July ~ What Matters Most
The more we know what matters, the easier it becomes to recognise what deserves our time.
July felt like a month of coming back to what matters.
With the boys home for the school holidays, I intentionally created more white space in my calendar. Slow mornings, winter sunshine, time together and plenty of creating with my hands, while our studio continued to quietly take shape around us.
There was beautiful work happening too ~ conversations with women about their foundations, values and vision, photographs being created and those powerful moments when something carried quietly inside is finally spoken out loud and claimed.
Perhaps that’s what July reminded me most. Our values aren’t simply words we choose. They’re reflected in how we spend our time, what we protect and where we choose to place our energy.
This month, I’m opening the pages on a little of all of it ~ the women, the vision, the practices and the ordinary moments shaping this life I’ve intentionally chosen.
Welcome to July.
Pause here.
Sometimes the most aligned thing we can do is pause.
If you’ve been inside my world for a little while, you may have noticed that my “Be Her Now” monthly practice didn’t arrive when it normally would in July. I could have pushed it out because I’d said I would. I could have followed the timeline simply because it was there. But every part of me was asking for a little more space.
This practice has been something I’ve returned to privately for years. It’s my monthly meeting, my moment to sit with myself and look at where I am, what I’m celebrating, what I’m calling in, what matters most to me and whether the way I’m moving forward still feels aligned with the life, and business I’m intentionally creating. It’s part reflection, part vision, part intention ~ and perhaps a little creative CEO meeting with myself. More than anything, it’s a rhythm that brings me back to me.
And in July, the practice itself needed that same attention. So I pressed pause. I gave myself permission to refine it rather than rush it, and in doing so, more doors opened, more opportunities came my way without even pushing. I became even clearer on what I wanted Be Her Now to become ~ not another thing for women to keep up with, but a beautiful monthly practice they can return to in their own time and their own way.
Because sometimes moving forward isn’t about doing more. Sometimes it’s creating enough space to hear what wants to come next.
Before you move on, ask yourself:
Is there anything in your life you’re continuing simply because you said you would ~ when what you really need is permission to pause, listen and choose again?
Sometimes the pause isn’t taking you off course. It’s what brings you back into alignment.
The Energy I’m Living In
The energy I kept returning to throughout July was intention. Not necessarily doing less for the sake of doing less, but becoming much more conscious of what I was saying yes to, where my energy was going and whether the way I was spending my days actually reflected what I say matters most to me.
With the boys home for the school holidays, I deliberately left more white space in my calendar. I know there will be seasons where they need less of me, but right now being their mum and being available to them is still one of the most important roles I get to have. So rather than trying to squeeze a full working week around them, I allowed life and business to move a little differently. There was still beautiful work happening, but there was also room for slow mornings, spontaneous adventures, time outside, cooking together and simply being present when I was needed.
I think this is where knowing our values becomes incredibly powerful. Values aren’t just beautiful words we write in a journal. They become a filter for the way we make decisions. Family, connection, freedom, adventure, creativity and presence are things I deeply value, so I want to be able to look at my calendar and actually see evidence of them there. Creating enough white space to follow what gives me energy has become just as important to me as anything I schedule in.
And I’m noticing the same thing in my work. The clearer I become on what matters, the easier it is to recognise what belongs and what doesn’t. I don’t need to follow somebody else’s timeline or fill every available space simply because I can. One of the reasons I created my own business all those years ago was to have the freedom to design a life that worked for me. I’m continually reminding myself to actually use that freedom.
Maybe that’s what intentional living looks like for me right now. Not having every part of life perfectly balanced, but knowing what matters in the season I’m in and being willing to let my choices reflect it.
Our values aren’t simply what we say matters to us. They’re quietly revealed in the way we choose to spend our days.
What I’m Celebrating
This month I’m celebrating another beautiful stage of the studio coming to life. The walls are going up, the ceiling is taking shape and, after imagining this space for so long, I can finally walk inside and begin to feel what it’s going to become.
Andrew and I have always been willing to roll up our sleeves and build things ourselves, and now the boys are right there beside us ~ helping with wall linings, learning how to use the tools and seeing firsthand how something is created from the ground up. I love that they’re not only watching us build a dream, they’re getting their hands in there and becoming part of the story too.
And somewhere amongst the tools, scaffolding and unfinished walls, I couldn’t help myself. I stood in the middle of the space and could already see it ~ my beautiful big table, soft draping falling from the ceiling, gorgeous natural light and women gathered here creating, talking, dreaming and seeing something new for themselves. I could feel the space before it existed.
So I decided to have a little fun with that vision. I photographed the studio exactly as it is right now and used AI to bring the picture I could already see in my imagination to life. I simply spoke into it what I could see and feel, and watching this image appear was almost surreal. This is AI at its best for me ~ not creating the dream for us, but helping us see something that already exists in our imagination.
