I'm so excited to share some AMAZING news with you!!

And with you, I'll go a little more in depth.

I was selected (1 in 40 Global Artists) to contribute to the Adobe Artist Development Fund Project, which highlights underrepresented communities!!!

Good news, right!!! Let me walk you through some of the process. I applied in the early part of 2022. I honestly thought that it would be a long shot. So imagine my surprise when a few months later, I received an email from them. It literally felt like a dream!!! I didn't know what to do with myself. But the kicker was that I couldn't share the news right away and there were a few people that I wanted to tell immediately of course!! I can't even describe all of the feels. 

Being selected was exciting, but there were other reasons why this meant a lot to me. This opportunity stood out so much from others that I've seen because of the focus on underrepresented communities.  Before I applied, I looked at the previous cohort and viewed all of the artists, the categories they chose and their portfolios and I was amazed by all of the beautiful art and the subjects they chose. Then my question was where do I fit in, which is part of the reason that I felt that it might be a long shot when I applied. We all know what that's called, right? I'm not even going to say it, but I can tell you that it's real. I'm just glad I got past that. My mind kept racing as I continued to view all of the talented artists art and I thought...filling a hole is apart of focusing on underrepresented communities. So when I applied, one of the categories that I chose was Self Celebration and my specific subject was body positivity, represented through boudoir photography. I felt that both the subject and the photography genre were underrepresented and it went from there.

I'm so glad that Adobe heard me out and chose me to contribute to Self Celebration through my art. The process was unlike anything that I ever experienced. I learned so much. It has changed my perspective in relation to business, giving back and educating others in so many ways. I truly feel blessed beyond measure for this opportunity and I hope to pay it forward in my own way. The experience was truly surreal. 

Overall, I hope that others are able to see my passion of expression to focus on the underrepresented category of Celebration of Self and Healing Reflections, specifically a Black Women Collective highlighting Body Positivity, through my Boudoir and Lifestyle Photography genres.

 You can see my work represented on Adobe's website.

2022 Artist Development Fund Recipient, Velvet Lenae