“I’m very lucky that the way my career and life has been laid out for me has been through a lot of connections. To anyone that wants to get into the industry, talk to people and start making connections now, because they really do pay off.”
Name: Rocío Sanchez
Job Title: Photo Stylist at Crate & Barrel
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Instagram: @rowsiohh
With her arms extended in front of her, she creates a square frame with her hands. Scanning the set she searches for anything that is out of place. A pillow corner is extended to create a more pleasing shape and a curtain is swapped for a neutral option. Another pause, a long stare, and more adjustments are made as she quietly moves back and forth across the staged scene she is designing. “That feels good to me,” she says as she stands back taking one last look. Everything is in balance.
Rocío Sanchez is a photo stylist for Crate & Barrel where she collaborates with a team of creatives to produce imagery that entices customers to purchase the brand’s extensive catalog of housewares and furniture. Starting off as an assistant with the company in 2016, Rocío would spend long days ironing sheets, stuffing pillows, polishing glasses, and completing any other prep work needed to support the lead photo stylists. It was during this time that she gained a familiarity with the brand’s product and visual style along with a set of stylist tricks needed to give images that extra flair. At an unassuming 5’2” she now commands her own sets with a quiet confidence and intense focus only broken by a joke and her warm laugh.
Rocío was born and raised in Pilsen on the South Side of Chicago. She always had an interest in the arts and took several classes growing up, but wasn’t introduced to photography until late high school.
“A friend of mine was in After School Matters and she did photography which I didn’t know was a thing. I don’t know why no one told me this [laughs.] I didn’t find out till I was a junior and at that point the class I wanted to take with my friends was full.”
After a little bit of research, Rocío was able to find a program close to home taught by photographer Anthony Marcos Rea at ElevArte in Dvorak Park. It was this class that sparked her love of photography and introduced her to the college she would later attend.
”The class was tailored more to street photography and documenting which I wasn’t really a big fan of, but I still kind of made it my own with my still lifes and the more commercial things I like. It was there I realized, ‘Oh this is really cool and this is what I want to do.’”
The executive director of ElevArte connected Rocío with Paul Teruel who at the time was the director of community partnerships at Columbia College Chicago. Paul hired Rocío as an assistant in his department through the federal work study program which in addition to some grants allowed her to attend the college.
An internship with Snap36, a studio that specializes in 360° product imagery, was Rocío’s first experience in the professional world of photography and would later lead to a position at an ecommerce photo studio following graduation. Unfortunately, after 6 months of freelancing with the studio she was feeling burnt out and uninspired.
That’s when a new opportunity presented itself through her former classmate Gonzalo Guzman. While indulging in another chisme session he asked if she had any interest in photo styling and said he would throw her name out to one of his recent clients. It would be several months after that conversation till she would hear anything back, but finally she got a call and walked through the doors to her dream job.
“When I was in college I was like, I want to shoot for Crate & Barrel. Granted I’m not shooting for them, I’m doing styling, but I always loved their clean crisp looks, the softness, and the way everything was presented.”
Rocío’s transition from photography to styling would surprise her college self. As she put it, “I knew styling was a job, but I didn’t know how you got into it because there is no school for it. I went to school for photography, for the technical things, like this is how you light, this is how you use a strobe, this is how aperture works. I think me from 5 years ago would be like, ‘Oh, OK you switched careers. You’re doing styling now. That’s cool.’”
Despite the career change, the technical knowledge from Rocío’s photography background has only made her a better stylist. Her strong understanding of lighting and its effect on various products and materials has created a fully collaborative relationship with the photographers on her team.
As Rocío reflects on her career successes so far she recognizes the importance of the many people who have helped her along the way.
“Although at the time I was really bummed I wasn’t able to get into the same After Schools Matters class as my friend, thinking back it all sort of worked out. If I hadn’t found ElevArte I wouldn’t have had the same opportunities or stumbled upon the people that supported me throughout college and after.”
Key Advice:
Be ready to present yourself as a business. You are there to offer your services. Have a website and business cards ready before you graduate.
Prepare yourself for a lot of rejection, but don’t let it discourage you from pushing forward.
Use google to find stylists in your area and reach out to anyone whose work is interesting to you.
Build up your network and connect with those around you. You never know where something might lead.
A small portfolio of Rocío Sanchez’s styling work. Check out more of her work on instagram @rowsiohh