Hi it’s Dawn, the co-founder of Boudoir á la Mode.  I have the pleasure of being the makeup artist for most of our boudoir photo sessions. (I am often times the hair stylist as well for each lady who comes to our studio.)  One thing that makes my client look her best is to use mineral based makeup which is virtually chemical free.  
    The brand I use is Younique . I was sold not only by their product, but by the fact they are generous contributors to abused women and children.  That cause is very important and dear to my heart as I have seen women and children suffer greatly. I joined unique for both of these reasons.  Immediately I joined as a representative many years before I began doing makeup full time for our boudoir business.  The makeup looks beautiful and silky smooth. The pictures always show each woman in their most beautiful light, both literally and figuratively!   It’s a true joy to blessing, and enjoy the makeover portion of our studio here in the Nashville Tennessee area.  We are located about 20 minutes away from Nashville in the Hendersonville district.  I
   If you wish to purchase some of this popular and amazing makeup product, here is a link where you can do so. Just click HERE

There are generally few times a woman is all "done up" quite like they are on the day of their boudoir session. Wedding day? For certain. Boudoir day is one of those days.  That goes especially for the ones who rarely, or NEVER wear makeup, we see many of those types of ladies in our studio. So why not go ahead and do something after the session that would really even further show you off? Got a lover?  Make it a date afterward. If the boudoir session is to be a surprise for him, then you may have to explain your super beautiful new appearance to him in some other way that may not be exact truth.   No current lover?  Arrange a date with someone anyway!  It can be a first date. It can be a date with that guy you haven't been out with for years. Or, you can just go out with the girly friends and have a good time. 

     You can certainly already see the general idea here. If you are coming in for a boudoir photo session, then it's often a great idea to follow that up later with a date, or something where you can turn some heads. Because hey, after your hair is all done up sexy, your makeup is smokey eyed and gorgeous, you may as well not leave wearing sweat pants, unless you are heading home to get on that sexy black dress or tight jeans for a date.  Interestingly, we do request our ladies to show up at the studio in loose fitting sweats and no bra, because it prevents tight clothing and bras from leaving lines imprints in your skin, which can ruin a boudoir session. BUT...after the session...you can walk out of here looking like the smoking' hot gal in the photos, but with more clothing on. (for a while at least! Wink Wink) 
     Dawn and I love to go out and hear live music on some of our dates. We love music.  So, when we can have a date with great food, live music, and maybe a margarita for me,  or a lemon drop martini for her, then we are good to go! Here are a few of our personal favorite spots to go for such things.  (I will link the locations to the name that you can click on) 
1) Sambucca
 Sambuca is probably our favorite. It is classy and fun all combined, and they are right in the Gulch in Nashville. They have great live music, which is usually classic pop/rock bands that play lots of 80's hits and such. Sometimes they have something a little more jazzy. The food is really good, and we love the music. (it's generally from our era)  Occasionally, there are a few songs being played there that make people want to get up and dance. So there's always that chance. 
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​2) BB King's Blues Club
BB King's is a good sized place, right in the heart of Nashville, on 2nd Ave.  The house band is AMAZING. I have to tell you though, I'm not sure if I have ever heard a blues song played at BB King's Blues Club. Maybe I have and don't recall.  They play high energy R&B mostly. Well, I will just let them tell you in their own words I took from from their own website:
"As house band of B.B. King’s Blues Club, these guys know how to jam. This group is the most talented collection of musicians in the Mid-South. The band is found weekly on our stage playing rhythm and blues favorites with emphasis on Memphis music, as well as a variety of other styles including soul, pop and classic rock. Click here to check out their next set. "
They have a really big, full menu, and a nice sized dance floor. The house band...did I mention them?  They are top shelf. Have you some fun in Nashville!

​3) Rudy's Jazz Room
Rudy's is fun, if you like jazz, even occasionally. We are not actually big on jazz, but sometimes it's just the right flavor of the day!  The food is really unique and tasty, and music is absolutely mind-blowing. I've been a musician myself for many years, and I can tell you that jazz musicians are among the best, most talented of the bunch. Rudy's is currently not operating because of Covid, but their website is still up, and they take donations to help their basic costs to survive. So, another classy place with great food and live music. 

