Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Hill.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I basically traded corporate burnout for a camera, but finding my lane took time. After moving away from stressful, posed portraits, I found my purpose in capturing candid, raw moments at cultural events.
The camera unlocked the continuation of a family legacy: my great-grandfather and grandfather founded Houston’s historic Black newspapers, The Informer and The Defender. Today, Barbee Views continues their mission through digital photojournalism and e-commerce, preserving and celebrating the unfiltered beauty of Black culture.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The journey hasn’t been smooth. Beyond the steep learning curve of self-funding a business and vetting high-quality print fulfillment, the hardest part was navigating a lack of support. It’s unfortunate irony, but the legacy newspapers my family built on community backing haven’t shown up, alongside folks who mistake social media likes and views for actual backing.
Navigating these types of relationships was tough, but it forced me to stop expecting support and focus on building a real, invested community that genuinely cares about keeping our history alive.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What sets my work apart is a unique corporate-meets-creative duality. With 15 years in advertising, I’ve spent my career turning data into major culture shifts, negotiating multi-million dollar endorsement deals and leading brand strategies for global campaigns. My corporate background gives me strategic executional skills needed to build visual archives that honor hidden cultures without watering down their history.
I think this blend of culture and strategy can bee seen in my proudest corporate achievement: leading the omni-channel media strategy for The CROWN Act, which successfully outlawed hair discrimination across 27 states and at the federal level.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up in a small town, my imagination was boundless. What toys? We MADE our fun and our parents couldn’t pay us to come inside before the street lights came on. That boundless imagination kept me creative. I was into drawing and drew on everything insight: from paper to wood blocks to rocks. I even wrote and directed our family answering machine messages! My creative spark truly caught fire though when my eclectic grandmother gifted me “My First Sony” Lion King camera. I instantly fell in love, snapping everything in sight and learning the art of creative scrapbooking right by her side. I didn’t realize until answering this question that she was the first to teach me about creative storytelling and the importance (and fun) of archiving history.
Pricing:
- $20
- $200
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.barbeeviews.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barbeeviews/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-hill/
