, which is the only version I know is spectacular. Thank you. I love it. So thinking about what you’re doing now, thinking about your empowerment and your speaking and I want to stick with speaking in the content and all that because I see you as such a natural networker natural connector, when you sit down and you’re like, I want to write this or I want to put content out or one of the 9000 things that you say you do, really drawing your inspiration from,

Angelia Malbrew 19:29
oh, it’s two parts. So I would have to say, one being the change that I needed to see. I’d had a camera in my hand since I was 14 years old. Let’s just start there. I always knew I wanted to be a photographer. If I go get my senior book right now usually the first thing I say a photographer a second thing cause and 1000s and you know I love some good air. But I just I wanted to do something that I didn’t see in the industry. Sure, yeah. So I feel like, I am livid. I feel like that’s my purpose here on Earth is to inspire and help other people. So when I write something online, or when I go online and I do a video is because I know I need to show up for some little girl that doesn’t see a representation of her, whether it’d be white and black, brown, green, purple, or plaid, or a little boy that may say, hey, I want to do this, because you never know who you’re entertaining. And I always live my life like that to say, no matter what I try to show up as my most authentic self, because that’s kind of go like, it’s gonna outlive me, I want to be able to live a legacy and leave my stamp on this earth that says, You know what, you can do it. And it doesn’t matter what you look like, like you can do this. Because like, I’m just a little girl from Mississippi, from a little Dusty Country row, you know, Mississippi, like the St. Louis town as an Oprah Winfrey. And so to be able to see Oprah and Whitney Houston and all these people, like they inspire me as a kid, to just keep going, and to see and hear people tell me now as adults, like, Angelina, you inspire me. Like, that’s mind blowing to me. So I decimated my journey. And that’s what I plan to do is to keep doing that. And the other part, I would have to say, my faith, because I’ve always rely heavily on my faith, to get me through it. Like I grew up apostolic, and grew up in the church and stuff, but I feel like had I not had this mindset shift, I wouldn’t be where I am today, I’m just, I’m just grateful for all the things like no matter what comes my way, like, I’m gonna take it and we’re gonna ride it like a Harley out in the sunset, it

Matt Stagliano 21:38
comes across and everything that you do, and you know, your colleague there talked about your website, and I was looking at it earlier. And yeah, everything about it. One, it’s a gorgeous looking website, to it’s like, your personality jumps off the page in everything and the copy and the images and the portfolio images of your clients where they’re just absolutely gorgeous. And you can tell that there is trust that there is empowerment that people feel awesome in front of you. And not a lot of photographers nail that, right. So I agree, there’s a lot of photographers that can take beautiful pictures. But I’m a big believer in the connection part. And one thing that is repeated over and over in your work, and I want to talk to you about the 40 over 40 project and beat is it 40 Over 40 Are you in 50? Over 50? Where are you,

Angelia Malbrew 22:32
I’m no 40 over 40 this, we’re still gonna welcome all the 50 Plus, but I definitely would focus on the 40 over 40 This year, for sure.

Matt Stagliano 22:40
It’s such a demographic that is underserved. And you know, you get to this point in your life where you’re not feeling all that great about yourself and you want that little bit of renewal. I know that there are other photographers that do this campaign, but I want to talk about you and how you approach it a little bit differently, because you’ve gotten some great notoriety for it. So what is this that your clients are seeing? Or how are you doing it differently that is causing such, you know, causing you to get noticed so much?

