Mica: [00:00:00] Welcome to the fifth episode of The Savory Shot. I'm your host with the most Mica McCook. In the last episode with Dani Colombatto, I had a blast talking about food, photography trends and having the courage to embrace your authenticity. If you missed it, I highly recommend you go back and listen to it. But let's talk about today's episode.
This episode is a hoot. It could be a hot mess. I don't know. I haven't decided yet, but I will say this. Today's guest is someone who I instantly had chemistry with meet Meika Ejiasi. My name twin, and quite possibly the most genuine, hilarious human I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with.
Y'all, it's a rare occasion when I meet someone with the same name as mine. So I was [00:01:00] really, really excited when she agreed to come on the show. Meika is a food photographer based out of Oakland who specializes in food, lifestyle and portrait photography. She's also a digital marketer in tech and has done advocacy work with Black Women Photographers.
Y'all, I'm just gonna let you know now that I don't think I've ever laughed so hard during an interview. From the jump. Meika and I laughed our asses off all the way through this interview. I swear, there's nuggets of knowledge in there, but be prepared. There's a lot of laughter. Meika is hilarious and has such a unique perspective on life and work.
I know you're gonna love hearing what she has to say, but before we get into that. Let's start the show.
[00:02:00]
Mica: All right, so we are recording and I just got my little podcast voice in. I don't know if you noticed. I was sounding really professional there for a second. It's the theater in me. I just. I just turn into a perform. Hi, that type of thing.
Thank you, again, for a guest on the show. For the [00:03:00] listeners out, we're probably gonna be a hot mess.
Meika: Ohh, man. Guaranteed.
Mica: This in this episode. The reason why this is such a great moment is because Meika and I share a similar first name. Anyone out there who has a unique name like us, this is. It's a pivotal moment.
It's like finding an Oasis in the desert. It's actually one of the first things that I noticed. So Meika I found you via Flicker.
Meika: Oh really?
Mica: Yeah. yes. I saw your interview and I just, I loved your work.
I went to your website and I was like, this is great. Then I got super excited cause I'm like, oh my gosh. She's Black.
Meika: Yeah. yeah, girl.
Mica: There aren't a lot of women food photographers, and there aren't a lot of black photographers that specialize in food. And then as if this couldn't align perfectly anymore, I noticed that your name was Meika.
And I was like, oh my God. [00:04:00] Oh, my God.
Meika: The heavens opened up, what is life?
Mica: When I reached out to you, Meika, I said how do you pronounce your name? If you pronounce it like this, then we are named twinsies.
Meika: And we were, because I do.
Mica: yes. Let's ease into this interview. What was it like growing up with a unique first name?
Meika: Oh man. Lots of interrupting teachers or just speaking for teachers when they're doing roll call and you can just tell when they like do a double take with the paper or when they just look around for help. Like "Whoever this is, please connect with my eyes because I'm struggling."
And I would just be like it's "Yeah, that right here, like it's me. Is it Shameika? It's pronounced Shameika. Yep. That's me." My last name is also different and I would always have to deal with teachers being like E Ejjj. No, it's E Jossi. Like E Jossi.
Let me break it down phonetically. It's E Jossi. [00:05:00] So it was just like a double whammy, like my first name, my last name. It just didn't know. I would get a lot of the eye contact Please, God. Just look at me. So I know you're here."
Mica: I love what you said about when you lock eyes with the teacher cause that happened to me all the time. So my first name is Thamica and it's spelled T H A M I C A and anytime they'd get to my name, they would just stop. I have a simple last name .It's McCook. They would try so hard to not fuck up my first name but then they would.
Ohhh gosh.
Mica: I know this is something you can connect with. Anytime I go to Starbucks and they ask me, what's your name?
They go, how do you spell it? And I said, I don't care. Just spell you want. They're like, "No, I really wanna get itI'm like, "Good for you. But if I give you the correct spelling, you're just gonna mispronounce it. I'm not going hear, and I'm gonna get cold coffee. So just spell it, how you hear it and let's move on with our lives.
Meika: Correct. When I go to Starbucks, I give fake [00:06:00] names. Just put Mimi. Like you can't mess it up. is cool. Just M I M I.
Mica: They'll spell it. They'll go. M I K A? And I'll go. "Yeah, sure.
Perfect." Tell me about the first time you realized your name was unique.
Meika: Oh, man, I never really had a problem until. When it registered, I would say like elementary school.
