An interview of photographer Rey Rey Rodriguez on VoyageMIA....My apologies for the rambling I did in this interview.
Today we’d like to introduce you to Rey Rey Rodriguez.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Six years after dropping out of high school, while sitting on a bus on my way to work, a 16-year-old kid sat next to me, saw my work clothes, and recommended that I go back to school to get an education. The next day, I signed up to a GED program and completed it in less then 2 weeks. From there I became obsessed with obtaining financial security. I quickly enrolled into college, receiving an AS in Emergency Medical Services, an AA in Nursing, and a BA in Multimedia Studies. Working as a Paramedic, I was able to fund my passion and convert it into a career. I started out doing back-to-back photoshoots from a small room in an apartment in Plantation, to build a portfolio and a name for myself. Today I am the founder of, The Mind of Rey Rey®, an online Multimedia company providing services in photography, videography, graphic and web design. I am blessed with clients from all walks of life, locally, nationally, and internationally, and have the luxury of traveling throughout the world for business.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, the first year was rough. A lot of money was spent on the business, work was slow, and the gigs I had were done at a low cost, while working full time as a paramedic and picking up as much overtime as possible in order to invest more into the business. There was also the lack of business knowledge. I knew nothing about marketing, business planning, contracts, pricing, invoices, extra supplies needed, etc. Everything could’ve been easier had I done the proper research beforehand.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
As the founder and creative artist for The Mind of Rey Rey®, I make sure that we are set apart from the competition by the quality of the work we do. My employees and I all started out as artists, and then began doing what we love as a career, so every project we do is done with the same passion we would have put into a personal work of art.
What were you like growing up?
I was a hyper kid obsessed with films, photography, poetry, martial arts, and boxing. Every conversation I had would somehow find its way into these 5 subjects, and almost everything around me combined these subjects. My room was filled with movie and fight posters, photographs of Bruce Lee, Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, and Hector Macho Camacho. My favorite films were martial arts and boxing films and documentaries. My book collection was a mix of martial arts, boxing, poetry books. Later on in life, when I began combat sports photography, the kid in me was reborn.
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