​4) Joe's Crab Shack
  No live music or dance floor here, but really great seafood, and a cool atmosphere. It's one of our go-to spots when we are just out and about Nashville. Check out if you haven't.

This concludes our list for now. Thanks for reading, and be sure to plan for some post-boudoir fun, if you come in for a session. May as well, right?

​Nashville boudoir photography studio history, in a few paragraphs:

People frequently ask me how I became a boudoir photographer. Part of that answer will also double as a storyline for the history of this boudoir studio business I founded, called Boudoir á la Mode. This should be a tasty bite of information, whether you ever wondered or not...just where we came from! Here’s the story, as briefly as I can put it, how I went from upstart model photographer, to cruise ship musician, to full time photographer.
Back in 2008, I finally bought my first entry level DSLR camera to start my photography journey. I have always loved and been gifted in photography, but was never able to really dive in deep until 2008. So I bought a Canon Rebel Xti. I started out shooting just whatever I fancied of course, landscapes, animals, friends, and the like. It didn’t take long until some lady friends wanted photos done. Then after that, upstart models wanted me to shoot their photos. I actually opened a small photo studio in Hendersonville city square shopping center!
My new studio was just getting up and running, when I got a call with an offer to play music on a cruise ship band for 3 months, touring mainly Australia and New Zealand for two months, followed by the French Polynesian islands next (Moorea, Tahiti, Bora Bora), then the Hawaiian Islands. At that time, I had already been playing music for many years, and the prospect of free travel sounded too good to pass up. So...what did I do? Well I closed my newly opened photography studio to go and get paid to travel and play music! But while I was traveling, I was always shooting photos when I was not on the ship playing music. I walked around different cities and towns with my camera, and shot a whole album worth of landscape photos. I walked all over and around places like, Melbourne, Tasmania, Wellington, Auckland, Maui, and lots in between. Also, through a modeling website, I connected with some beautiful models in New Zealand, and Hawaii for photo sessions. I also found an island girl on the French Polynesian island of Moorea. She was just there on small portion of remote beach with her aunt. Neither of them spoke more than two words of English, but using gestures, and a ten dollar bill I had in hand, I was able to hire her to do an instant bikini photo session with me right there. One of those images is in my photo book, which you can find on Amazon here.
While on the cruise ship, I befriended Ilhan (il-han) , the top photographer on the cruise ship’s photo staff. He was Turkish, and we stay in touch even to this day. I learned a lot from him and we even shot together once, on a long walking trail in Hawaii.
Eventually my cruise ship gig was up, and I returned home to the states on May 8th, 2009. Very soon thereafter, I fell passionately in love with wedding photography. Modern wedding photography was so much more artistic than the standard traditional wedding photography of the past. It was so beautiful and emotive. I quickly gained steam in that genre, becoming well known in the Nashville area, and it got to the point where every one of my clients were from word of mouth advertising. Then, with my past of shooting beautiful models, I decided to add boudoir photography into my repertoire. I took great pleasure in helping the every day women look like a model. Who doesn’t need that confidence boost? Some clients looked like models, and some looked like the girl next door. In 2010, I founded and officially opened Boudoir á la Mode!
I had an idea for a kitten as my logo, and found a gal online through an artist connection website to design my logo. A year later, she actually drove out to Nashville with her husband for her own boudoir session with me. Her name is Melanie, and one of her photos is feature right atop of this blog post, as well as her actual kitten logo design. We shot her session at Hotel Indigo, which is where I used to shoot a lot of my early boudoir sessions.
Due to some life changes, and temporary reasons I won’t bore you with, I quit boudoir photography for several years. I was able to sell my entire business, logo, name, and all such things to another already successful photographer named Matt. I also quit weddings a couple years later. I met and married Dawn, and we moved to our current house by the lake in Gallatin, TN.
I will now jump to just over a year ago, when together, Dawn and I reestablished Boudoir á la Mode. Matt was no longer doing much with it, so I was able to buy it all back from him at around the same price I sold it to him for. Yessss! We’re back! You can pick up the story way below this post, on my first blog post. Dawn and I love what we do. We are Nashville’s dynamic husband and wife boudoir photography team. Women have always been relaxed and disarmed around me, and having Dawn by my side the whole time makes it even more comforting. She’s become a huge part of what I do. She’s amazing with hair and makeup, and her help as an assistant, posing each of our ladies has become invaluable.
So that’s the history of how I got started as a boudoir photographer in Nashville. I’ve quite enjoyed the journey here. And I’m looking forward to the next leg of the journey. Remember, it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey!

