Today we’d like to introduce you to Camila Flores.
Hi Camila, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I grew up in Tijuana, I’m lucky enough to say that I never lacked of anything, thanks to my mom’s hard work and my family’s effort. While a lot of my friends would go to school field trips over to San Diego, or Disneyland, I never got to experience those things as a kid, but I never felt like I was missing out on anything, I love my city and even though the rest of my family did have a visa, my mom always made sure I could have fun and find everything I needed in the city. I didn’t get to go to Disneyland or Six Flags until I became a permanent resident when I was 18, and it was like a whole new world. Moving from one city to another, that was separated just by a border wall was groundbreaking at first, not to mention a whole new country I had only ever seen in movies or the internet. If there’s one thing I love about the border life, is that it’s very common for us tijuanenses (tj people) to just go grocery shopping in San Diego or, for those of us that live in SD, to go eat tacos and visit our friends and family in TJ. On the other hand, I love the diversity of both cities that seem to never sleep. Both TJ and SD have seen me grow up both on a personal level and on a professional/creative level. I fell in love with photography and fashion when I was about 10 years old, my uncle is a professional photographer that would let me be his assistant in my early years as a photography amateur, he became my mentor (and, 11 years later, would be my assistant on my first collaboration in The States: a fashion show organized by latinas) on the other hand, my mom: a fashion lover/ex fashion designer that made sure I knew about fashion not only by what I saw in the magazines, but also by experiencing it. It’s always been my mom and I, everywhere. So she was always the one pushing me to do more, to find my creativity, to take opportunities, to help others. For me, my passion and my values are the most important things in my work, so I always make sure I do everything putting those two things first. My late grandfather was also a big part in my career: both him and my mother have given me the tools in life to start my career, not only physical tools (like my first camera for my “quince” instead of my quinceañera party); values and life lessons too.
I have a degree in communications, which helped me develop and expand my skills: I went to Guatemala in 2018 for a sports competition between jesuit schools in Mexico, as part of the press team. Before 2018, I had never even tried sports photography/video, but I decided to try and it was a really fun experience not to mention I loved the outcome, most of the photos my team took ended up being exhibited in our school. Up until now, I’ve done fashion events, lifestyle photography, portraits, I’ve participated in film productions both in San Diego and Tijuana, documentaries, and at one point I even tried blogging.
While my photography career officially started in 2013, in May 2018 I started my own business associated with my mom, by creating an instagram bazar to sell stuff from my closet (as a shopaholic that couldn’t say no to a great sale, my closet was struggling to keep up) , vintage pieces, miscellaneous and more second-chance pieces in an effort to try and give back to the environment. My business (Cixara’s Closet) debuted with an event where I invited other entrepreneurships and bloggers in Tijuana to grow together. Fast forward to December 2019, I was able to open a physical store in Tijuana, which I couldn’t have done without the help of my family. Due to covid, we remained closed for most of 2020 and we’re still trying to figure out when we’re going to be able to open up normally again, but we’ve expanded to the states by selling online via Depop.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
My biggest challenge has been letting myself be proud of my own work. For many years, I painted myself as an amateur or just a photography student, until I realized that there’s nothing wrong with constantly learning and being content and proud with your own work. There’s always going to be someone with better skills or better equipment than you, but everything’s in the way see things: either you see others as better than you, you aspire to be as great as them, or you see them as competition. Personally, I don’t believe in competition. I’ve been able to collaborating with many creatives and photographers which has led me to learn from them as well as become great friends.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My main goal both as a photographer, communicator and as a business owner myself, has always been to help others with their own projects/business, I love helping other grow their business wether that be by collaborating with them, making collaborative photoshoots with up to 3+ brands, or just sharing their posts in social media. I know it can be hard when getting started and I’ve learned a lot on this journey. As a communicator, I specialize in online marketing and video producer, as a photographer, I love fashion but I’ll gladly try everything (that I haven’t tried yet) once, I don’t like to put myself under a certain label, however, my main goal is to keep working with fashion creatives. I’m proud of my journey, it has been an amazing journey.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I’ve always considered myself a very lucky person, I believe the universe has put the right people in my journey, and I appreciate all the constant support from my friends and family.
Contact Info:
- Email: camilaflores@cixara.com
- Website: cixara.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cixaraphoto/
Image Credits
@cixaraphoto
@annaportugal.art
@jojobeautyessentials
@hemisfemme