Angelia Malbrew 23:11
Honestly, I will have to say when I depending on where I go. So if we’re doing something on social media, like I help people to slide in my DMs or if I go to an event and I literally pull out my work or pull out my magazine, and I show people what I do. And I tell them why I started doing the 40 or 40, which is a great story. I turned 42 years ago, but I’m still 25. And I decided I decided that year that I wanted to do something that was impactful. Like I didn’t, I was like I want to do something big for my 40th. But I don’t want to have a party and invite all these people in spend all this money on food. And for people that don’t appreciate love and value me because you know, sometimes you get a lot of people that want to come to the party, but like where are they when you’re going through life. And I was like, I want to do something different. And so I said, let me let me hop on this 40 or 40 trying I want to make it my own 40 was very significant for me because a lot of people don’t know, the people that don’t know me personally, I lost my dad when I was 18 he tragically got murdered. And that was the day of my prom and he never lived to see 40 So he passed away at 39. And when I turned 40 I was like, God, I made it like I that was a milestone for me because beating I had just got through cancer at this point. And I’m like, Man, if I have this opportunity to do half the things he did by 39 I’m headed to 40 like I want to make an impact on other people’s lives. And so I decided that’s what I want to do. And from that moment on, I when I did the first consultation call and told that story. I knew then that empowerment was my space because everything in me like leaked my entire story. Oh, just like got excited. And I’m like, I need to do this for other people. And that’s why this is so important to me, whether I book another client, that’s 39 and a half or nine, like, I want to be able to empower women that don’t always get the limelight. Like, I don’t want the people that are on TV all the time, I want the people that, you know, they’re holding down a household for the kids, and they’re, they’re doing all this stuff. They’re, they’re taking care of the mom. And because you know, our generation, we’re taking care of moms at this point. Um, if you’re still blessed to have your mom, and a lot of people, they don’t get the notoriety, they don’t get the light, they don’t get the love that they need. And for me, it’s always been about love, like I will love on somebody all day long, because that’s just my personality. That’s the way I was raised, is to treat people right and do people, right, because you never know what battle somebody else is facing. And so I always want it to be that change. And for me, that’s just everything. If I could do this for the rest of my life, like that’s what I want to do.

Matt Stagliano 26:01
Have you noticed any common threads between the women that are coming, like, for example, and I talked about this almost every podcast because I love the concept so much. Mitzi Starkweather does in unlike our bra portraits, and the trend was people were coming in and they didn’t want hair and makeup, they didn’t want fancy clothes. And it was all about just raw emotion. Right? So she said, let me turn this into something for you with the 40 over 40. I’m wondering, are there trends in the the types of women that you see coming through meaning they’re generally feeling bad about themselves? Or they’ve never done a photoshoot before? Or, you know, has there been a trend a similar thread that weaves through all of them that you can pull out and say, Yeah, this is pretty much every client that comes to me has this thing going on? Is there anything like that? Or is it random?

Angelia Malbrew 26:58
Absolutely, absolutely. is two things actually is one. A lot of women haven’t done anything for themselves in a while. And they just need something. They don’t know what that something is. But when they step in front of my camera that was like, Yeah, this is it. And then when they begin to cry, Oh, let’s see. I know I gotta That’s it. That’s it. And the second thing is good cry. It’s always good crying, like they are so happy about the way they see themselves because they haven’t done anything in a while. And maybe they put on some weight and they didn’t feel beautiful before. Or they’ll say I want to wait till I lose this weight. What we don’t want to lose this way. And then they’ll start laughing and I’ll say, girl, just come on, we’ll change lanes that will be fine. And they end up loving what we create. So that that’s everything for me in the second thing is they see other women that do it. And I tell them, there is no perfect time, the perfect time is now and so me telling them that. And I think with me being able to connect with people admit them. And I hate this phrase because people say it all the time. But I used to say it’s so stupid. But now I’m finding myself using it more like I meet people where they are that is so stupid. I hate it so much. But like for me, I’m I’m doing what I mentor Sue has always told us like you go talk to the person in the room that nobody is talking to. So when I meet a lot of these women, like society has even ignored them. And so when I talk to them, and I say, hey, let’s have a conversation, like they are so open to that because nobody is having a conversation with them. Like I want to talk to the janitor, I want to talk to them. Because those people are the ones that need it the most. They’re taking care of everybody. But people rarely stop and have a conversation with them. Like those people have the most amazing stories. And some of them are they’re on a second or third job because they’re trying to take care of family because God knows everything is so expensive right now. And so I want to talk to that person that nobody is paying attention to. So that’s why that’s my little thing.