Well here we are, just over a year since we opened this current studio, and we have made it even better now. We have really stepped it up a few notches during our two weeks down time! (Lots of work done here, so I'm not sure that really qualifies as "down time")
     First off, you may notice in the photo that we now have a beautiful old claw foot bath tub. I found one online that was being sold up in Kentucky, and I made the trip to go buy it and bring it home. Yes it's cast iron, and yes it's SUPER heavy. I spent a few days getting it all cleaned up, prepped and painted. It was a labor of love. One of our new clients, Mrs B, allowed us to use her photo above to model our new wonderful bath tub! 
   Also, we have a new teal colored sofa now in our studio. It's gorgeous!  See photos above for that. It is fully tufted, and is soooo photogenic.  Aside from the new decor, we have more efficiently laid out what we already have, and essentially have about 4 new sets within our studio. We are super stoked about it. As far as Nashville boudoir photography goes, we've got it goin on...and it's not only for the benefit of us, but of course, our clients whom we love to make into gorgeous á a Mode Kittens!    
    We will soon be making a new studio tour video, to showcase what we've got going on in here.  Ladies have all gone googoo over our studio in the past year, but now it's even so much better now. Several are already making plans to return again for another session.  Also, we can't wait to see some new faces in here! We are literally booking up fast, so if you are on the fence about doing a session, contact us asap. We want to get you off of the fence, and into the tub : )     Since I'm on that subject, I would like to point out we have a dry tub, and we are not doing the milk bath thing, but we use very fuzzy furry white rugs in the tub, which are super sexy without water!  Yeah, its a thing. 

   Boudoir photography isn't just about boudoir anymore. Christmas, Valentine's Day, New Year's Day, and heck, why not your own personal holiday--your birthday!  (or your significant other's B-day!).  These could all be factors in why a woman wants to visit our Nashville boudoir photography studio. There are lots of reasons to shoot a boudoir session, and some have very little or nothing to do with a holiday. In most cases, a woman is not thinking about a holiday when she reserves her spot on our calendar for a boudoir session. It's usually about her personal desire to look amazing, feel great, enjoy the experience, or maybe to give a beautiful gift of visual love to someone else. She wants to give that special, private gift that boudoir imagery can be. 
     Sometimes, a major holiday is a great reason for her thoughtfulness in giving the gift of boudoir. Her husband or long time BF would really love this!  (Hint: sometimes the BF pays for it. Sometimes it's even his idea. Well, duh!)   Boudoir sessions and holidays go GREAT together. What man wouldn't want a gorgeous set of boudoir images in a professionally designed album that he can frequently open up and admire with passionate eyes? Maybe he wants that big beautiful and very impactful metal wall print hanging in the bedroom.  And here's another noteworthy note: Shooting a holiday boudoir session doesn't mean it has to be "holiday themed", as seen in the photo above. Some ladies like to shoot a boudoir session for their lover for a Christmas gift, but none of the photos necessarily have to be Christmas themed, or Valentine themed...or birthday themed.  Though we do recommend at least one or two photos be themed for the given holiday. He will always remember then, for what holiday the gift was given.  
    Of all the boudoir photographers in Nashville, we have carved out a style that is our own. It is a very sensual style. Our photos have shadows and depth, and a strong sense of mood. We have just finished shooting a video of us explaining our photo style, as opposed to many other boudoir photographers. See the 2 1/2 minute video HERE Likely, the next blog post will also go into that detail, touching on why our style is what it is.  For now, enjoy the holidays, and we hope 2021 brings you and everyone else much more joy than 2020 did, if you know what I mean!  

