Is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But in the media world and photography world, there have traditionally been only a few idealizations of beauty, reflecting a small cross-section of every kind of human face and body type. As the world grows more multicultural, interconnected, and diverse, the beauty in photography industry is beginning to change and expand its scope to reflect more and more kinds of beauty across different types of faces, ethnicities, skin tones, body types, and much more.

This is something that Leyla Stefani cares about deeply as a person of color who grew up in Central America in the 90s, yet still only saw a very singular and narrow definition of what beauty is in the media as she grew up with. As a young woman living in Los Angeles, Leyla had no experience with photography early on, but learned on her own how to capture effective and powerful photos. Leyla didn’t start photography until the age of 30, and learned how to build her business herself after experience in other industries. Today she’s quickly made a name for herself in the beauty photography world, with a social media following in the tens of thousands, a long line of projects for some of the world’s biggest fashion brands, and a future that seems endlessly bright.

Leyla’s photography work is currently in 1,000 Ulta stores (featuring the INH brand). This year she’ll have a couple photos in Sephora stores as well. She’s worked with LA Girl cosmetics for their Coachella campaign, OneSize beauty product photos (Patrick Starrr), Glamnetic, and many other leading brands.

While most photographers working at the highest level of the industry usually come equipped with years of experience, technical training, and outsourced business, Leyla has the unique distinction of being a truly self-made photographer. Meaning, she designed her business from scratch, and did her own marketing, invoicing, brand communications, technical training and equipment development, and everything else a photography business requires. She’s genuinely self-made in the ultra-competitive photography space, a rarity on its own, not to mention becoming a primary player in her industry as a woman of color.

One of Leyla’s unique contributions to the photographer world is a commitment to showing beauty in all its forms, and her photography pages reflect a portfolio that spans all ethnicities, skin tones, and appearances, serving as a powerful reflection of the world’s multiculturalism. “Big brands are starting to change,” she explains in reference to the photography and beauty world reflecting a more diverse scope.

Learn more about Leyla’s work at https://www.leylastefani.com/