Melissa Who??

Melissa Haley, Melissa Therese, Melissa Leclerc-Waugh..who am I? 

The truth is, I don’t know. I’ve always wanted to show up as my most authentic self but for the last 10 years I was hiding huge parts of me. Melissa was too loud, too outspoken, too MUCH of everything that I made my self fit into a perfect little box.  Guess what? It still wasn’t good enough. 

When I started professionally doing photography, I was getting noticed because I was DIFFERENT. It reinforced that the more I show up as the real me, the better my business got. I realized that maybe the problem wasn’t me after all, maybe I was just too much for the wrong people.

Last year I picked myself up and said goodbye to everything and everyone that felt like it was hindering me from reaching my goals. I think we all want to be loved and find that missing puzzle piece but what if finding myself is the missing piece?  I can honestly say that this has been the hardest 12 months of my life. I broke my own heart and let go of someone I truly loved because I wanted my boys to know a healthy and happy mom. I felt like I was in the passenger seat of my own life, just letting it pass me by. I woke up and thought “ there’s no fucking way that THIS is my story”. 

This healing journey hasn’t been easy and I’ve made mistakes. I haven’t shown up in my business as my best self at all times because I was in survival mode. Being a mom is hard enough, but being a single mom going through a divorce (essentially) will remain one of my biggest challenges. I feel like so many people had an opinion about my life without actually knowing a single thing about what me and my family were going through. I had to remind myself that , other peoples opinions are none of my business. Some of the comments hurt of course, but at the end of the day, I know who I am and can hold my head high. 

So why am I telling you all of this?  I know that some of you already had a feeling that I was going through something big. I always put my best foot forward on social media and in my stories but the reality is, when I posted some of those things, I was quite broken. I want you to know me. I want you to know that I’m not perfect and I don’t want to pretend to be. I want you to know exactly who you’re getting as a photographer. All the messy bits and pieces. I would hope that you can relate to me on a human level and feel as if you already know me before we actually meet.

Anyways,  I would like to tell you that I knew exactly where I was headed but I don’t. I like that though, this life is a journey and I'm ok with just living in the NOW. 2022 was to get myself and my boys on a better path. 2023 is for some big moves. 

Huge announcements will be coming soon, and thanks for coming along the ride with me. 

Everything is aligned,

Mel