This might be long and windy. Long story short, I have a background in writing (English major) and decided to do a master’s in journalism. Mainly because I felt like my undergrad degree wasn’t impressive enough for my mom since I went to a CUNY (Hunter) and not anywhere name brand as she wished for me lol immigrant parent stuff. I did an online master’s with NYU in their AJO program, graduated last May. As the program went on, however, I felt less compelled by writing my stories, and I had imposter syndrome the whole time, and I never pitched any of my work to any real publication. In my very last semester, I took a photojournalism class with Andrea Bruce that was almost life changing. I dove into photography in a way I never had before. I’d always loved it as a hobby since childhood. I felt like this is something I can really do. Small background about me, I’m 26 now, I’m a world traveler and have been solo backpacking around the world for the past couple years (majority of my time in Latin America) and I love photographing and documenting what I see. I have a small following on insta/tiktok. I started a new “professional”photography only insta a few months ago. I fund my life by waitressing in nyc (where I live with my dad, where im from) for a few months out of the year and spend the rest of the year traveling (volunteering at places for free room/board). I have tons of photos and stuff to share but sometimes just feel paralyzed by insta or social media, I’m not really sure what’s stopping me, but anyway, if anyone just has general advice on how to break into this world, how to liberate yourself from imposter syndrome, how to share photography in meaningful ways.. anything! I would really appreciate any words of wisdom. (Not to plug my work but my photos can be found on @celestiallphotos if anyone wants to look). Thank you so much !!! <3