Matt Stagliano 29:01
The most interesting stories, the most engaged that I am, is when I talk to the person that’s serving me food. I talk to the person that’s, you know, cleaning up the caterers, the folks that are at the airport that are emptying trash, right? People that or unfortunately invisible in society, I find that the people that are most interesting are Uber drivers. cab drivers. Yeah, right. You started talking to him like, oh, yeah, I was a doctor, but I didn’t really like it. And so now I’m just driving an Uber because it gives me the flexibility. Like, tell me about how you got from A to B like I love that. Yes. In talking to you, i My heart goes like this and my energy comes up because you just you get me going and I want to talk in Dakka Dakka Dakka Dakka you have this way about you that draws that out of folks and I can only imagine now what do you know but do you know what I’m saying? Like I Don’t do these big campaigns like you do. And it’s got to be so much fun for you in the studio to have this happen over and over. And we all connect in different ways. But to me immediately impacting the women in your area, raising up that collective self love, and giving them that gift of being seen, has got to be just so fulfilling, it’s got to feel so good at the end of the day, no matter how exhausted you are,

Angelia Malbrew 30:29
exactly. And I think because I am so high energy, and I put so much into making them feel beautiful and amazing and special in scene, by the end of one shoot a day, like I need to go take a nap. It’s like I put Eric up, I leave it all on the on the dance floor. Because I feel like if they come out of their shell and I say Angelica, you know what I’ve been saying, I’m gonna do this for years and going in and do it, I don’t want you to know, don’t get my arms that I’ll get my back and pull my stomach in. And when I show them how amazing they look like, it’s just, it’s a feeling that I just can’t even I can’t even begin to articulate. But I just went into fun fact about all of this as my biggest clientele are not even in Arizona,

Matt Stagliano 31:18
you market yourself essentially, as a travel luxury branding photographer. And I want to know more about traveling and marketing in different areas and how you’re, how are you doing that?

Angelia Malbrew 31:33
How do I do it? There are two parts, you know, it’s always two parts. From an early age, like I travel, like we traveled to California, we traveled to Illinois, we traveled to Florida and stuff. And so seeing that as a kid and seeing my dad be an entrepreneur, like he was always on the go every single day, like he was working. So he was from old school, you know, where he went out, knocked on doors and got clients like that. So the draft for me is different than everybody else. Some people say, Oh, I’m just gonna run some Facebook ads and see what happened. Me Now we’re gonna get out and talk to the people because I feel like I needed to be a bridge builder in a community because somebody needs to know about what I do. And I need to go and be a wingwoman for somebody else. And so everywhere I go, I try to make an impact. So when I go to these conferences and things, I connect, like I am a networking connecting maniac when I get in here, and I try to leave a mark with them that say, You know what, I love her. And I also want to tell somebody else about her. So case in point, this last International Leadership Summit that I went to in Dallas, I go every year, and I ended up meeting this lady crazy enough, she’s from Phoenix, we drove we rode the same plane to Dallas, we checked in our hotel at the same time. And we ended up sitting on the same bench eating our lunch. We started talking, she was like, Where are you from, I say afraid and she said me too. We ended up connecting Long story short, I gave her my stuff, she gave me her stuff. Uh, we ended up connecting with each other. With this one lady alone, she has brought me about seven referrals. Since then, like she gave me five at the event, she was like I’m gonna get I’m gonna get to 40 over 40 fail for you. And then on top. So yesterday, she’s like, Oh, I probably have about four more girlfriends for you. So it’s like people like that I’m naturally connected to. So I don’t even have to do the heavy lifting. Like if I never ran another Facebook ad again, I will be fine. Because everywhere I go every state you’re gonna hear about Angelina Malbrewugh photography, you’re gonna see what I do. And I’m gonna show you can change your life. And I think they just fall in love with me. And the photography is a bonus. Yeah,

Matt Stagliano 33:43
I think that’s what it is. For those of us that approached photography from a point of connection from a point of human interest and curiosity and wanting to help rather than treating it like retail, which is perfectly fine. But I think we we both look for something deeper in what we do for our work. I think when when we get into that mode, we’re in that connection mode. We want to filter out people that are just looking for, you know, this type of photography or just I just need one quick headshot. Well, I can turn your one quick headshot into an hour session like that, just by having a conversation. And I love the fact that no matter where you go, you’re connecting your networking. I’ve seen it in action. It’s it’s your wish. And I started Yeah, so we started our relationship is like we we just started talking and it was that immediate. Oh my God, I need to know this woman like immediately. So as you travel around, are there places that you go? pretty consistently California, New York, Texas, that you’re starting to build parts of your business there and you know, you can count on that business year over year. Like let’s say around that conference. You Do 10 People in Dallas? Or how does it How does it work for you? Or do you just travel wherever people want you, you’re there. It works