  So....Dawn and I were finally able to take our long awaited road trip out west. We have been planning to drive to California (where I'm originally from) for months. But then, with all the wild fires and smoke out there, we canceled our reservations and changed our plans for a Florida coast run. Then...the morning we woke up to head out of town for Florida, the likelihood of a certain hurricane hitting us became real. So, how about reconsidering California again, now that its cleared out a bit?  After looking into it, and making some calls, we changed back to our west coast plan. We packed up my 4runner and drove through many states, taking the higher, northern route first, through Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and finally a run to Santa Barbara Cali, our destination. We stayed in Vegas for 3 nights on that leg of the journey so we could rest from all the travel and hotels. We didn't do much but hang out at the pool. I recited the temptation to play poker, as I used to be a semi-pro level player. But our session with Tiffany was not to happen just yet. 
    We took the lower route homeward, taking I40E. We hit Vegas again for two nights!  We stayed at the Venetian, and got a nice big suite, and walking into it for the first time, we realized we needed to shoot a boudoir session in that room!  It was big and beautiful!  We made a connection in the modeling world, and just like that....BAM, we had Tabitha set for the next day to come over.  Pictured above is one of the first images from that session. Gotta love red, right?!  We used natural light, coming through the large window, even though it was getting a little late in the day. Normally, at our Nashville boudoir studio back home, we use our studio light most of the time, but we also shoot natural light by the large window as well, which is always a great thing. We love the look of natural lighting, and we also love studio lights, and we work with both equally well. Dawn and I love the shadows and the highlights created by a single light source. We always use one light, whether it is a single studio light, or a window.  
    Tabitha was a wonderful person, and an experienced model who is not shy or inhibited. That's great stuff for nailing lots of photos in a short time. But know this for sure, Dawn and I work with clients all the time who are very nervous, and have never done anything like this before. It's standard. It's the norm. One of our strengths is helping our clients relax, pose, look sexy, and all that important stuff. It's what we do, and we love it.  If you are on the fence about it, wondering if you can do this, well, you can!  We have not yet had someone come into our studio and die of embarrassment, or slip into a coma from their nervousness. In fact, it's ALWAYS exhilarating for our clients to experience a boudoir session. Maybe it's your time?  Head over to our contact page and shoot us an inquiry and tell us about why you want to so a boudoir session! 
   As for Las Vegas, we will see you again, count on it. And we also hope to connect with Tabitha again when she comes out this way.  Now, let's get your boudoir rockin!

This particular blog post will give a brief nutshell version story of what has transpired in the past 6 weeks or so. Interesting things for all of us!

So....here we are in early-mid June. The Covid-19 "CoronaVirus" has had its way with our lives and economy. I know so many have lost careers and jobs and businesses. My heart hurts for them. I'm happy to say that Boudoir á la Mode is doing just fine though it all. Since our studio is in our huge basement, we don't have to pay rent on that. But many have not been so lucky. The effects so far, and those that are yet to come, have devastated many.  Prayers for them!

      Now, what have WE been up to during all this? By "we", I mean of course, Dawn and Shane.  We did our share of self-isolation. We had to search for that rare apocalyptic commodity known as toilet paper. (I found some at Lowes)  We did the whole bit. Now, the world-wide Covid fears have settled down a bit, and of course there is that  worry of a 2nd wave. We will deal with that if/when it comes. 

  Due to the whole pandemic, we did not have any photo sessions in the studio during the height of it all. We recently took a 10 day vacay to one of our favorite spots, Myrtle Beach. The resort we stayed at was just re-opening the day we arrived. (planned out of course). We needed our beach time!  Dawn and I find our best times of relaxing to always be around the beach, with an ocean view room. Myrtle Beach is our spot. Florida is one of our others we enjoy frequently.

  Who's that girl in the photo with the red hair?  That would be our new friend Aderial. We connected with her while we were at Myrtle, and she is a local to Myrtle. Dawn has become a rising star as a hair and makeup artist, and what you see here was all Dawn's handiwork. Dawn uses (and sells) Younique brand makeup products, which have very high standards, and are virtually chemical-free. Hopefully we will have an upcoming blog post on that soon. So,  Aderial brought us a great canvas...herself. Fun, bold, expressive, and beautiful, we had a great session with Aderial right there in the resort hotel room. We love it when we get to shoot sessions while away from home. Aderial also wanted to have one of our sexy boudoir HD videos shot of herself, so we did. You can see that on our portfolio page. It was a home run!  She brought a lot to the table that day.  As usual, we made a new friend through it all. Thanks Aderial!

