Amy Diep is Paving Her Way to Success

Through Artistic Vision and Photography

Amy Diep has already achieved so much as a 22-year-old photographer and creative artist based in Minneapolis specializing in editorial fashion, commercial, and lifestyle portraits. She has become a well-rounded, experienced artist working for herself as a photographer, director, and artist and with numerous brands and companies in a leading role to contribute to their success. It hasn’t always been easy, especially being a person of color in the creative community, but Amy believes mindset is one of the most important aspects of success, if not the most important.

How she got started

Amy began by creating content that fit with her favorite brands’ aesthetics while still staying aligned with her own style. Within Amy’s second year of photography, she had the opportunity to shoot a campaign for Adidas with Natalie Achonwa, a WNBA player. This moment put such an emphasis on her young age of 21 at the time, helping her realize she was living her dream. Along with being a photographer and director, she’s more recently taken on the role of production manager for Skntones, a creative agency and brand. Through working with them, she had the opportunity to shoot for Kanye West and KayCyy Pluto. As a person of color in the creative community, Amy believes she’s able to inspire other young artists from the same background to step outside of their comfort zone to pursue their aspirations.

The secrets of her success

In the beginning, Amy did a lot of market research to see how content could be shown to her client’s target market and applied that to her own work. She’s had to take a step back multiple times to reassess the personal brand she was creating for herself and how she could fit into a specific niche. Amy says, “just do the research, find some inspiration, try everything, and if it doesn’t work, try something else. Falling in love with the process and being okay with failure is essential to your growth. It can be difficult to separate yourself, but it should always be about collaboration, not competition, because that’s how the best art is created.” The less she cared about competition, the more she was able to grow, a big ask for a creative artist when you’re constantly surrounded by others who are doing the same thing.

Her personal image and future plans

Amy hopes to be perceived as a confident badass who’s well-spoken, charismatic, and optimistic. She works hard to be a great leader that’s driven and ambitious, especially for young artists. She shares that she has experienced moments of prejudice and microaggressions from others for being a woman of color, but has gained confidence over time and surrounded herself with more like-minded individuals, where she learned to be more assertive in those situations. Ultimately, Amy wants her art to make her happy. A lot of the work she creates is for a client, and while the client may be happy and satisfied with the final outcome, she doesn’t always feel the spark of energy when creating that. She says “I only want to put out work that I’ve created with intention, that fulfills me and inspires other young BIPOC artists to pursue their creative jobs because it is what they love.”

Learn more about Amy and her art on Instagram @shotbyamy_!