Angelia Malbrew 35:08
like this when they contact me, and they say, and Talia, I need you, me and my glam squad, we’re on the way. Because I feel like if you went out of your way to reach over all of these photographers in your state, city, town, everything like I’m on the way, and I’m going to come and I’m going to show up dynamic. And so when I go to these different conferences, that always a different space, like when I went to Charleston, like I met some amazing people there, we did photo shoots there, and I tell people, Hey, I’m gonna be XYZ or I’ll do a tour or something like that. But every year is always a different place. And even if I only just focused on that conference alone, like the amount of people that I connect with is just astronomical, like, if you could see my blink right now, I have so many people in that list, I need to call back, like, I’ve been calling people since I came back. And then I’ve got another person that takes me, they’ll say, Hey, you remember me. But let’s refresh my memory because I’ve met so many people. But you know, I feel like being able to get out at those conferences and do networking events and things like that, I feel like he helps me to show my personality and show people who I am. And I’m more than just a photographer, like I’m going to be your coach, we’re gonna have a whole branding session, we’re going to talk about your business, we’re going to talk about everything related to you. So that when you step in front of my camera, you’re 100% ready in your company. And I’m gonna build on that every on top of all that, and it’s gonna make the most amazing, beautiful images you ever seen on yourself. And so for me, that is that’s, that’s so needed in this society, because we’ve got all these people with cameras, and nobody’s given an experience, like I say, us in our community, because we know what to do. We’ve been educated on it. But it’s so many people just doing a disservice to our people. And they’re not giving them what they need. They’re just giving them an opportunity to get a quick buck. And for me, it’s not, that’s not my life, and I don’t want a situation where it’s all about money, I want an experience. And I want to give them that because they deserve it. Their in

Matt Stagliano 37:08
laws, the heart of what we’re doing, right, we want to give that experience, either we’ve experienced in the past the love of others, the faith of others, the whatever it is that we’ve experienced, that has affected us in a certain way. I love giving that back. I love sitting with people and talking and hearing them cry and having them open up and just making it safe for them to be them because we rarely get that opportunity. And I think very experienced with for those of us that work in this model, it works so well. Because yeah, we we can take the picture, but we can also give you so much more that you’re probably not getting anywhere else. That’s not to sound egotistical, or that we do something so amazing. But how often are we as people humans, just sitting and listening to each other giving them that space? Right? It’s all about waiting for your turn to talk. And I’ve been guilty of it but in the studio here the second they walk through the door everything is about them everything. Yeah, off the bottom. Yeah. And I know that you do things the same way. Now you’ve got this glam squad that you travel with. Now, do you use your glam squad also as like your model team for your your travel bags? Because believe it or not, folks, Angelia has also created luggage for for you as well. So tell me about the bags, even what you’re doing there, how you design them how you thought it up? Like how did you get into that