  Dawn and I are back home now of course, and settling into our now slightly altered lifestyle, thanks to the Covid thing, which we are all too aware of now. Yes, we are booking sessions!  Maybe see you here?  Long live boudoir!

  Sony, Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, or wait a minute....First this: As you can tell by the title above, this particular blog post is for other photographers that follow me, especially in the boudoir genre.  So if you are a women looking into a possible boudoir session, you may want to jump to the next post!   But...if you are a boudoir photographer in particular, this could be of great use to you.  I'm Shane, the Nashville boudoir photographer. This is my story on why I made the switch from Canon DSLR, to Sony mirrorless cameras. 

  Most of us photographers get asked pretty regularly what we "shoot with", or in other words, "are you of the Canon clan, or Nikon clan?  For many years, that was the two main options that were offered in the world of DSLR cameras, and even back to the film days. (This was the first revolution; Film to digital)  Nowadays, camera makers like Sony and Panasonic have made huge waves with the mirrorless cameras that so many of us now use. Canon of course, does have their pretty stout mirrorless EOS R on offer, as well as many others in recent months.  But Sony has what I needed the most, once I decided firmly that I was going to switch to mirrorless, and sell my dearly beloved Canon 5D MKIV.  It would have been so much easier to just stay with Canon. I mean, the lenses, the menu system learning curve, the FEEL.  So obviously, I must have felt very strongly about my decision to switch makers. 

  Do I miss the 5D MKIV?  No.  I LOVED it when I had it.  But I don't miss it. When I bought it just about 1.5 years ago, and spent quite a nice sum of money on it, I could not have imagined that I would soon be selling it off, and at a pretty large loss!  But it was essential. The mirrorless revolution is here. (This is the new and second revolution in photography)  Many photographers are now buying up slightly used DSLR's for pennies on the dollar. And they are still super great cameras!  So why did I switch?

   Well, the low light capabilities were my number one reason, but there were other, including live view capability.   Of course, my Canon had very high ISO capabilities, but it just could not match the clean low light images produced by the Sony A7III, which is what I ended up purchasing from Dury's in Nashville (Durys was THE place to go in Nashville for all things photography, but shut down since the Covid thing happened)

   Being a boudoir specialist, and one who shoots mostly now in the low key, "dark and moody" style, I needed a camera body that would excel in this. Not only for photography, but for video as well, since I also shoot boudoir videography. The Sony A7III is the perfect camera for my needs. YEs, the menu system is very deep, and sometimes seemingly and notoriously a bit TOO complex. At first, I  was angry, just like most new Sony users are. But with a few days practice, it's not that hard to navigate the menu. It was worth it. 

   If you are a photographer reading this post, you have likely been thinking this whole time.."what about lenses?? Did you buy Sony lenses and sell all your Canon lenses?"    Well, that's a story in itself.  But here is the nutshell version. Obviously, being a pro photographer, I had built up a nice but small arsenal of Canon L  series lenses. My favorite was always the 24-70 2.8L.  (Click HERE to buy on Amazon)  Then there's my 70-200 2.8L. Then my Ultra wide angle 12mm Laowa zero distortion lens. What a beauty!  Then my nifty 50 1.4. Well, you know. I like my glass. Here's what I did. I kept all my Canon glass, but I bought an adapter to go between the Sony body and my Canon glass.  I had mixed results with that, and it actually created some chaos and huge frustrations for me for a while. Mostly that was due to the fact that my old 50mm 1.4 was just...older. Something in it wasn't communicating well with the adapter. I somehow caused my lens to stop down with each shot taken. But the aperture readout was not showing it!  Arggg!   So I decided to fix it once and for all, and go get my first ever Zeiss lens. I grabbed the 55mm 1.8. Now this lens, I LOVE. It is incredibly sharp, and operates like a dream in low light. (Buy it HERE on Amazon)   I also still connect the adapter when I need to connect my wider Canon 24-70 to the Sony. I use the 55mm and the 24-70mm lenses pretty much 50-50 split time during my boudoir photo sessions. 

