Meet Isabella Jaii of Jaii Wave in North Buckhead

Today we’d like to introduce you to Isabella Jaii.

Isabella, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve honestly always had a knack for photography. When I was little, I began to love taking photos because my parents always made my siblings and myself pose for pictures or they would just capture candid moments. So growing up, I always found myself scavenging through the old boxes to see what they had and fell in love. My addiction really escalated because my mom works for a technology-based company and they would always have random raffles where she would win items and one day she brought home my very first point to shoot camera. From that point on, I was taking photos every chance that I got.

As I continued to grow up and learn more about myself, I realized that I loved being in front of the camera too but was far too shy and insecure to be a model or anything because of my weight. So I told myself, if I won’t be in front of the camera, then I should definitely be the one behind it. I loved having control over the photos and seeing how they turn out. I started off with just random photos of nature, like the sky or trees, maybe even just some random skyscrapers and would edit those on the side for myself. Overtime, my friends started to notice and began asking me to take their photos for them as well. Then, I honestly just became their personal paparazzi/photographer and would capture off-guard’s of them throughout high school and it just clicked like, I’m going to be a photographer one day.

I was super passionate about this and would tell everyone that asked me that this is what I wanted do with my future. I remember even in my 11th and 12th-grade years of high school, I was looking up local photographers in my area to possibly intern with for our senior mastery process and how excited, yet nervous that I was to reach out to them. My hopes were up so high, all for every single one of them to turn around and turn me down. I still remember to this day, one guy told me that he wouldn’t teach me his craft because he was self-taught and no one taught him. That made me very discouraged to move forward in the field along with some other outsider’s opinions of my decision, but I still never gave up hope.

Fast forward to the last three years of my life, in 2016, I graduated high school and honestly had no plans to go to college. I kept telling people that I did but something inside of me just knew that I didn’t really need college to pursue it, all I needed was a camera. So I got a job and worked my butt off to save up for it and it wasn’t easy at all, but I did it. I got my very first DSLR in January of 2017, with the help of my mom. After that, I began taking photos everywhere, and trust me, I mean EVERYWHERE. I would literally take my camera to my job every single day and just take photos for the business. It got to the point where I even offered to run their social media and I would post the photos that I took for them and all. But doing all of that for them made me realize that I could do it for myself, along with some other very unfortunate circumstances, so I decided to quit.

After I quit working there, I started taking headshots for my older brother, cousin, and his wife’s cleaning company. Shortly after that they asked me to take photos at their baby shower and my Aunt asked me to take senior photos for her son as well. A few months later, one of my close friends asked me to take photos for her lash brand, so I bought my first lighting set up and jumped right into it. From that point on, I knew that this was it. This was the moment I was looking for, this was my time to finally start the business I always said that I would.

So in June of 2018, I did my very first conceptual shoot. I asked 4 of my friends to be apart of the shoot, one of them dropped out the day of but another one of them fortunately had a friend who was able to show up last minute. I even did all of their makeup before the shoot and got some beauty shots to showcase my makeup artistry skills as well. Then we were supposed to go to a fair, I had envisioned doing a shoot similar to Rihanna’s launch of Fenty beauty, which was outside in direct sun. But, I ended up settling for a park and when the day was over and I came home to look over the photos, I was disappointed. I honestly almost gave up since my plan didn’t come to fruition. I legit held off for two months on editing the photos, but one day in August of 2018 God spoke to me in prayer to finish the photos and launch my brand. I went back and I put my best foot forward and I got it done. I launched JAII WAVE on Sunday, August 26th, 2018 and never looked back since.

It was honestly the roughest transition I’ve ever experienced in my life. I got so many inquiries but realized no one was willing to pay because I didn’t have much experience. So I started doing more small conceptual projects with some of my closest friends and posting them so I could stay active and perfect my craft. This got me noticed and someone reached out to me about an event they were putting together for small creatives and I went. I met a model that day that helped me learn about composition and the photos we took that day, took me to another level. After that, my business began to take off uphill. I began to meet more and more creatives, from models to photographers that changed my life. I was introduced to a whole new world that included paid work and many collaborations. In that time, I upgraded from my first DSLR which was a canon rebel t6i to a Sony A7iii so there was a huge quality shift in all of the content that I was producing. I honestly believe this transition took me to a whole other level as well, which has brought me to where I am today.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Absolutely not! I wish that it could have been a smooth road for me but as I stated previously, I had people tell me they wouldn’t allow me to intern with them. I also had people decide not to work with me because they didn’t believe that I was worth the price that I set for myself. I even had people edit over photos that took me HOURS, sometimes DAYS, to edit for them. In so little time, I’ve honestly almost experienced the worse of the worse but I still love this field anyway lol.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Jaii Wave – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Jaii Wave is a multifaceted business, ran by me, Isabella Jaii. I mainly specialize in photography, makeup and graphic design from time to time and I will be specializing in videography as well sometime soon.

I am most proud of my ability to connect with people. I love to truly get to know whoever I’m working with and build a real relationship with them outside of them being a client to me. I believe this is what sets me apart from others because it’s what makes people want to continue to work with me.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
In the future, I plan to really help models out by helping them learn how to build their portfolio and market themselves to agencies and etc. I also plan to help other upcoming photographers learn the business, how to gain clientele and build real relationships, as well as how to edit and finding their own style.

I do have a few big changes as well, but I want to keep those a secret…for now anyways lol.

Contact Info:

• Phone: 3134056822
• Email: contact.jaiiwave@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaiiwave/

Image Credit:
@isabellajaii / @jaiiwave

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