Meet Allison Holstrom | Lifestyle Photographer and Birth Doula

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

Hi Allison, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
6 months after officially quitting my teaching job and starting two businesses, I question whether I have the authority or the experience or the confidence to call myself successful, but If I do reach a level of success that I can proudly gauge, I know it is a result of authenticity. I have never considered myself someone who fits the mold, and I have never been comfortable pretending to be someone I’m not. The only way I know how to get through life is to be me, and though comparison and imposter syndrome have been my greatest challenges in the last 6 months, I am happiest (and perhaps most successful) when my work feels true to me. As an artist and as a birthworker, my favorite photographs and favorite birth moments always coincide with me being my most true and beautiful self.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a Certified Child Life Specialist and a Master’s level Elementary school teacher. I am a mom of 2 beautiful boys. I am a DONA International-certified Birth Doula and an A&J Demos-educated photographer.

Credentials aside, I am an empath, and being a doula is the soul work I need in my life. I am a positive and calm presence who cares deeply about your emotional well-being and who hopes to capture and support the love and pain and joy and power in the moments before, during, and after birth.

Photography has been my art form for many years, and I recently took a leap to make this hobby into a career. I love and appreciate photographing the candid, unremarkable moments of natural love that exist between people. I could fill a book with my photos of motherhood, and the interactions between mothers and babies are always my favorites in any session. My worlds collided when I learned about being a birth doula, and I bring my camera to every birth. There is no greater raw and unposed love than the love that lives in a room of birth.

Sunshine Sister represents the sunshine that lives in my heart and the many sisterhoods I have been so fortunate to be apart of. When you hire me as your birth doula or photographer, you will get my presence as a sister, my perfectionism, my empathy, and my genuine interest in you and your needs.

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 was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, and it is a city that is near and dear to my heart. If you were visiting me for a long weekend, we would wake up when our bodies wanted to wake up, take the dogs on a run along the Rillito River Walk, and grab breakfast burritos from the classy Nico’s Taco Shop to start the morning. We would plan to hike Seven Falls at Sabino Canyon and end the day sipping wine and eating pizza at Reilly Craft Pizza and Drink downtown. I would probably have my camera out and snap a few photos of you and your babies throughout the day, or I may force you to try out a new spot for photos at sunset. Dessert is a must, and we would test out the ice cream sandwiches at the up and coming 8 degrees Ice cream and Cookies in St. Phillips Plaza.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband, Brian, has always seen the authentic me, and he has always fully supported the risks we continue to take to make these dreams I have into a reality. I would not be nearly as comfortable in my own body and mind or as brave and bold without his enduring love.

Website: allisonholstrom.com, sunshinesister.love

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunshinesister.allisonholstrom/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allisonholstromphotography