I often do things out of the blue. Like during my fourth year of college, I joined the track team because the coach asked me to learn to pole vault. A few years before that, I didn’t hesitate when asked to go skydiving. [I just hate to miss an opportunity] But I must say, I was stunned when, out of the blue, I applied and became a recipient of Me Ra Koh’s 2009 SOAR! scholarship. I have always loved photojournalistic photography. My parents owned a book, “A Day in the Life of America” and I aimed to capture a “summer in the life of my family” the year I got my polaroid. But in my mind, photography never went further. So, you couldn’t have convinced me that one day, after being mentored by an internationally celebrated photographer, I’d own jen armstrong photography...

The SOAR! scholarship was a journey into so much more than f-stops and great light. The journey was a spirally course headed straight for the soul of me! Me Ra had a challenging line up for us-photography, business, and self-reflection exercises, and I was forced to expose, well, almost everything about me. But I did so in the company of the two other recipients [and my dear friends], Linda and Lindsay. Together, we opened up to an unbelievable community of women and were grateful for both our business coaches and Me Ra’s guidance. The result is, I now own a business I love, but even more, my husband and babies have a better wife and mama. From the bottom of my heart, Me Ra, I thank and love you.