Angelia Malbrew 38:44
is crazy that you even asked me? So that’s a loaded question. So let me break down my glam squad as far as so that I can blow your mind. So my glam squad is me my my makeup artist, and my camera in my bag. That’s my glam squad and a couple of lights because that’s all I need. And so when I when I decided on this bag, like I have literally been, I’ve always been an artistic person. Like I’ve always drawn things. And I’ve always had a very creative mind. In 2001, I came up with an idea. And I was like, Oh, I’m gonna put it on a bank wire. I don’t have time for that. And then COVID made me pick it back up again. My grandmother ended up passing away in 2022. So I found myself in a deep depression. And I’m like, How do I get out of this? And I say I’m not able to serve because if I’m not myself, I can’t help anybody else. Like you can’t pour from an empty cup. And I thought about something she would have told me to do and let’s just keep going. I said I want to create something that’s going to pay homage to her. So my camera bag it’s called the dream looks. travel bag, right? My grandmother’s nickname was dream boat. So I wanted to create something that would be centum pedal to her. Something that gave me kind of like her vibe. I would you know, she was very feisty microphones like 6162. She didn’t take no crap. But she was my Shiro. And just thinking about the things that she did for me growing up. So if you look at them, if you look at my bag, the front of it has a different flap. It’s almost like a saddlebag blouse. And so that reminded me of the very first purse, she purchased it for me growing up, because you know, our girls remember their first purse? And so I’m like, Yes, I want to do this. Let me get out of here. I even talked to a couple of people that had their own beds. And they were so close lipped. They didn’t want to tell me anything. I’m like, Okay, I’m gonna find this stuff out, because that’s who I am. And that’s what I’m going to do. Ended up going to portrait masters. What was it 2022 is another vendor, they are definitely in the portrait masters realm. And they had a bag there. And the guy was telling me, he was like, hey, Angelia, I was like, I really want to know about how, and what do you suggest, I’m trying to put my own bag out. And when I’m telling you, he was so forthcoming, he was like, This is what you do. And this is what you do. And don’t get caught up in this. He literally gave me the blueprint. And I had already been talking to designers and things like that. And he was like, he gave me the little thing that I needed that I didn’t know that I needed. And he was like, I’m so proud of you. He was like, if the designer was here, he would have gave you more information, but I’m gonna tell you everything I know. So I’m forever grateful for him, I just hit the ground running, I’m like, let’s go ahead and do prototypes. So the prototype, it was bigger, and I’m like, Oh, it’s too nice to be thrown around under the airport. I mean, in the airport, let’s do a carry on. So I decided let’s downsize, do a carry on, but make it still nice. And make it still something that people can use deep enough to put multiple camera bodies in definitely multiple lenses, and also the tripod. I said, I want a water bottle holder, and I want straps. So if you don’t want to pull it, you can actually put it on your back. So the straps are hidden. So I thought about everything, a screen that keep your stuff from falling out when you open your bag. So I thought about it all. And when I did that, I was like, This is amazing. And then stuff started getting slower and slower with my vendor. Because one it was Chinese holiday and to the pandemic was throwing everything back. I was like, Oh God, what do I do? So I ended up having to put it on pause. But after going to butcher masters and WPI this year, I had so many people’s like, Angelia, I want that bag, I want to buy that bag, tell me how I can get it. And I’m like, hang on back to my website, because we’re doing pre sells again now, and we can have your bags to you in the next couple of weeks. So doing that bag was is significant to me and is definitely a part of my history. It reminds me every day to keep going even when it’s rough, even when it’s tough. Like I can do this. And so that’s that’s my little story behind my back, who was

Matt Stagliano 42:55
wonderful, because I saw you pulling it. And I knew you had gone around, I knew you had developed the bag, and I hadn’t seen it. And it’s my first time seeing you in a while. And I was like, Oh, is this it? And yeah, it’s badass. Like, it really is very, very well thought out. And so I’m super glad that you know you’re doing the pre sales again. And then people can check that out. Because I’m super excited to see where this goes. Because I can feel your passion behind it. When you were talking about it. I want to see nothing but success for anybody that feels passionate about anything. We both have this passion for creation and content. And we’re learning and we’re creating or making videos or we’re making websites, and we’re making bags for God’s sakes. And we’re doing all these things and podcasts and things. You have a podcast going as well. And he put one more thing on your to do list on your Instagram feed. You had something about the podcast about using analytics in content? Yes. Talk to me about that. Because all my nerd senses lit up. And I was like, I didn’t know she was talking about this. Talk to me. What? What is this? I haven’t seen anybody using analytics content and talking about it. So talk to me about this.

Angelia Malbrew 44:13
No, and I’ll be honest with you, like I worked in the financial industry for quite some time, like I worked for JP Morgan Chase and the work for American Express. But one thing that has always stood out to me are numbers and the weight things I hate. I hate economics. I hate math. But when it comes to analytics, and looking at how things work and the breakdown of those, like, that’s all of me like I guess I get that from my dad because he used to tear stuff up and see if he could put it back together. I do that too crazy. But for me seeing the way things work in the back end has always been something that drove me because I need to see how it works. And if I can see how it works, I can make it better. And so I got so All immersed in analytics and stuff when I worked for JPMorgan Chase because I was a business analyst for them. And I didn’t know the consumer side. And I also did like a liaison between IT and the business so I can explain what’s happening with the system. What are we seeing? How do we explain this? And how do we fix it. So starting there, it drove me into, I need to figure out how more things work. And then I got into Google Analytics. And then I started, I fell in love with that. And so and then when we started moving around, and doing more in Instagram, I’m like, let me look at this dashboard. Let me see how it works. So a lot of people, I think they fail with posting at the right time and making sure they’re putting the right content out, because they’re not looking at their analytics, like your people, your audience, all wellness, you got some kind of crazy audience that people just popping every now and then a bunch of cousins or so your people are gonna tell you what they want to see. And if you just really hone in to what is making the most buzz, like it will blow your business up, it’ll blow your career up if you use a social media for that. But being able to look at your numbers will make a significant improvement in your life and in your business and the way you handle business, because it’ll keep you from throwing a lot of time and spaghetti at the wall to see what works. Go look at your history, because history. And data doesn’t lie. And so I get passionate about analytics, like I get real serious because project management was my thing. And I always have an agenda and a strategy for every single thing in my life.

