Racquel Kamera Boss Photography

By Terry L. Watson Photos Provided by Kamera Boss Photography

Racquel Charles reflects on when she was only a seventh grader. That is around the time when her interest in photography revealed itself. “I can remember taking a disposable camera to school for career day. I wanted to take photos. Almost every year after that, my parents bought me digital cameras, but I didn’t keep up with them, of course. Once I made it to high school, I would take pictures of all my classmates and post them online,” she says.

Racquel’s senior year in high school occurred at Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts in Kansas City. She shares how her friend and artist, Marichelle, introduced her to the art teacher, as they both recognized Racquel’s budding potential. “I started building my portfolio soon after that, just from photos I took on my phone. Shortly after graduating high school, I had my first daughter Kendal, and put photography on the back burner. I decided to try the nursing field and ended up going to college and getting my Medical Assistant and Associates degree. My passion for photography never left, and soon my boyfriend bought my first DSLR Canon Camera as a Christmas present in 2015. I was a little intimidated with using the camera at first but soon got the hang of it,” she shares.

In 2017, Racquel gave birth to her 2nd daughter Kammy. By the time her first birthday arrived, she’d made up her mind that photography would be her career choice, and the rest is history.

She eventually left her job in nursing. This was around the same time the country was dealing with the Covid pandemic in 2020. She set her sights on succeeding in photography but lost a little confidence in herself and soon returned back to work. She jumped into photography with laser-sharp focus and tried some things to make it work this time.

“I worked on scheduling my clients accordingly, so I wouldn’t have to run around all day. I would rent studios for half days to get more clients in one place. I would have at least 3-5 weekly shoots, so I felt I was doing great for myself. In 2022, I began to get bookings out of state and eventually became a traveling photographer and created my website. Everyone loved it,” she says.

Things were improving for Racque. Her website was up, and she had developed a more efficient way to communicate with her clients. Now she needed a studio.

“I had been looking for a studio to move into all of 2022. I was at a point where my clients and myself deserved a place to call home. I only had a little success, as I was even going to settle for a shared space. I gave the studio search one more try before I planned my 30th birthday trip to Jamaica. I said a nice long intentional prayer and went on my search. Amazingly, this time was different, as I got a callback. I got approved for the space. I ended up canceling my 30th birthday trip to Jamaica and celebrated my 30th birthday at my studio. Since then, I have made some changes and additions; This is my dream studio.”

Today, Racquel is the owner and face of Kamera Boss Photography. She offers various shoot options such as maternity, weddings, headshots, family photos, boudoirs, graduation photos, creative photos, and birthday shoots. Her ability to create lifelong memories is what she loves most about being a photographer. “At some point in our lives, photos will be all we have, and I take so much pride in being able to create memories for families,” Racquel shares.

While her talent speaks for itself, Raquel has dealt with confidence issues. “When I’m feeling discouraged like I’m not doing enough, or I’m not where I’m supposed to be, I have to sit back and realize that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I have to remind myself that I’ve come so far from renting studios and having to shoot outside. I am so very proud of myself,” she says.

There have been some ups and downs, yet Racquel says she wouldn’t change much about how things happened. She only points out, “I wish more people would have supported me more in the beginning instead of waiting till now. I needed every challenge that I faced. I needed to go through everything I did to appreciate where I am today.” h www.KameraBossPhotography.com

As the future happens for Racquel, her plans are to become a celebrity personal photographer. Until that day, I will continue to offer beautiful photos to people in her city and other states.

By Monica Montgomery Photos Provided by The Juneteenth GVL Inc.

Juneteenth is a holiday that, until recent years, only a few cities or states outside of Texas celebrated. What is Juneteenth? It is the commemoration of the actual end of legalized slavery in the United States. Texas declared June 19th, or Juneteenth, “Emancipation Day in Texas,” a legal state holiday in 1980. Over the years, African-American communities have worked to educate and promote the acknowledgment of Juneteenth.

