HEY THERE, VISIONARY,
I’M BERNADETTE
DREAMER, CHASER & STORYTELLER
Award-winning photographer, Founder of Solhaus Media, a boutique woman-led video & photo agency for visionaries, best-selling author, speaker, and your business’s #1 believer.
And this story starts with the moment I said, “Why not me?”
It started when I was 10 years old and declared that I wanted to be an astronaut.
This was right after I had watched Apollo 13, and so it turned out that I was actually crushing on Tom Hanks more than I wanted to be really good at math and science.
But a truth remained — if I did truly want to dedicate myself and try really hard, there was nothing stopping me from becoming an astronaut. Or any other venture I’d choose to pursue.
You know those moments; the ones where you see someone else living your dreams and become helplessly inspired.
Maybe you didn’t even know you had those dreams until you saw them in real life.
But once the seed is planted, there’s no going back — because if they can do it, why not you?
I was so obsessed with becoming an astronaut that summer,
I built rocketships out of LEGOs every day and made sure
they were prominently featured in any photo that was taken
of me. Talk about marketing with passion, eh?
The why-not-me is what makes
you and I special.
We see opportunities instead of obstacles.
We are inspired rather than envious.
And we chase after dreams relentlessly instead of keeping them in the one-day-in-the-future ether.
We have visions, goals, and ambitions, and we act on them now.
Reaching success isn’t an “if”…it’s an inevitability.
To reach those successes, you need to make yourself seen, you need to make yourself heard,
and both of those things need to happen in a way that connects to the people you are devoted to serve.
That’s what Solhaus Media is dedicated to — building visibility, creating credibility, and telling your story in a way that makes the “why-not-me” a “it’s-me-today-and-beyond”.
Capturing distinctive visuals is just one piece of our expertise. We use the systems you have in place to strategically amplify what is on your big dreams calendar (and actual calendar) with media that will be the gift that keeps on giving for days, weeks, and months.
WE ARE ACTUALLY A “WE”
THE TEAM
BERNADETTE
Founder of Solhaus Media, Principal Photographer + Videographer
EMILY
Associate Event Photographer + Videographer
SUMMER
Hair & Makeup Artist - LA
ARIELA
Photo + Video Assistant/Editor
JENNILEE
Wardrobe Stylist
PAIGE
Solhaus Media Admin Assistant
EMMA
Production Designer
THE INTRO QUIZ
WINDOW OR AISLE
Gotta have those views and somewhere to prop myself for a nap!
FLYING OR DRIVING
I’m a creature of the open road, so if it’s a six-hour drive or less, load up the podcasts and playlists because we’re cruising to our destination!
AIRBNB OR HOTEL
I love feeling welcomed into someone’s home and being hosted with their hospitality.
I SPEND ALL MY MONEY ON
food. We love a decadent meal!
9
ENNEAGRAM
the adaptive peacemaker
FAVORITE RECENT BINGES:
White Lotus
Manifest
Only Murders in the Building
Ted Lasso
Shrinking
PET’S NAMES:
Grayson and Jett, a maine coon and tabby, respectively!
WERE THEY ON A BREAK?
TEAM RACHEL
TEAM ROSS
MY STORY VIA MEMORY LANE:
1990
Grandpa gifts me a Polaroid camera and my role as photographer & family documentarian begins. Pants and t-shirt optional.
2001
Take my first photography class in high school. Yes, this is during the era of film, so I learn how to develop negatives and print my images in a darkroom. I can still smell the chemicals 20 years later.
2002
Dad buys me a digital camera and tells me that they will one day make film cameras obsolete. I laugh and tell him I will never take part in this new-fangled tech.
2004
Join my high school newspaper and start taking photos of basketball games, musicals, and other community events (with the digital camera. Well played, Dad.) A photojournalist visits our school to cover an assignment & I share some of my work with him. He tells me to keep at it, and I can become a pro one day. I will end up working at that same newspaper 13 years later as a photo & video journalist.
2008
Graduate college with an English major and the intention of working at a magazine like Cosmopolitan as a writer. But it’s 2008 so I end up getting laid off from my less-desirable academic publishing admin job.
2009-2012
Honor the entrepreneurial spirit that’s been taking hold of me, and create my own job at a boutique PR firm in New York City that lets me work from home and simultaneously pursue my passions as a freelance writer, graphic designer, and storyteller.
2011
Buy my own first real professional camera. Take it on a cross-country roadtrip with a friend that summer and document all the people, places and sights we come across.
The trip comes to an abrupt tragic end when I learn that my father has suffered a cardiovascular episode and has died. As we drive home, I think about how much he would have loved being on the trip with me.
After the PR firm folds, I set out to find a job with a little more stability. I get hired as a local photojournalist and officially become a professional photographer.
2012
2013
The multipassionate entrepreneur lives on and I photograph my first wedding, consequentially starting my own photography business.
2016
I make one of three of the best decisions of my life and after 8 years, me and my best friend, Rob, make it official and become partners. All of our friends and family celebrate as they’ve been waiting for us to finally get together.
This is also the year I am told by an editor that I need to learn video. I laugh and tell him there’s no way I will be taking part in this new-fangled medium.
2017
After an acquisition by the USA Today Network, me and that editor are canned in a massive round of layoffs. Thank goodness the second best decision of my life was to stop laughing at his video joke though, because the next job I land is a videojournalist — and the job is at the same newspaper that photojournalist from 13 years ago works at. Full. Circle. Moment.
2018
Rob is offered a job in Los Angeles and we move to the Golden State. This is the third best decision of my life. I pivot away from weddings and launch my brand videography & photography business. Solhaus Media is born.