I love to get the West Coast vs. East Coast perspective – so thank you for this! I feel like being based out of New York for just about anything creative is a double edge sword. On one hand you get the whole, I’m trying to hack it in New York in one of those most oversaturated cities in the industry so there is a certain pride in that. On the other hand… unless youre a super established insider its so hard to break into the industry AND GET PAID.

As you mentioned there is some amazing talent out here and everyone is just scrapping by, especially in the beginning working for free and its so tragic because it feels like at this point - by the time all of the creatives are 25+ and have been buiding their books already for quite awhile you wouldn’t think it would be out of the question to get paid! My girl @kenseyjean is an amazing photographer and shes touched on her social media sometimes about her experinces in the industry that sound very similar to yours.
So weird that PR wants to be paid to loan samples out there! I get it for celebrity dressing but for a test shoot or an editorial in general? No way!

Have you shot in New York before? Is it New York where you were finding its hard to find talented stylists or LA?