Matt Stagliano 46:32
We have a very similar past you and I and looking at analytics and number. Well, I just you know, I was a project manager, I was a business architect for a large computer company. Yeah, I love it too. That’s why my my nerd senses went off. I had a conversation earlier today about social media. And the game that we have with sponsors, where sponsors for certain funds are in doesn’t matter the industry, right? Athletes, photographers, it’s all the same game, that sponsors look at numbers of followers, right? And it’s such a red herring, it’s such a false flag to look at a follower account rather than engagement. Right? And I talked to Johnny Edward about this all the time, the normal engagement rate is what somewhere around one or 2%? On post, right? That’s what you can expect, then when you have an engagement rate of over five or 8%, you’re crushing it. And that didn’t matter. If you have 100 followers, or 10,000, if you’re getting that level of engagement, you’re doing something right. You can look at some of these huge accounts and they have 200,000 followers, but there’s only 1000 likes on their posts. Yeah, you’re like, you’ve got nothing in terms of engagement, I think so it’s those analytics that give you insight to how am I really doing? It’s not what people think you have to dig deeper. So what are your go to things that you look at when you’re determining? Is this working or not?

Angelia Malbrew 48:05
You know what, and I’ll look at it the way and I’ll go to Instagram, because I want to tell you exactly, I look at it the way it shows on Instagram, right? So the biggest thing I look at are shares and sakes. So if people are saving this content is key. If they’re sharing it, like they like you enough to tell somebody else, that’s really good. I don’t care about the likes, show me what these people are doing, how many times they my stuff gets shared, how many times did it get saved, because that means it was so valuable to them, they if they’re ready to come back and like it again, or come back and share it again. That means they’re gonna follow nine times out of 10. Most of the people that are sharing and saving it, they’re going to come back and they’re going to be like your evangelists when it comes to sharing and saving your stuff. And I feel like then drives up more engaging, because you don’t know who that person is sharing it with. And so it just becomes a cycle. And I look at that the most well, I do like likes, but it’s the comments. And what are people saying to you in your inbox? Like, are they communicating with you? Are you leaving enough cliffhanger that people’s like, hey, I want this, tell me more? Or are they just scrolling back because you know, we scroll the Eiffel Tower every day on social media, if you’re making enough impact, they’re gonna stop and have a conversation with you. Or they’re gonna pick up the phone and call you or they’re gonna look in your bio and figure out 1000 times how many times have taken figure out what you are. So I’m seeing it like I was looking at my dashboard today. And I’m like, Just today, three people look at my location, my map. So they are really they’re engaged, and they’re trying to figure out more about who is Angelica? Because

Matt Stagliano 49:42
you dig into Google Analytics. What do you think the biggest mistake is that people visit that they don’t use Google Analytics, or is that because it’s a beast, right? It masks it. I mean, if you really lose your mind getting into Google Analytics, what’s your favorite go to in there? What are you Looking at? Is it page impressions, unique visitors? Is it you know, time on your page? Is it you know, conversion? Where are you when you dive into your Google Analytics dashboard? What are you looking at?