Because that’s what I love about vision. We don’t have to wait until something physically exists before we allow ourselves to experience it. Sometimes we get to stand amongst the unfinished walls, close our eyes and see what’s coming. And I can already feel that this little studio of mine is going to hold so much magic ~ photography, conversation, creativity, vision, connection and women giving themselves permission to imagine what else might be possible.
For now, I’m celebrating this stage. The unfinished walls. The boys helping their dad. The tools everywhere. The vision becoming clearer. And the beautiful privilege of watching something that once existed only in my imagination slowly become real.
Sometimes you have to see it before you can build it. And sometimes it’s just really fun to let your imagination show you what’s possible.
On the flip side, I’ve found myself in some interesting conversations about AI this month ~ particularly around what it may replace in the future, including creative work like my own. But I refuse to create from fear. I believe AI will become an incredible tool, but there are things it will never be able to replace. Human connection. Intuition. The energy exchanged when two people sit across from one another. The feeling of being truly seen. And perhaps most importantly, it can’t believe in your vision for you. It can help you visualise it, organise it and even show you what might be possible ~ but the belief, the courage and the action required to bring it to life will always be an inside job. Be Her Now.
How I’m Using My Time
July held that beautiful mix of creating and simply living. Time with the boys, winter walks, photography, writing, editing, cooking nourishing meals and following the sunshine whenever it appeared.
The garden has been particularly beautiful this winter. I’ve loved wandering outside and cutting armfuls of colourful natives and flowers to take with me to gatherings or bring back inside. There’s something so special about realising that my own garden has quietly become my florist to gift the special people in my world. And those tiny cos lettuce seedlings I discovered growing unexpectedly last month? They’re now enormous. I’ve been harvesting them one at a time, sharing them with family and friends and turning them into the most beautiful fresh Caesar salads. A little miracle that just keeps giving.
There has been work, of course, but increasingly I’m noticing that I don’t want my work and my life to exist as two separate things competing for my attention. I want time to photograph incredible women and families, time to create, inspire, and write, and also time to walk through the forest, cook something beautiful, cut flowers, be available to my family and notice what is growing right outside my door.
Maybe that’s one of the greatest measures of a life intentionally designed ~ not how much we manage to fit into our days, but whether we recognise ourselves in the way we’re spending them.
The way I spend my days quietly becomes the way I shape my life. “Our home is our resort” was once a vision we held. Now, all these years later, I look around and realise ~ we’re living it.
What’s Nourishing Me Right Now
My favourite Masala Blend by @freshchai
Right now, I’m craving warmth. The heat of the fireplace. The winter sunshine. That feeling of closing my eyes for a few quiet moments and letting the warmth of the sun fall across my eyelids. A hot cup held between both hands. There’s something about warmth that feels deeply nourishing to me at this time of year ~ almost like my body naturally knows what it needs. I love regulating my temperature, and in the middle of winter I find myself instinctively reaching for anything that brings heat back into my body. I am the one who is pretty much melting by the fireplace. lol
And lately, that has meant plenty of hot masala chai. I love the whole experience of it ~ the warmth between my hands, the smell of the spices, and even that little hit of heat at the back of my throat from a beautifully spicy blend. It makes me slow down. Although, apparently, I needed to learn that the slowing down part should begin while I’m brewing it. I’d say 70% of the time I wander away from the stove, become distracted doing five other things and suddenly hear that familiar sizzle of almond milk and sticky chai overflowing everywhere. So yes, the beautifully clean cooktop pictured here is not always reality.
Recently, while sharing chai with one of my beautiful clients, Hina, we were sitting together looking through her Visionary prints. Hina shares my love of chai, and as we sipped away, I told her about my constant chai-overflow situation. Her response was beautifully simple: “You need to pay attention.” Something her mother had always taught her. And it stayed with me. Not just to be present while I’m sipping my chai, but while I’m making it too. Stay by the stove. Watch it slowly rise. Breathe in the spices. Pay attention. Perhaps the making can be just as much a part of the ritual as the drinking.
There is something deeply nourishing about warmth, and the simple act of paying attention
My Hot Masala Chai
I discovered Fresh Chai while on the Sunshine Coast and have been obsessed with their sticky chai ever since. I love their honey-soaked Masala Chai, and they have a beautiful selection of other blends too, including caffeine-free options.
I add a few tablespoons to a small saucepan ~ depending on how much I’m making ~ with almond milk and slowly let it brew. You can use whatever milk you love, all milk or half milk and half water. If I want a little extra sweetness, I add a touch of maple syrup, especially if I’m not using the honey-soaked blend. Then I strain it into my favourite cup, wrap both hands around it and enjoy.
There really is no perfect recipe. Stronger, sweeter, milkier, spicier ~ make it yours.
