L.A. native, Emilynn Rose has made her mark as a fashion and editorial photographer by creating eye-popping imagery that exudes captivating personality and pure authenticity in every frame. Since she was 16, she was always known for being the one capturing photos of any and everything in sight. She began photographing for her high school fashion club where she began to develop a creative process allowing her to transform images and give them a unique visual aesthetic. She has vast experience crafting out-of-the-box concepts behind many of her shoots whether in studio or on location and delivers cutting edge imagery with precise detail and composition. Emilynn’s photography style showcases women with boldness, unity and diversity.
Emilynn often takes on the role of creative director with her clients and has editorially shot with celebrities such as Jamie Foxx, Nazanin Mandi, Saweetie, and Dreezy. She has also spearheaded fashion campaigns for brands such as Bebe, Pretty Little Things, FashionNova, Meshki, Kappa, and more. Her work has appeared in a variety of notable media as well including VOGUE, Harpers Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Complex, Billboard, VH1 online, and Coveteur.
“Rose Studios is my second baby. I opened Rose Studios three years ago with my business partner, Mandy Pacheco. We currently own four studios and three rooftops, and are hoping to open more this year! It is so nice to have my own studio that I get to share with others. I love seeing other creatives come into the studio and create their own visions in our space. There are so many incredible artists out there that will shoot in our space and make it look completely different!
What makes Rose Studios unique is that it’s a woman of color-owned business, where diversity is strongly showcased through community building and branding.”
Emilynn Rose
In 2018, Emilynn launched her flagship photography studio called Rose Studios with Mandy Pacheco in downtown Los Angeles where they offer an array of different photography sets available for booking and currently showcases 4 studios and 3 rooftops.
Why did you want to start Rose Studios? What motivated you to start your company?
I always wanted a studio of my own, that is what really motivated me to start Rose Studios. I wanted a place to do photoshoots, bring in my model friends, bring in my creative friends and do what we do best – Create! Luckily at the time – I was living in a two-floor studio apartment and Rose Studio really started there. I had a bedroom upstairs and my studio downstairs. I only had a backdrop that rolled out with a small office setup. When I started realizing I needed a bigger space and more options on what I can create – I started talking to one of my clients about it. He was moving offices at the time and offered it to me – Which is now known as the Rose Loft. He was asking me if I wanted to start a studio business with him but unfortunately, it didn’t work out. Fortunately, I did get to find my business partner Mandy through all of that.
Mandy and I started Rose studios from the ground up and it flourished. What motivated me too was being able to create jobs for people. To get them excited about what they are doing and show them there are different avenues of work you can do in the lane that you love the most. Also, seeing other creatives work in the space- that was just really amazing. At first Rose Studios was just supposed to be my office not being rented out daily by others. But it quickly became a space where creatives could come – produce and design the space into their vision and that motivated me to build more studios.
How has the business grown to be where it is now? What has contributed to your success?
Well we have had the studio for 3 years now and it definitely has grown so much bigger than when we first started. We have four studios and two rooftop locations and we are definitely planning on expanding more. What helped the most was the team and staff that put in countless work and effort. My amazing business partner Mandy has put her heart and soul into this company and definitely without her – it wouldn’t be what it is today. We brainstorm ideas weekly to grow the business. Giving ourselves new tasks and goals to reach. Definitely what has contributed to our success is innovating – especially during the pandemic. It pushed us in ways to think outside the box and create other ways to become profitable. We had to find other ways to make money besides renting out the studios. With the pandemic we had to shut down everything and couldn’t be creative the way we were before. During the pandemic we rebranded the studios- we were thinking “who are our clientele?” and “who do we want to target?” For me having a five-year and one-year goal is the only way to determine what direction the company can go in.
What are the company’s plans in the next 5 years?
Mandy and I have so many ideas for the next few years to come. We definitely want to expand and grow. Hopefully, in 5 years we won’t be in a pandemic anymore. One of our biggest goals, when we started this, was community building. We love throwing events so other creatives can network, work and grow together. I think right now is the time to represent diversity and femininity in this industry. It has been lacking for some time now and we want to showcase it more and more. With the growth of it, we just opened Rose Services department to create more jobs for photographers, videographers and creatives. This is not just a studio, we are building a community for everyone that wants to create and connect them with the clients that are looking for that creative approach.