Angelia Malbrew 50:12
I was I actually had it up because I was looking at this morning Oleanna the biggest thing I look at, like, I’m gonna look at my traffic, but I’m also looking at what are the pages that people are visiting the most? How long are they staying? What are they clicking on? Are they staying long enough to make a educated decision? Where are they going after that? Because I also sometimes use hot jar to see where people leaving, because like, I really get deep in that thing gets let me see where people are? What are they clicking on? Where they leave in? Like, where am I losing their interest? If it’s a low engagement month, like did I put a new image up that people aren’t resonating with? Or did I use some different keywords that drew people there, but that’s not really what they want it. So I think is really important to be honest with yourself and with your audience and really showcase what you want to be known for what you want to let them know that you can do for them. And also leave enough information so that not only Google can crawl, but when you put your website and your stuff out there, make sure you use outtakes and things like that, so that it can draw people back to you. I

Matt Stagliano 51:16
love my analytics. But admittedly, don’t spend enough time in it on a consistent basis. I’ll do it like once a month, twice a month. But I’m an SEO geek. And I will check my SEO all the time, right. And I’ve got all my little bag of tricks. And I do all my things that part of it, I want to keep to myself, or and I want to spread the word just when people get helped me. But you had mentioned hot jar earlier. And I really wanted to jump on that for a second. So for people that don’t know, hot jar is an application that you can install. And that is going to give you what’s called a heat map on your website. And it shows you where people are clicking. And if it’s you know, a place that they’re clicking a lot will show up as red. If it’s just like, you know, cooler, and it’s not as trafficked, it’ll be blue. So it gives you a good indication on your website, how the structure works? And is the content converting the way that you want? Are the buttons that you’re putting in place? Are people actually clicking on it? Or are they clicking on a picture? Right? So it’s a great way to understand your visitors. The second part of that is you had mentioned how long you’re staying on your page and bounce rate. Right? So bounce rate, if you’re seeing like a 90% Bounce Rate, people are coming onto your page, and they’re jumping up. If you can get that down to 70% or something like that. Now you’ve got people that are sticking around longer. That’s where you look at the page, where are they going? Where are they coming into? Where are they jumped out, they jump into your pricing page, your gallery, your port boat, like your contact page, what were they going? All of this stuff is so much more important than do I have the prettiest website in the game? Exactly right factoring in it all about forgetting you in your ego. And thinking about what your customer needs and wants. And that was one of the thing that I got from your page is that you’ve structured it in such a way that instantly like I said, it kind of jumped off the screen at me, I’m like, wow, I want to I want to click around I want to check this this out, not because I was interviewing you, but because I immediately fell in as a viewer. And I was just like, wow, this is beautiful. Let me read about this. And let me do that. It’s apparent that all of that hard work is paying off. And it’s one thing that I think it’s overlooked by a lot of photographers and creatives in general, because it can be a big scary world to get into numbers and start to admit, like maybe I’m not doing things as well as I thought. But it’s not always likes and follows. It’s so much deeper than likes and follows. And I just try to keep reiterating that to people, especially people that are listening here and hearing us talk about all this nerdy stuff. It’s not about likes and follows. So that podcast is that something that you’re doing regularly or is that just the topic of one episode? I saw it and I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole too far, but it was

Angelia Malbrew 54:13
one that was one episode. Yeah, I’m on YouTube at youtube.com/angelina Malbrewugh photography honestly, that’s my handle everywhere except Tik Tok and as Angelia Malbrewugh photo, or something crazy like that, but I’m getting ready to get rid of Tik Tok. We don’t know where it’s going. I’m not gonna try to force too many people to go over there hang out because my tick tock is stretched. But on my YouTube channel, I try to do one every single Friday. Now when I went to the convention the other day, I missed that Friday. So I’ll be uploading that one today. And we’ll have another one on this coming Friday. So every Friday, I’m gonna try to keep it interesting having a new topic because there’s so much I want to talk about so much I want to share and I feel like a lot of people, their businesses are not failing because they’re bad people. Their businesses are failing because they have a lack of information. Shin in education on things. And so I feel like I was put here to educate and help and train people and tell people things to do. And I feel like that’s an extension of me like I’m more than just a photographer, I do things in a way that I can help others, like, no matter what I do, if we go into the grocery store, if I go get a card, I’m gonna take that cart back, because I’ve seen a car push around here, with this water near 115 degrees, I’m gonna try to make his life easier. So everywhere I go, I try to make a impression where I’m helping somebody to do something, even if it’s just putting a smile on their face. So I feel like my podcast with me just starting, I feel like is going to help me to get the word out to more people that, you know, you don’t have to be scammed by, you know, these people with all of these courses and stuff that are really not selling you nothing but a bunch of crap. Like I want to be able to help and give as much as I can. Because when I leave this earth, I want to leave empty, I want to give everything I have, except on Monday, and then I’m gonna get it to the council people and my family. But oh, man, a few friends when I get rich. But yeah, I just I want to be able to, I want us to create a space where you know, other people could come on a podcast and share their experiences and stuff. And also, I wanted to be able to give some of my knowledge away because I am a my friend calls me all the time. She’s like you are a student of learning, you are forever learning out. She was like, if there’s a conference, you’re going you’re for the conference, I said, Absolutely. Because what I don’t want to do, I will forever be a student, I don’t want to live this life and feel like I know everything. Because there’s so many new things coming out AI and all of this stuff, like we have to stay aware, especially in the industry that we’re in, we have to stay on top of it. So for me being able to do that on a podcast, or whatever blows my mind, because as you can see, I lucked out, I

