Guest Speaking at the University of Washington
March 20, 2018
I was recently invited to do a guest presentation at a UW class and was very excited that my husband, Mukul, was invited along to present with me! It was my first public presentation so naturally, I was nervous. Here’s a fun fact: I was the student in school and college that stayed in the back of the room, never raised my hand, and just never wanted to get noticed. So you can only imagine how I felt getting up in front of those students. I did the usual beginner mistakes by going through my speech a little too quickly but it was a nice experience overall and it’s always an accomplishment to face a challenge and get out of my comfort zone. Getting the opportunity to inspire students to keep on creating work, no matter how difficult it gets, is so rewarding because I was a student myself and listening to other professionals tell their story has always made me more eager to work harder in what I love to do.
It was great to present with Mukul (check his website here: www.mukulsoman.com) to show not only our individual work but to also show the joint projects—personal and editorial—we work on together as well as the wedding and family work we do together under SomanMateo Photography. Mukul and I have different interests in photography but that’s what makes it so awesome to be able to put our different skills together when we do photography together.