Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah Cole.
Hi Deborah, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, how can you bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m an accidental entrepreneur. Looking back to my childhood, I always looked for a good project that could inspire and benefit others and accomplish a goal. I have earned computer science, biology, landscape contracting, and theology degrees. As you can tell, I have broad interests! But they all combine to create a mosaic of information and supporting background. I founded a commercial landscape contracting business I led for 35 years before turning it over to the employees via an ESOP. I then went on to pursue the pieces of heading a business I loved the most, writing, photography, and educating. My first book was published in 2021, a second in 2022, and my third in 2023 (January). I also show my photography in shows throughout Texas and recently in NYC. I currently write for industry publications as well as create monthly blogs. My photography projects will take me 2023 to Mexico, Paris, and Cuba.
Would it have been a smooth road, and what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The most valuable lessons are learned from the speed bumps along the way. There are several, some as surprises and some of my own making. Growing a company from 2 employees to over 500 did not happen easily, but it did happen joyfully. Most of the lessons learned have come from interpersonal relationships with employees, clients, and even service providers and supporters. I learned that obstacles are only short-lived and that with each one comes a valuable lesson. I learned that nothing last forever, that no one is indispensable, and that I can stand in my way as easily as someone else. I know that everyone is placed in our path for a reason and that what we can learn from him/her/they is the most precious lesson of all.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Although in the past, I was best known as the founder of the largest female-owned commercial landscape company in the country, Since 2017, I have been able to embrace my fully creative nature and learn to express all of the feelings that lie within through my writing and photography. We all are creative by nature, and for those of us logic thinkers, it is essential to take some extra steps to learn to express what is within. And I have learned not to fear rejection of my creativity.
My photography is 99.9% black and white and is of the “street/documentary” style. With each image, I seek to elicit a feeling and story from the viewer’s heart. By making images in black and white, the distraction of color is stripped away, and the rawness of the event is exposed. I love creating images and encouraging others to seek their creativity and explore the feelings and emotions within them, which can be expressed in so many ways. My work has been featured (cover and feature story) in Street Photography Magazine, and one of my images was selected for a show with the international Women Street Photographers organization.
What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
To avail me of facts, figures, and all sorts of data, but also to trust my instincts, which never fail me. This is true whether I was in business or my creative work.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.deborahcoleconnections.com www.deborahcolephotography.com
- Instagram: @debbycole
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deborah.cole.169
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-cole-4715714/
- Youtube: https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCh8ThV3WM22ADhy8-oLByPw/videos/upload?filter=%5B%5D&sort=%7B%22columnType%22%3A%22date%22%2C%22sortOrder%22%3A%22DESCENDING%22%7D
