Going Viral with Regis and Kahran Bethencourt

June 1, 2021 Artist Spotlight

Episode 78: Regis and Kahran Bethencourt

In Episode 78 of the Portrait System Podcast, Nikki Closser chats with Regis and Kahran Bethencourt about their business CreativeSoul Photography. Regis and Kahran have a beautiful partnership that is grounded in their artistic and creative passions. They built their business doing a little bit of everything, but things really took off for them once they focused in on what they are most passionate about – creating portraits based on the dreams of everyday children. Their Afro Art series showcases gorgeous natural hair and the beauty and vitality of children with boundless creativity, imagination, and vision for who they are and who they will become. It also garnered them viral attention and their first big book deal: Glory: Magical Visions of Black Beauty.

Be sure to keep an eye out for their next book The Me I Choose to Be, which will be released in September 2021. It will be available on their website along with their super-cool back-to-school merchandise for kids and their awesome yearly calendar. Be sure listen to the whole podcast to hear how Regis and Kahran organically added merchandising to their business based on their customers’ desire.

In this blog, you’ll find links to their gorgeous website, some of their astonishingly beautiful portraits, links so that you can follow their social media, and answers to bonus questions not found in the podcast.

Get to Know Regis and Kahran Bethencourt

Q: What has been your biggest breakthrough in business?

A: I’d say our biggest breakthrough has been having the ability to stay true to ourselves as artists while still achieving a level of success that we never imagined. I always thought that we would have to compromise our wants and preferences to have success in the industry, but luckily we made a decision to stay true to what we know and love and have been successful.

Q: Most artists have a point in their life when they knew this was meant for them. Do you have that moment?

A: I would say it was about 6 months after I left my full-time job. I was always worried that it would be difficult to make it on our own, but after 6 months of having back-to-back months where we surpassed our sales goals, I realized that we were on the right track.

Q: How did you push past fear when building your business?

A: In the beginning, we definitely had fear about moving into our own lane and doing things outside the mainstream box. After a few years of taking gigs that we didn’t love, we realized that it didn’t make sense to build our own business based on something that we didn’t love.

Q: For someone starting out on their photography journey what advice would you have for them?

A: “If there is no lane, create one.” Our growth was achieved by finding our own lane and developing a business that was unique to us. It allowed us to stand out as photographers.

“To me, everything has to align – something that you’re passionate about, something that people will pay for, and something that you’re great at doing. You know, all of these things have to come together.”


Subscribe to The Podcast

ART19SpotifyStitcherTuneInRadioPublicApple Podcast


 

 

Regis and Kahran Bethencourt of CreativeSoul Portrait

Follow Regis and Kahran:

Instagram FacebookWebsite