We had the good fortune of connecting with Melina Garcia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melina, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I really want to be like my mom, my mom, growing up always had a camera in her hand and was taking photos of people, family friends, and my siblings & I, and she has albums and albums stacked in her closet full of memories. Idk! I just think she’s the coolest person ever & I want to be like her.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m really proud of my life and my culture. I get so much inspiration by memories I have as a child & always wanting everything to be a photo. I would look at something & blink & pretend to capture a photo as a child & I still do this to this day, with my eyes & a real camera now lol. But love capturing. the vast variety of my culture, it feels never-ending & its love does too, I love meeting my couples and getting to know them and their stories, some are really similar, some are distant but it’s always their stories and I always get to help them tell it through photos. It took me a while to feel like I belonged, I feel like every single space no matter the job is predominantly white men or women, no POC… ever but I’m happy I’ve been seeing the industry change, especially in weddings!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love spending time in east LA, it has my heart right now on Indiana’s you can find a little sweet mom & pops shop called Indiana’s tamales, the tamales Gorditas taste like home. Echo Park is always a must, during the day or at night there’s always so much to do. you HAVE to go to the beach, Santa Monica pier for the pier life & for swimming go to Newport
El mercadito in East LA has the best elotes + raspados you can find & you can shop around too 🙂

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I owe the biggest shout-outs to my mom, my boyfriend & my family, and friends who always hype me up. My family took chances on me, but in reality, I made them, lol but they let me practice taking photos of them s/o to my sister & getting to interact with people from a different POV. My mom and my boyfriend are both Capricorns and are both outgoing and loving, I am naturally a shy girly and they have helped me push out of my shell. & to my cousins Angel, who was the first in our family to start his own business, I know it’s never easy being the first to do anything, but he laid a path for some of us to follow!

Website: corazonphotography.net

Instagram: corazonphotography_

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/corazon-photography-pico-rivera

Other: https://linktr.ee/CorazonPhotography https://www.tiktok.com/@corazonphotography_ https://www.pinterest.com/corazonphotography_/

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