And whatever you do, apparently… pay attention to the chai brewing. lol
This Month in the Studio
Something beautiful happened more than once in the studio this month. Before I ever picked up my camera, I had the privilege of sitting with women and exploring the vision behind what they’re creating. Because increasingly, I’m realising that sometimes the photographs aren’t actually the place we need to begin. Sometimes we need to see where we’re going first.
Hina came to me with something incredibly powerful already in place. She knew her three highest values ~ love, care and respect ~ and they were so clearly woven through the intuitive work she offers other women. When I asked about the bigger vision, she could feel it. She knew there was more there. But she hadn’t really given herself the space to say all of it out loud, see it clearly and claim it as something she was genuinely creating.
During our visionary work together, I guided Hina through a visualisation and began painting the picture back to her from everything she was sharing with me. As that vision became clearer, the tears began to flow. I love those moments because there is something incredibly powerful about hearing yourself finally speak aloud the future you’ve quietly been carrying within you. Suddenly it isn’t just a thought anymore. You can see it. You can feel it. And something inside you begins to recognise, this is mine.
I kept Hina’s finished vision prints a surprise until the day of her branding session. Before we touched the camera, we sat together and she saw them for the first time. We gave ourselves space to take them in, reconnect with everything we had uncovered and anchor into the woman and the work those images represented. Only then did we begin photographing.
And that changes the way I see through my camera too. I’m no longer simply photographing the business as it looks today. I know what she values. I know what she wants her clients to feel. I know what she’s building. I know where she can see herself going. So together, we can begin creating photographs through the eyes of that vision.
One thing Hina said about her own work stayed with me: she wants the women who come to her to leave feeling deeply cared for ~ almost with the knowing, “she’s got me.” I smiled when she said it because that is exactly how I hope the women who step into my world feel too. I can’t bring another woman’s vision to life for her, but I can see it with her, believe in it with her and help her create something tangible from what was once only an idea.
Sometimes the vision is already within us. We simply need the space to see it, say it out loud, and finally allow ourselves to believe it.
The Women I Get to Work With
Sometimes the women I’m meant to work with find me. And sometimes, I find them.
I have to admit, I’m not someone who spends much time scrolling Facebook groups looking for opportunities. I’ll usually jump on, check my notifications, have a quick look and jump straight back off. There are endless posts looking for photographers, and I’ve never felt the need to put myself forward for every one of them. I trust that the right women will find their way into my world.
But one particular post stopped me.
Angelique was looking for someone who could photograph human hair toppers for the business she was building. She wanted someone with experience photographing within the hair industry, and being local to the Hawkesbury was a bonus. Something in me immediately said, respond.
So I did.
I sent Angelique a private message, shared some of my work and suggested we jump on a connection call to see whether we felt aligned. What began as a conversation about photographing a product very quickly became a conversation about the woman, the business and the much bigger vision behind it.
Angelique was building something beautiful, and I could feel that she was ready to step into another version of herself alongside it. Before we planned locations, outfits or photographs, we went deeper. We explored her values, her energetic blueprint and eventually the vision she could see for her life and business.
And once again this month, there were tears.
There’s a moment in this work that I find difficult to put into words. It happens when we move beyond what something currently looks like and a woman gives herself permission to really see what she wants. We begin painting the picture together ~ the spaces, the feeling, the colours, the people, the work, the life ~ until something that once felt distant suddenly feels incredibly close.
Angelique could see it.
And more importantly, she allowed herself to claim it.
By the time I arrived with my camera, I wasn’t simply there to photograph the business as it existed that day. I knew her values. I understood her energy. I had seen where she wanted to take this. I knew what we were creating towards.
By the time I picked up my camera, I already knew what I was photographing.
A Conversation with Angelique
What originally made you reach out to work with me?
(What were you feeling or craving before we began this process together?)
When I was first looking for a photographer, it was actually just to photograph the hair toppers for my website. I was looking for someone to do product photography, so I put a post on Facebook in a few local community pages and had quite a few responses.
There was just something about Jennifer’s response that immediately drew me to her. She sent me a link to her Instagram, and when I looked through her work, so much of it was about women empowering women, strong women building their businesses and following their dreams. Something about that really resonated with me and what I was trying to build with Nyx & Co.
I also loved that Jennifer was local to the Hawkesbury area. From the beginning, I just felt a connection with her. She was warm, genuine and someone I immediately felt I could trust.
What started out as simply looking for someone to photograph my products ended up becoming so much more than that.
Before stepping into this experience, how clear did you feel on your vision for both your life and your business?
I think I kind of knew what I wanted for my life and my business, but it always felt like a faraway dream. Almost like it was too good to be true, or something I couldn’t really see myself actually achieving.
Jennifer made me realise that maybe it wasn’t as far out of reach as I thought. The vision board she created for me made everything feel so much more real. Seeing it all there in front of me made me realise not only that it was possible, but also just how much I really wanted it.
