Meet Lydia Gallagher | Brand Coach and Photographer

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

Hi Lydia, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The backbone of my business revolves around one simple truth for me as a human and as a business owner: The legacy I’m writing and sharing does not begin or end with my story. Being an Indigenous woman is my absolute privilege, being a business owner is my commitment to the world. I am Seneca (Snipe Clan) and being born and raised on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation came with it’s challenges and insights. I am the result of a loving marriage, years of being a student in the coaching world, and I come from 400 generations of mothers. That humbling truth brought me home to the deeply rooted belief that when it comes to business, my foundation is built on Legacy. What is the legacy my life and business are carrying on and what stumbling blocks end with me before being passed on? This exploration has been a personal journey and now is a part of my 7 Generations Coaching Program while I guide service-based entrepreneurs build their own Legacy Brand.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I was first romanced into the art of photography in the dark room at Locust Street Art School, a school dedicated to bringing inner city kids inside to create. In middle school, my grandmother was sick in the hospital, so mom and dad would drop us off after the hour drive to the city and leave us there to make art while they tended to her. Into adulthood, that community of artists became my friends and mentors.

I was 26, had a B. S. in Biology, had a potential career in dentistry (with a supportive community to complete this path), and decided to take a break from all of that and took a job in construction cost engineering… which was not my life calling. I entered a season of depression and confusion about where I wanted to put the high energy I had and ended up with a first class ticket on the struggle bus. I went back to the art school and got into the darkroom. This was when things started to make sense… I was an entrepreneur.

Which path was I going to choose to explore what being a business owner meant? I was a rez kid that had never taken a business class before. In 2006 I was a student to my first coaching experience that blew my mind. What a learned in that room that weekend, I had never heard in any classroom. So, in 2009 my brother bought me my first digital camera and I decided to become a wedding photographer. Mentorship has been with me every single step of the way since then and has been the backbone to my experience as an entrepreneur and now being a coach myself. Weaving around that backbone is my path in creativity as an artist. Wedding photography was less about my love for being in love and more about creating an experience for clients that was unforgettable.

I have been a photographer for 15 years now and the mind opening pivot as a creative shifted in 2015 when I married my love for photography with my love for travel. My client experience was built on a foundation with three pillars: Marriage is more than a piece of paper, they believed in valuing family, and they were adventure seeking humans. This was the birth of my memorable brand in my Post Wedding Adventure sessions. I traveled with them on their honeymoons, we climbed mountains, we went on road trips with the best snacks, watched youtube while we waited for weather to pass, and then photographed dimensions of their relationship that went beyond the wedding day. We talked about life, family, self exploration, and the beautiful narratives that comes from marriage. That was it, I wasn’t going to put the genie back in the bottle when it came to this level of creativity. I believe we can create more together than we can alone and this carried me through some difficult times in my personal life and brought me to places in the world I only dreamt of.

It is the nature of seasons in life to shift, so in 2022 I closed the doors on the wedding industry. Since then my creativity has brought me to my deep love and passion for brand photography. The principles behind my business has stayed the same. I have intimate connections rooted in a mission to thrive and share a story through the lens. Only now I help service based entrepreneurs and businesses created brand campaigns that are designed to create and cultivate community in a unique way while sharing a mission that deeply impacts the world on any scale. This atmosphere in my business has been an invitation to grow, invest, learn new skills, come back home, and rally behind a cause bigger than myself. Each season of my creativity has brought a sense of home and ownership with it. Photography has always been a visual diary of my own story, regardless of who I’m working with, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
It was 1999, we had just gotten a computer in the house, and I had discovered online chat rooms. I made a friend named Sven from Norway who flew to NYC, where my dad drove 6 hours to pick him up, and brought him home to visit our reservation. This changed my life and the beauty in life and culture hasn’t changed for me since that visit with my friend Sven. Food and culture! When I travel, this is what I seek out for a local experience. Buffalo is a small city with a neighborhood feel. Western New York is our homeland and will always be. So I always take friends for BBQ at Southern Junction, tacos and drag brunch at Hombre Y Lobo, and choose your cultural kitchen experience at Westside Bazaar. The city has everything from the biking the Slow Roll through the city in the evening, coffee shop hopping between Five Points and picking up the best pastry in the city at Butterblock, and feasting your eyes on the multidimensional art experience at AKG. In addition to that, experiencing Seneca culture is close to my heart. We have our Seneca Iroquois National Museum that is everything art and history of our culture. Visit our annual Seneca Powwow where everything food, dancing, and art come together to share our culture. And lastly, learn about the authors of our medicine through the sport of lacrosse. Take a creak from the professionals and come to the rez to watch a game with our community that displays sportsmanship, culture, and history.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would not be where I am if it hadn’t started at home with two loving and devoted people who happened to be my parents, who have both passed. I had an unusual upbringing, being raised in a Christian home on a reservation, but the core of my childhood was rooted in love. Mom held the standard to her truth in love and dad provided the permission to explore, doubt, question, and challenge your own faith. They believed in their children, even if they didn’t always understand where we were in life. Dad was the one who saw visions of success in my life and business before I had the guts to. Every step of a win I experienced, they were always the first I called. Sometimes you find freedom and love in the home your born into and sometimes it’s the home you create. I have been blessed to experience the adventures that accompany both.

Website: www.tribeupnorth.com and www.lydiagallagher.co

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lydiagallagher.co/ and https://www.instagram.com/tribeupnorth/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydia-maybee-gallagher-a9484554/

Image Credits
Photography by Tribe Up North