INTERVIEW WITH PELOOC FOUNDER SARA AVANS
We got the chance to catch up with our Founder Sara Avans, in a short interview where she gave us more insight on Pelooc. Watch as Sara shares with us where the idea of creating an app that can easily be summed up as the “Uber of photography.” Learn where the mobile app came from, and how it all works! We even learned a word in Arabic, as Sara has worked for four years in Dubai, after living in London and other European countries. Who knows if her brand new photography business will keep her in Atlanta, or where else, as this startup founder is a real nomad, and a quite unpredictable. Want to hear more about Sara and Pelooc? Press play to get the scoop, or continue reading for the interview highlights.
FROM THE INTERVIEW
We love and we follow your Instagram account. But what is something about you that we can’t tell from it?
I’m obsessed with environment and sustainability. It makes me crazy to see things go wasted or when using disposable cups, and trashing one after another, when they could reuse and recycle instead.
How did you come up with the idea of an “Uber of photography”?
I was living in Dubai at that time, and it was my first year freelancing as a branding consultant after saying goodbye to the corporate life. For the first time in my life I had to leverage the power of social media to get noticed and find clients – meaning: I had to kill it on Instagram. In doing that I faced one big issue: I couldn’t afford a professional photographer, and I had no one to take pictures of me, because I was crazy enough to marry and engineer…
Another big photography frustration of mine is related to holidays: I could potentially create killer content, cuz I travel quite often, but when traveling – again – I have no-one taking pictures of me. So I end up with a bunch of selfies, and not a single decent shot of my husband I together. Cuz, apparently, I have a talent in picking professional head or feet cropper when I stop random people to ask for a picture.
Long story short, in September 2016 I was in Bali with my husband and my best friend, and over the vacation she took some amazing photo of the two of us with her iPhone. She managed to capture some candid shots when we didn’t realize and then she sent them over to me at the end of the holiday.
That moment I realized that I didn’t need a photographer, I simply needed a phototaker. Someone with a creative eye, to stick around for 30 minutes, either with a mobile or a camera, and shoot pretty images. that then I could even edit by myself and share online! I guess that was the moment Pelooc was conceived.
How content creators can use Pelooc?
Right now Pelooc is a website, that we consider as a pilot, a sort of trial, and users (that we like to call photolovers) can go online to find phototakers available in their area of interest and schedule a 30 minutes (or more) photo shoot.
All phototakers have a very nice profile, where photolovers (the ones who make bookings) can learn about them through their bio, and check their abilities looking at their portfolio skills and gear.
But Pelooc is meant to be a mobile app, which is currently in the making and will be released in the summer. And the most exciting part, is that with the app we’ll be able to introduce the “instant booking” feature. A map will show all the phototakers available on spot near the user’s location and booking them on spot. After the booking is confirmed the app will show the ETA and the phototaker will reach the photolover in a matter of 10 – 15 minutes to start taking pictures.
What three promises can you make to Pelooc’s people?
I want to promise that Pelooc will always strive for innovation, because I believe that innovating is the key to keep relevant and useful to your audience.
We’ll be always promoting diversity. Just looking at our about page on the website, you can see how our founding team is already pretty diverse, And I’m very proud of this.
Last, I aim for Pelooc to be a very inclusive brand, that everybody can identify with, and growing a community where everybody feels welcome, accepted, free and empowered to express their creativity and maybe pursue their dream career.
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