It went from feeling like a dream in the back of my mind to something I could actually picture becoming my life.
We went much deeper than just photography. We explored your vision, your energetic blueprint, your human design and created personal affirmations together. What part of that process impacted you the most?
This one is actually a little hard to answer because I don’t think there was just one part that impacted me the most.
When I first started working with Jennifer, I was purely looking for photography. I never expected everything else that came with it. It became photography with a purpose behind it, and somehow made this dream that I had feel like something that could actually come true.
The affirmations really stayed with me. Even though Jennifer helped choose them for me, they felt like they had come from me. They felt very personal and like they were exactly what I needed to hear at that point in my life.
I think more than anything, the whole process made me see myself and what I’m building a little differently.
Did anything shift internally for you throughout this experience?
(The way you see yourself, the way you move, the way you think about what you’re building?)
I think what shifted the most was that I could suddenly see things more clearly. What had always felt like this faraway dream started to feel like something I could actually reach out and touch.
It stopped feeling like just a daydream and started feeling like something that could really be my life. I also realised that I am worthy of the things I want. I’m allowed to want them, I’m allowed to dream big, and I deserve to believe that I can actually have them.
I think I came away from the experience believing in myself and what I’m building a little more than I did before.
How did it feel seeing your vision physically brought to life through your personalised vision print set?
I was actually really surprised, pleasantly surprised, by how accurately Jennifer chose the vision prints for me. I gave her complete control because, to be honest, I wasn’t even really sure what I wanted.
When I saw them, it was almost like she knew what I wanted more than I did. She somehow took all these thoughts and dreams that were in my head and chose images that made them feel real.
I honestly couldn’t have chosen them better myself, even if I’d tried.
What was it like being photographed in a way that felt intentional and deeply connected to who you are becoming, not just what you do?
I think this was something I didn’t really understand until I actually experienced it. I went into the process thinking we were creating beautiful photographs for my business, but it ended up feeling much more personal than that.
Jennifer wasn’t just photographing Nyx & Co. or me as a business owner. She was somehow capturing me, my story, what I’ve built and also the person I’m still becoming.
I think that’s why the photographs mean so much more to me than I expected them to. When I look at them, I don’t just see images for my website or social media. I see a version of myself that I don’t think I had really seen before.
If someone was sitting on the edge of investing in themselves but feeling scared, what would you say to them after going through this experience yourself?
I would say there is absolutely nothing to be scared of. You really have nothing to lose and so much to gain.
For me, a big part of the experience was putting my trust in Jennifer and trusting her creative process. I gave her a lot of creative control, even when I wasn’t completely sure myself what I wanted, and I’m so glad that I did.
Sometimes I think you just have to trust the person you’ve chosen, let go a little bit and allow yourself to enjoy the experience. It’s something I would absolutely recommend to anyone.
In one sentence… how would you describe the experience of working with me?
Working with Jennifer felt easy, empowering and full of surprises ~ almost like the stars had aligned and I was just meant to find her.
What do you feel most excited about now moving forward ~ both in your business and within yourself?
Now that I have a much clearer vision of what I want and what both myself and my business can become, I feel like something has finally clicked and the wheels are in motion.
I’m excited because it doesn’t feel like I’m just dreaming about it anymore. I feel like I’m actually moving towards it, and I’m really excited to see where that takes both me and Nyx & Co.
Until Next Month
As I close the pages on July ~ at the very end of August, I might add 😂 ~ I keep coming back to the same thing: the clearer we become on what truly matters to us, the easier it becomes to recognise where our time, energy and attention belong.
July took a little longer to make its way onto these pages. There were two weeks of school holidays, more white space intentionally created, beautiful work with women, our studio taking shape and some things behind the scenes that I wanted to give myself the space to really sit with, refine and embody rather than rush simply because the calendar said I should.
And perhaps that’s fitting for an edition called What Matters Most. Vision isn’t only about where we’re going. It’s about the choices we make today. The space we protect. The people we make time for. The dreams we’re willing to say out loud. And sometimes, the permission we give ourselves to let something take a little longer because we know it will be better for it.
The beautiful thing is that while I’ve been finishing these pages, August has been quietly writing itself alongside them. I’ve been documenting it as I’ve lived it, so you won’t be waiting quite so long for the next chapter. And behind the scenes, I’ve also been creating something very close to my heart ~ an evolution of the monthly meeting I’ve personally returned to for years to reflect, reconnect, celebrate, dream and intentionally decide what comes next. Very soon, I’m going to be opening that practice up and inviting you beautiful women to join me inside it.
For now, thank you for spending another month here with me, for reading these stories and for allowing me to share the life, work and ideas unfolding behind the scenes.
August is already taking shape, and there’s so much I can’t wait to share with you.
Until next month. 🤎