While visiting Dallas for work, Rueben Hayes first encountered a Juneteenth celebration in all its grandeur. “I didn’t learn about Juneteenth until 2013. I was on a work assignment for a hospital in Dallas, Texas. I had the opportunity to attend a Juneteenth festival, and I was blown away by how beautiful and culturally rich the event was,” Rueben Hayes explains. “There was music, art, dancing, food, oh my goodness, the food! I was just in awe of it all.”

Rueben was so impacted by what he experienced at his first Juneteenth festival in Dallas that he traveled to different Juneteenth festivals around the country for the four years that followed. “I’ve been to Atlanta, Nashville, and Columbia, and each festival was as amazing and impressive as the next,” Hayes shares.

Over the years, Rueben’s interest, knowledge, and excitement grew regarding the Juneteenth festivals, but starting a commemoration festival in Greenville, South Carolina, wasn’t in the plans. “As much as I enjoyed the commemoration celebrations, I never considered doing something like that in Greenville. The reason was that when I returned home, most people weren’t familiar with what Juneteenth really was in 2014 and 2015. Again, I didn’t learn the history of Juneteenth and how significant it was to African American culture as well as American history until I attended the Dallas festival in 2013,” Rueben confessed. Like so many, Rueben had heard the name Juneteenth but did not know its history, never making the connection to its significance as the actual moment of African-American independence in the U.S.

As an entrepreneur, one of the businesses Rueben owned was an entertainment company. “In the past, I had worked with large events and festivals. Organizing events is something I loved doing, but nothing on the scale of what was to come.” Yet in 2017, Rueben felt compelled to organize a Juneteenth commemoration festival in Greenville, South Carolina.

“I started contacting and making connections to make a Juneteenth festival a reality in 2018. But my surgical supply business experienced tremendous growth, and my priorities shifted,” Rueben explained. “I decided to put the festival plans on hold, believing I could pick them back up in 2018 or 2019 and launch the Greenville Juneteenth festival in 2020. Then the pandemic hit.”

What initially appeared to be a setback was just another example of time and season. “The world shutting down due to the Covid pandemic sidelined us. But when President Biden made Juneteenth a national holiday in 2021, we knew it was the perfect time to get the plans for the festival back on track.”

Monopolizing on the momentum of Biden’s monuments decision to acknowledge June 19th as “African-American Independence Day,” Rueben and his partners began to plan and organize a festival unlike anything the city of Greenville had ever seen.

Rueben is the Executive Director and founder of Juneteenth GVL. His friend and partner in this venture, Vandavid Vernon, is the co-founder. Vandavid, CEO of Vernon Veteran Services, worked alongside Rueben to make the Greenville Juneteenth celebration a reality. “From the start, we knew there was a demand for what we were preparing, but we were still surprised at the level of support we received from the city of Greenville and sponsors,” Rueben explained.

Rueben and his team didn’t just want to celebrate Juneteenth; they wanted to educate their community and give them a cultural platform and experience; unlike anything they had ever seen. “It was important that we hold the festival here in Greenville and the upstate,” Rueben explained. “We wanted to expose our community to what Juneteenth means to Americans, not just African-Americans.”

The heart of the Juneteenth GVL Festival is based on these five pillars: Educate, Enhance, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “We want people from every race, creed, and color to come out and take part. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the good in our shared history and educate and unite people,” Vandavid explained.

The inaugural 2022 Juneteenth GVL Festival was a three-day event that kicked off with the Juneteenth Gala. “One of my directors came up with a Juneteenth Gala. Since we had never attempted anything like that, we did extensive research to find a model for what we were trying to achieve. We found that there hadn’t been an event like it anywhere in the country,” Rueben explained. “The gala’s purpose was to raise funds so that the festival would be free to the community, but we could achieve so much more.”

There were over six-hundred attendees at the 2022 Juneteenth Gala. Patrons were treated to the crowning of the first Mr. and Ms. Juneteenth GVL, a fashion show, exhibits from local artists, and live music and dancing. “In addition to meeting our goal for the festival, the success of the 2022 Juneteenth Gala allowed the foundation to give two $2,500 scholarships and donate $20,000 to non-profit African American organizations,” Rueben shared.