A stranger hired me as her assistant so I could quit my day job and turn my photography side hustle into a full time business. Here's how I did it.

• Tiana Duarte-Kargbo took her photography side hustle full time after a stranger offered her a job.
• She built her business by taking freelance jobs and creating editorial projects to show her skills.
• The photographer shares her advice for creatives hoping to turn their side hustles into businesses.

This is an as-told-to story based on an interview with Tiana Duarte-Kargbo, who runs her own photography business, Tiana Michele Photo.

Duarte-Kargbo picked up photography as a creative outlet in May 2020 and, the following month, moved from Memphis, Tennessee, to New York City to pursue the side hustle professionally. To make ends meet, she worked day jobs, including one in a salon.