Matt Stagliano 56:45
love this platform for doing all of those things. And it’s why basically, I started doing this, I started doing radio 90s. But it’s the reason that I really love doing this is because it’s just an extension of all the other stuff I do. And if there’s one nugget that someone might hear in one of my insane ramblings or they can get actual good information from my guests, then it’s all worth it. Right? It likes all the effort worth it. And I cannot wait to go and listen to this episode and really start to tune in so people can find it on YouTube, Angelia malroux photography is where everybody can find you online. Is there anything else coming up that you have? I’m afraid to ask? Because you’ve got so many things going on, you’re gonna be like, oh, yeah, and by the way, I’m building houses for the homeless in Bolivia. Like I have no

Angelia Malbrew 57:42
site and I definitely my heart distance, I really want to build homes. And it’s funny, you said, I really want to build homes for single moms that are you know, are escaping, like domestic violence and stuff like seriously, that’s something that’s near and dear to my heart. Because it’s a lot of women, they don’t have any outlet and I want to build a safe space for them, just like I provide for my clients at the studio. I want to provide a safe space for them. So but laughing, but very serious. The biggest thing I have coming up right now I’m working on a retreat, and this retreat is gonna be open. Because I’m all about inclusion. I don’t want to exclude anybody, but I want to do it for people that have gone through a lot. I want to do it for people that feel that life has so much to offer. But they’re bogged down with everything that’s going on in life, like I want to create like a rebuild less, restore less, renew our lives retreat, and it’s gonna be huge. I’ll tell you the location later. But I want to keep this one to the point where you know, it will Empire Empower some people to get back out there and keep trying with their business. Like it’s okay to take a break, but don’t quit. And I see so many people quitting right now. And I hate that. Once I get my 10 year, big amazing photoshoot done in Aruba. Because I’m 10 years old recently, I’m gonna immediately hit the ground running after that, with getting this retreat up and onboard. And it’s going to be open to those that want to come. I’m not gonna say it’s just for women, I’m gonna say it’s for people, because I want to inspire and love on people. So we’re going to have a mindset wellness thing, and it’s going to be beautiful. And that’s what I’m working on right now. Behind the scenes. My

Matt Stagliano 59:12
cheeks hurt from smiling for the past hour. All right. And like my face literally hurts because I’ve just been smiling and just nodding and it’s such an incredible person. Thank you for just being who you are in this community. In everything that you do. It’s clear that the world is better off for having you here. So I’m so glad that these 10 years have flown by and that you’re still here and that you advocated and now you’ve got this life behind you and ahead of you to help so many more people. So thank you for being here. Angelica, you’re an amazing for

Angelia Malbrew 59:51
me, you are such an amazing person like I gleaned looking at you and I just want to have a moment to say Thank you for being willing to hop in that booth one day, you know when I say hey man come up and his book and when everybody ran over there, so I still have no idea. But I’m just so grateful so grateful to you. I’m so grateful. We’re friends. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to be on this podcast. Thank you for allowing me to share my story. Thank you for always being so amazing and so humble. You know, even though you’re a massive, amazing human being I’m so grateful you are and don’t look at me with a one eyebrow. You are certain amazing though it’d be and I’m so honored to be in a part of your book, your story your life. So thank you so much again, and I love your studio setup. Absolutely love it.

Matt Stagliano 1:00:41
That means so much to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m going to figure out when we’re going to see each other again, it’ll probably be at a conference somewhere. It will probably be for five minutes, but it’ll mean so much. And I can’t wait to see you soon,

Angelia Malbrew 1:00:55
man. I appreciate you. Bye.P