I've always known I wanted to be an artist. Throughout my childhood and early adulthood, I took every art class possible: photography, painting, fashion design, ceramics, makeup artistry, photoshop, and more. I spent two summers at Parsons in New York, NY focused on fashion before I moved from Houston, TX to Los Angeles, CA to study at FIDM. I majored in Beauty Marketing & Product Development and continued on to my bachelor's in Beauty Business Management. I had always wanted to work as a photographer in the beauty industry, but it was important to me to learn the business aspect as well, which is why I chose this path. 

While at FIDM, I asked the head of my department if she knew of any beauty brands that offered creative internships. She directed me towards Pixi Beauty, and I applied immediately. I started at Pixi at the beginning of my second year of college, and I met an amazing photographer named Nicholas Waickman there. 

I was on set one of the days Nicholas got booked to shoot, and I was so excited to meet someone with my dream job that I blurted out, "If you ever decide to quit, I want your job!". I was 19 at the time, and of course, I went home that day mortified, thinking to myself, "OMG Tobi! You can't just tell professionals with years of experience that you want their jobs, without any experience yourself!". I didn't get Nicholas' contact info that day, and a year went by without seeing him. 

During that year, Pixi began giving me more creative projects to work on. While locked down during the pandemic, I got to shoot content for Pixi's socials from home with my camera, doing the makeup myself, and modeling in my own photos. That was when the concept of Beauty by Tobi started!

One day, I got a call from my favorite professor, Taryn Aronson, who had also worked at Pixi. She told me Nicholas reached out to her to ask if she had my contact info. He remembered a girl named Tobi who said she wanted his job, and he was looking to hire someone to mentor and help him with his work. I immediately said yes, and we started working together that week. 

Nicholas taught me everything there is to know about photography, and I got to work with him on shoots for brands like Tatcha and Kate Somerville. From there, I began working with NCLA Beauty on product photography and content, and I moved from intern to freelance photographer at Pixi.

Later, I began working with Ilia Beauty as an in-house content creator. I was ecstatic to have landed such a huge client with values and aesthetics I align with and a fantastic team. Ilia and I then moved to a freelance relationship, and the rest is history! I have built an outstanding client list including ColourPop Cosmetics, Ilia Beauty, Pixi Beauty, NCLA Beauty, Bliss, Alleyoop, and many more. 

I absolutely love every part of my job, and I'm excited to see where this year will take me!