VoyageMIA Features Anesha Collins
Voyage Media started in Los Angeles, with their flagship publication VoyageLA. After generating their first million page views in LA they knew their content was resonating with the community. Since then, they've grown to a handful of other amazing cities with the help of an amazing network of friends, associates, local insiders and influencers, PR firms, local bloggers, artists, creatives, entrepreneurs and other professionals. The Mission of Voyage: Our small team of 40 has been working hard to create a new type of media for our community. As you browse through our stories you’ll notice that many of our interviews aren’t as polished as you’ll find elsewhere in the media. That’s intentional – we believe that far too many in the media filter, edit, and polish away the personality of interviewees and as a result so much of what we see in the media feels like it’s coming from the same person, the same voice, etc. We think it’s important for media to more authentically represent the communities they serve and so we try to ensure that voices of those we feature jump off the page.We also think artists rock. We love small businesses, mom-n-pops, and hole-in-the-walls. We’re not snobs, but we aren’t fond of most chains. We think independent entrepreneurs, freelancers and other risk takers make our cities exciting to live in. We cherish the rebel spirit, we don’t think just a handful of large corporations should control all of our commerce and we think smores with vegan marshmallows are better than normal marshmallows. We respect people and organizations that take the path less traveled. We root for the underdogs and we almost never say no to pizza.Accordingly our mission is to build a platform that fosters collaboration and support for small businesses, independent artists and entrepreneurs, local institutions and those that make our city interesting. We want to change the way people spend their money – rather than spending it with the big, cookie-cutter corporations we want them to spend their money with the independent, creative, local entrepreneurs, small businesses and artists.And finally, we want the stories we share to help give our big city a little bit of that small town community charm, where people know each other and their stories at a deeper, more personal level.
Anesha, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist. I started out shooting church events for a local Christian promotional company. Fast forward 9 years later, I am an award-winning photographer and cinematography that travels the world to capture love stories and has been featured on platform such as Huffington Post, Munaluchi Bride, The Knot, BRIDES, and more.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work? I’m a photographer and cinematographer that specializes in weddings. I truly believe that people should embrace being themselves, which has a lot to do with the name of my business (Unashamed Imaging). My wedding photography and cinematography captures raw emotions mixed with candid moments. It’s polished yet natural. I focus on telling my couples love story through the genuine connection they have with each other and some other details collected from the very beginning of my relationship with them.
Read the rest of the feature here.
*Original introduction paragraph and Mission Statement from VoyageMIA.