People just didn't know how to pronounce it. I was specifically aware because I grew up in predominantly white neighborhoods. So it was a bunch of Amber's and Jessica's and Joe's, and Alex's. They would get to my name like Shamika. Because I was the only black kid in the class, most of the times, there was a few of us, but most of the time it was just me.
Because I was the only one, they would start to say it and then look at me.
Mica: I didn't know. My name was Thamica until elementary school. I always gone by Mica. The the teacher called me Thamicka and I remember looking around the classroom and going, I don't know who this Thamicka person is, but-
Meika: Right.
Mica: This is the first day Yeah. [00:07:00] This was like, Ooh, she in trouble, Looking around "Ohh Thamicka you're in trouble." And then she said my last name and I was like, what? In a way it's good because you stand out, you never have to worry about someone not finding you on Google or something.
Meika: Yeah, Yeah, for sure. I feel like there's another side to that too. So after I graduated from college, with undergrad, I went to CSU, Colorado State University and it was again a predominantly white university. But when I graduated and I was cleaning up my resume and I put my full name on there and I'm applying for jobs and I was not I was not getting callbacks I thought I deserved cause I was working midway through my senior year. So I had a little bit of experience. And so I said, something's wrong here. So I changed my name on my resume to Mica. Oh like how I spell. Just how you spell your name. M I C [00:08:00] A. And I used my middle name, LaShon. Mica LaShon.
A lot of the times , they thought I was like a Jewish white male. Immediately, I saw the difference. Like people were calling me back and saying, Hey, can I speak to Micah?
And I'm like, "Oh, this is her." They're like, "No, is it Mike? Or is it, did I mispronounce it? Is it Mike?" I'm like, "No, it's Mica." And then mysteriously, I wouldn't get a call back or I wouldn't get to the second level of interview. So lots of like main issues happening undergrad.
So I said, I can't, I cannot live my life like this. Why can I not find a job or get an interview. It has to be because of my name, because of who I am. That's why I decided to move to the east coast to look for a job and to kick off the second half of my career, my scholastic career.
And I went to grad school and I was finding jobs easily. Like nobody cared. Nobody cared-
Mica: Yeah.
Meika: -about my name.
Mica: Yeah. It's a shame that your name is what holds you back. Never mind your qualifications. I wasn't getting any callbacks like you. I took off the, the T [00:09:00] H A part of my name but I also had to clean up how I talk and, Like I, I have my, I call it the receptionist voice.
Meika: Yeah.
Mica: You know and, my receptionist laugh and I do my little head Bob thing and all that jazz.
Meika: Oh, gosh. Yes.
Mica: It's strange because when I went into freelance, I didn't really so much have that issue that I did with working in corporate. My whole life I had issues with my dad because he's the one who named me.
My mom is Mexican. My dad is Black. And my aunt and my dad named me. I just gave my dad so much grief growing up. I'm like, why couldn't you give you me a simpler name? That type of thing. And he would say, "Mica, one day, you're gonna be thankful because this is what makes you stand out.
This is what makes you unique. And he was right. He was right. Would you say that your name helps you stand out as well?
Meika: [00:10:00] Abso-lutely. It took me quite a long time to feel comfortable in my skin and to feel comfortable in my name. I feel like when I turned that. I don't wanna say shame, that's a little harsh, but when I turn that embarrassment around into like pride. yeah, I'm different. I'm not cookie cutter.
I don't have these every day names. I'm different. And I love that about me and people are gonna love that about me. When I turn that around, I felt comfort. Like I felt like I have arrived, if that makes sense. I felt I am where I'm supposed to be.
The people who love me are the ones who are supposed to love me. I built this pride and, and love up for myself.
Mica: I get what you're saying, loving and embracing our names and just finding the, I don't wanna say finding the beauty in it because it is beautiful, but not feeling like we need to alter our name just to get an opportunity. This is my name, this is me.
And if you wanna pass me up [00:11:00] because of how my name is spelled, then you know, clearly you, we're not the type of company that should be working together. I don't wanna
work with you
Meika: period,
Mica: at all.
Meika: Period Take me back to your first food photo shoot. What about that shoot felt different from your other shoots?
When I started the photography game, it was a lot of taking pictures of where I was, my surroundings, what I thought was beautiful in my eyes. So lots of landscape stuff and architecture stuff.
Then I stumbled across The Bite Shot, I think is what it's called on YouTube.
Mica: Yes, The Bite Shot so awesome. Shout out to Joanie Simon.
