Meet Taylor Vo | Photographer & Techie

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

Hi Taylor, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Balancing various aspects of life, like work, family, and personal well-being is so tough especially when you first start out in your career and are trying to establish yourself in the workplace and separate yourself. Over time, I’ve learned and experienced that over-working and pushing yourself to the point of burnout doesn’t necessarily help you excel in your career but instead push you towards always finding ways to “get to the weekend” instead of enjoying every day as you should.

Overtime I realized that I needed to prioritize my personal hobbies, set boundaries in work place and communicate with others around me more frequently in order to accomplish my goals. I think about balance as what my workplace needs from me and what I need from them in order to meet not only my long term goals but to also be a productive and innovative employee as well.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My professional title is a tax analyst for a tech company and my passion is photography. I love how challenging an environment the tax world can be which is what drove me towards the profession to begin with but I have always been very passionate about pursuing photography.

Professionally balancing between being a tax person and a photographer wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. I felt like the balance between my career and my photography just wasn’t there especially during busier times at my “day job” and I was suffering mentally and emotionally with the lack of balance between the two.

I wanted and needed a change out of the industry I was working in, which is what drove me into the tech space. I’ve always loved the tech industry and being a part of something so innovative was invigorating. With this switch, I also gained my love for travel photography again just due to the balance that I was given. I was able to open myself up creatively again, finding new ways in order to make my photos stand out from the rest.

I love travel/landscape photography. I want to inspire people to get back outdoors and enjoy what mother nature as given us. There are multiple paths you can take and they all will make you into the person you were meant to be so don’t be afraid to pursue something that might be scary at first.

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’m a advocate for spending as much time as you can outdoors. My itinerary would start with a surf sesh in Mailbu at Surfrider Beach or Zuma. With lunch at Broad Street Oyster company for a few dozen oysters on the half shell. After lunch, we’d drive down to Palos Verdes and hike to the lighthouse to watch the sunset and finish off the night with some craft IPAs at Monkish.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My mom deserves all the credit and recognition in my story. Growing up as a first generation American I saw first hand, the hard work and dedication that is needed in order to reach and accomplish goals that you set for yourself. My mom being a single parent has always worked extremely hard in order to support our family and as I started to lean more into photography my mom has always been the first person to stand behind me in my pursuit.

Website: https://taylorvophotography.squarespace.com

Instagram: Taylor_vo

Other: Tik Tok @:Taylor.vo