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  My conclusion: I'm sold on Sony. In fact, I plan to buy another one fairly soon, to replace my Canon 60D which I keep around for a second video camera. I will likely buy the Sony a7riii for the next one. A close runner-up was the Panasonic G5, which I've used for many many hours at a past video production gig I was doing for a year. The Sony has won my photographer heart, and eye. The mirrorless revolution is here, and it has captured the attention of thousands of profession photographers. Join me if you wish.  You can buy the Sony on Amazon from this link HERE

There are many boudoir photographers in Nashville. I'm talking about dedicated boudoir photographers who shoot boudoir nearly exclusively. I'm Shane, and I'm possibly the only serious boudoir photographer in Nashville who is a man. (I'm not aware of any others) Not only that, but I established Boudoir à la Mode on July 5th of 2010, so I'm also possibly the most experienced at this in Nashville, male or female.  It's a female photographer dominated market, and that's because it's easy for a woman who is considering a boudoir photography session to automatically jump on the "all female staff" mindset. But is this really what is best?

Men's magazines use male photographers. 
GQ to Maxim, Sports Illustrated to Esquire...and even Playboy all have male photographers shooting for their magazines. Russell James is the primary photographer for Victoria's Secret. Photography has been a male dominated industry and only recently have women started to enter the field with the advent of digital cameras, making it easier to be the family photographer, and then move up from there. Of course there have always been female photography superstars like Annie Leibovitz. There are some female photographers out there around there world that I have HUGE respect for.   But with as much money as those magazine companies spend on producing their magazines, they know what they are doing when it comes to photographing women. They hire men. They could EASILY be hiring women...if they thought it was best.  You will never hear about Victoria's Secret magazine boasting of an "All female staff!"  

Sexy is for Guys
​Let’s get real. The reason the lingerie industry exists is so women can look sexy for a guy. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for a woman buying lingerie for herself and wearing it to feel sexy. But if a woman gets the chance, she’d be happiest in sweats and a tee at home watching Netflix or Hulu. . Guys are the same way too. Men would spend far less money on houses, suits ,cars, and education if it didn’t impress women.

Attraction
There is something to be said about being in front of someone of the opposite sex. You don’t need to be an exhibitionist to want to do a boudoir session. Being in front of someone of the opposite sex makes it easier to flirt or get “into character.” If you feel comfortable throwing sexy bedroom eyes to a woman, then hire a woman.  Most females, however, find that it is easier to turn on the sex appeal when it is someone they could possibly be attracted to or might be attracted to them. No, I don’t want to have sex with the women I shoot. I have a lovely wife at home, and in fact right by my side as I shoot!  Yes, my wonderful wife/assistant, Dawn. (I only have eyes/desire for her, and she knows that!) 
Aesthetics
Men and women have clearly different aesthetic tastes. Female boudoir photographers usually capture the soft and reserved side of a woman. A male will typically have more raw sexuality. The sexuality comes across as passion, desire, and drive in the images. A good photograph doesn’t just capture a sexy pose, but also the emotions behind it.
I also know when something is “too” sexy. I don’t want to capture images that make my clients look like something out of the adult entertainment industry. If a pose or look is too provocative, I can change it or the camera position to capture a better look. As a guy, it is easier for me to push the line of sensual imagery because I can pull back where a female photographer may not take the risk at all.

Compliments
I will make this one short and sweet. Let's pose a question:  When shooting boudoir, which would give a woman more confidence in front of the camera during her boudoir session?
A) Another woman, giggling, saying "you look sexy girl!".  or
 B) A male photographer shooting and saying "wow, you look amazing!"    I think the answer is obvious.
But don't get me wrong, my wife and I, along with our clients, keep a fun and relaxed atmosphere during our sessions. It's just a little less giggly, and more  productive toward great images than a female photographer would have. 
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Posing
Just as mentioned in the attraction section above, I know what looks good.   And I know what looks sexy.  One of my favorite things to do is show a girl exactly how to pose by striking the pose myself. This always gets a good laugh from my client and breaks the ice. I still spend hours studying posing. Every different body type has poses that flatter it and those that don’t. Knowing which to use is one of the things that will guarantee a better session.  

Summary 
As I look at the majority of boudoir photography today, much of it can be summed up as.... just pretty pictures of women in underwear.   So what?  There's not a lot of passion in the photos. Not much sensuality. We like to make (most of) our images exude sensuality AND beauty. There's a line between sexual and sensual. That's a great topic for another post to come!

So..... we are an all female staff....except ONE!    And that ONE is what sets us apart from the pack.