The Name Change That Changed Everything

When I changed the name of Sexy Beautiful Me to Dark Moon Boudoir, I thought I was starting over. I didn't realize I was beginning to say goodbye.

The last year before I closed my studio was strange because, on paper, my business had reached a place that should have felt incredibly exciting. I had just moved into the largest studio I had ever had, a massive 2,400 square foot space. After years of growing, moving, changing and building this little business of mine, I finally had more space than ever before. You would think that would have been the beginning of something huge. Instead, it became the beginning of the end.

I Was Tired of Fighting the Name

Sexy Beautiful Me had been my business for years, but the name was becoming increasingly difficult to live with.

A local Orlando photographer had started using a very similar name on their website. Then one of the many national boudoir companies that popped up after Covid started marketing in Orlando and attending bridal shows offering "free" boudoir sessions. Their name was also similar enough to mine that people sometimes confused the two businesses. After spending more than a decade building my own reputation, that was incredibly frustrating.

Then there were the problems with Google and social media. Having the word "Sexy" in my business name wasn't exactly algorithm friendly. Boudoir photographers already walk a ridiculous line online when it comes to what we're allowed to show, what gets flagged and what social media decides people should or shouldn't see.

Eventually, I had enough. I decided the easiest thing to do was change the name.

Why Dark Moon?

Dark Moon Boudoir wasn't a random name. I actually loved what it represented. The dark moon is the very end of the lunar cycle, that quiet period before the new moon appears. Symbolically, it's associated with letting go, releasing what no longer serves you and making room for something new.

At that point in my life and my business, that felt perfect. I thought I was letting go of the frustrations surrounding Sexy Beautiful Me so I could start fresh. New studio. New name. New chapter. I was excited about it. And yet, looking back now, there's something almost painfully appropriate about the name I chose. Because I really did let go. I just didn't realize how much I was going to let go of.

Everything Started to Unravel

I've thought about this a lot over the years, and I genuinely feel like something changed when I changed the name. I wish I could give you some brilliant business analysis about what happened, but I can't. Dark Moon Boudoir was still me. Same photographer. Same experience. Same clients. Same years of knowledge behind the camera. But it didn't feel the same.

Sexy Beautiful Me had a history. Women knew that name. They remembered it. They had followed it for years. Past clients came back to it. Friends recommended it to friends. It had become connected to me in a way I don't think I fully appreciated until I removed it.

I thought I was changing the name of my business. It felt more like I had changed its identity. And slowly, things began to unravel. Not catastrophically. There wasn't some dramatic Tuesday afternoon when everything fell apart. It was little things. My connection to the business changed. My excitement changed. The energy around it changed. And eventually, when the building was sold and I was faced with another decision about the future of the studio, I didn't fight to keep it going. I closed it.

Maybe the Name Meant Exactly What It Was Supposed to Mean

I named the business Dark Moon Boudoir because the dark moon represents letting go before beginning again. And that's exactly what happened. Just not in the way I expected. I thought Dark Moon was going to be the new beginning. Instead, maybe it was the space between the old chapter and the new one.

It was the period when I let go of the big studio, the overhead, the constant pressure to grow, the social media madness and eventually boudoir itself. For a while, anyway. Because here I am. And of all the names I could have chosen for this new version of my boudoir work, I came back to the one I thought I needed to leave behind. Sexy Beautiful Me.

There’s something wonderfully full circle about that. I’m not reopening the business I closed, and I don’t want to recreate what I had before. I’ve changed. My life has changed. What I want from this business has changed. But after stepping away from it all, I realized that Sexy Beautiful Me was never the part I needed to leave behind. Maybe I just needed some time away to remember why I loved it in the first place.