Doing What She Loves
By the time she hit her late 20s, Katie Weilbacher was almost ready to settle for the 9-to-5 existence she had been unenthusiastically living since graduating with her bachelor's degree in English literature in 1998. "I suppose I can make do and live this 9-to-5 life," she thought at the time, "plenty of other people seem to do it just fine."
But then Katie decided she owed more to herself. "You only have one life, and I realized I wasn't quite ready to settle for doing something I didn't love. I wanted to see if I could make a living doing something I did love," Katie says.
What Katie loves is photography. A self-taught hobbyist photographer for most of her life, Katie says, "The best days of my life were those days when I had a camera in my hands. Why not see if I could make a career full of 'best days'?"
After looking into several different photography programs across the country, based on cost and curriculum Katie decided the Associate degree program in Digital Photography at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Tampa was the one for her. The fact she was already living in Tampa was a bonus. Katie quit her job teaching kindergarten and went back to being a student herself.
She was initially nervous about being in classes with a bunch of much-younger students, but quickly saw IADT was a "complete mix." "There are 18-year-olds fresh out of high school, but then there are also 20- and 30-somethings and even some retirees. The thing we all have in common is an interest in photography."
Katie graduated with her Associate degree from IADT in December and is now working 12- to 17-hour days as an assistant to major commercial and advertising photographers. She credits the Academy with getting her the contacts that led to her current jobs.
Two days last week Katie was assisting on a national ad campaign for Army ROTC. She also has a few clients of her own: she's photographed everything from bed and breakfasts to food.
"I'm thrilled that at the young age of 30, I've found out what I want to do with my life and have set myself up to do it. Going back to school was the best thing I've ever done."