What inspires you and your design choices?
When I created Rose Studio – I was really into the color pink and flowers. My photography and style, at the time, directed more towards a girlier aesthetic. My middle name is Rose so we created a rose wall, put a swing in front of it and the studio was created around that. When I opened Studio 54 and Blush Room, which at the time was called the color space, I wanted something super fun and something that would POP. Then when I opened our most recent studio the Urban Loft – I have been more attracted towards the more natural colors- beige, ivory, and browns. You can say my studios, style and design choices have evolved as I grew more into myself, career and business over the years.
What are you most proud of as an entrepreneur?
Well definitely as a photographer, some of my proudest moments are seeing my work on covers, billboards and in stores. It is really amazing seeing my work printed, used and people actually liking it. For the studios – I love LOVE LOVE- seeing other photographers create imaginary. I think it is amazing how I can create an idea of what I want the studio to look like and have other artists come in and recreate it their own way and make their own style- I think it is really one of the things I am most proud of is just having space for creatives.
What inspired you to start working for yourself?
I watched my mom work her butt off! Growing up in a Filipino- American family household, the majority of my family were in the medical and engineering field doing a lot of math and science. I just didn’t have any desire to approach that lane for a career. However, when I found photography at 16- I fell in love with it! From the very first moment I held a camera, to setting up my first photoshoots with my friends – I decided that I would go full focus with it after high school was done and just see where it would take me. For me I thought about it -if I was going to go full focus and just see what happens- it might just be better than guessing everyday “what if”. I also thought if I am going to put time into anything it should be into my own business not into someone else’s. I decided to put all that effort into myself and not have a plan B.
It’s so difficult to be a successful photographer, can you tell us what skills you need in order to become a successful one?
What sets me apart is my eye. I do believe I have a distinct taste of shooting females in a way that is empowering, and also my use of colors! I am most proud of my journey, as I think back of what it took to get me where I am today, I am proud that I started the journey of becoming a photographer. It wasn’t an easy journey, but I had to push myself to keep going in those downtimes. It still happens today, where I don’t feel content in where I am, but I just keep pushing forward and I keep learning and thinking of ways on how I can keep doing better! Something I’ve learned in this journey is to never give up. As cliche as it sounds, if I’ve given up every time something got hard, I wouldn’t be where I am. Also, to always find the excitement in what you do, because it’s not always fun, it is work as well, but it’s up to you to always stay inspired and to find the joy and remember why you’re doing this in the first place!
Can you share some tips on how to approach or even attract big clients?
Building a strong portfolio! Focusing on refining my portfolio has helped me attract big clients. Through our top notch customer service, branding and marketing we are able to focus on the clientele Rose Studios wants. Now we have clients directly requesting my style for the photoshoots. It’s important to find your own style as a creative and know what kind of clientele you are looking to attract. Being personable also helps!
If you could sum up your career in three words, what would they be?
This career has been a journey but to be able to say I’ve built everything from scratch and created this world for myself and others- There are really no words to express how amazing it feels. But three words to describe it all are -Adventures, Challenging and Happy! Every day is very adventurous and challenging but at the end of it all it makes me happy! I push myself daily to break the boundaries and create my own destiny. There is a high reward for putting in all the work yourself. Photography makes me happy, being an entrepreneur makes me happy. I am blessed that I have the opportunity to do this every day.
Tell us about your proudest achievement?
I am so proud of Rose Studios! Our studio has been on the cover of Paper Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, on Billboards for Fashion Nova, and has so many incredible established artists coming and creating in our space.
As a photographer every time I get a cover, or a billboard it still feels unreal. It gives me the greatest sense of joy, gratitude, and accomplishment. It’s what I work hard for, so it’s truly gratifying. Definitely some of my “pinch me” moments are my covers of Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam January 2021, my Elle Arabia cover for April 2021, and my Harper’s Bazaar Serbia cover for August 2021.
Join the discussion!