Meika: love her. She is one of the big reasons why I went into food photography. She just makes it seem so easy. Like it's not this stuffy little world. It's just your love for food and aesthetics and plating.
And it was also another reason for me to buy a bunch of random things. two napkins and [00:12:00] three, four,I have such a collection now and my boyfriend is always side eyeing me whenever I bring a bag into the house. what is in there?
Mica: He's like where are we gonna put this?
Where There's no room? we'll figure it out.
You mentioned that your journey started with architecture and landscapes. What was it about architecture and landscape that fascinated you? I know you mentioned that it was beautiful and interesting. What did it make you feel?
Meika: Oh, that's a really good question. I loved symmetry and I loved things that were out of the ordinary. I had a fascination with power lines in the sky. I don't know. It was just things that people wouldn't normally see as beautiful or interesting. I thought they were interesting. I thought they were really dope.
So I would snap pictures and post them on Instagram. That was my thing. Then I found a community that loved the same things [00:13:00] I loved. I was building these relationships online with other people around the world who made me feel like that's not so weird.
I also think this is dope. So that is just where I was like, okay. Wow. I feel at home in this art, in this space, and I wanna keep exploring. I started taking pictures of people, just people in the Street photography. I was just chilling in a park or doing random things throughout the day.
Then I met a mentor who turned , he was a friend first. And then he turned into like a mentor, a really great buddy of mine. And he was like, you need to use a DSLR. This whole time, I was using my iPhone. He was like, I have a DSLR. You should take it for a spin.
I've never put that thing down for six months. I was shooting everything. I was just capturing people in their spaces. I was having conversations with them and just taking these raw images and it was great. I found Joanie Simon and her YouTube channel and I was like, I could do that.
I love food. I'm one of those typical people, taking pictures of my food at a restaurant before, like you dig in. I'd like, stop the table. Stop right there.
Mica: It's like no one [00:14:00] touch anything.
You'd smack a hand. Don't touch it!
Meika: Yes, I was her. Oh, she was Yes. I would always do that. And I found her channel and I watched videos for eight hours straight.
Mica: What?!
Meika: Yeah, I sat and I watched for so long and I did that for four or five days. Just always watching her shit and. And I just was like, okay, I can do this.
I went to the store the next day and I bought some strawberries and I bought things that I could quickly move around on a table. I had studio space in Philly at the time, went to the studio. I turned on a couple of lights. At the time, I didn't know how really to use lights either, but I was just playing.
That's how you get the great stuff is you play. You get out and you play.
Mica: Yeah.
Meika: I took some photos and I was like, Yo, these are dope. I can do this. This is wow.
I, Like I'm [00:15:00] really good at this.
And that was like with me playing. And so I told myself like you played and you did this. That right there, I was like, I gotta do this. This is in me. It fills me.
Mica: Would you say that your love of landscape and architecture influenced your food photography as well?
Meika: Yeah, absolutely. It had to. I think it's like my love for lines. I'm not really gonna dive too deep into like the rule of thirds. I really am not 1,000% sure about those things, right? When I started photography, it was because I loved these odd things and these different things.
I didn't tap in too much with the technical side, like the technical verbiage and reading books and taking courses. I didn't, I just started shooting. To this day, I'm sure I need to build and learn and continue there.
Mica: But you've built something really valuable. You're learning from a place of intuition and a place from feeling. I don't think that's something you can teach in a classroom. That's something [00:16:00] you have to learn on your own. can learn the tech part of it, but the whole point of learning the technical part of it is just to know how to break the rules.
Know the rules first and then know how to break them. I used to work at an assisted living facility when I was, I graduated from high school. They were training me to be a medicine aide. I don't know why, like I had no business giving anyone
any medicine. But they're like, she has a diploma.
So she's qualified. but the person who trained me, thankfully took her job very seriously. And she said, I'm going to teach you how to do it. I'm gonna teach you how I do it, and then I'm gonna teach you how to not do it.
And then your job is to figure out what works for you. Yeah. That's how I approach photography. What was the moment that you knew you wanted to be a photographer?
Meika: Oh, I would say the [00:17:00] moment I knew first for a FY fact is when I delivered my first album to an unpaid client, this was for free, I delivered my album and they didn't say anything. In the first, like minute and a half, they were just flabbergasted at the results. And I was like, damn, when I get silence or like a mouth drop and people are just like in, like when I could see the reaction of the love of people seeing in themselves.
I just loved that. I helped do that. It just feels, so it feels so good to help other people feel good. Yeah, I would say that's the moment.