A few things always make me excited: coffee, dogs, dark chocolate, cheesecake, photography, magazines, good webinars, and anything that promotes the importance of supporting small businesses and the local economy.

While scrolling through Instagram one morning, I noticed a super cute photo of buildings in Downtown Lafayette. I favorited the image and continued to creep on the organization that posted it: Living Lafayette. As I drank my coffee, scrolled through Living Lafayette’s account, and favorited almost every image, I got excited. Lafayette is an amazing place to live, and an Instagram account dedicated to how great our city is was long overdue.

I clicked on the website in Living Lafayette’s bio and immediately saw a call out asking for collaborators! Without hesitating, I clicked on it. This is how I met Kelsey Sutherlin, founder of Living Lafayette.   

Living Lafayette is a blog dedicated to sharing the beauty and vibrance of Lafayette, Indiana.

Living Lafayette’s purpose is to “celebrate local, cultivate community, and inspire creativity in the Midwest.” The blog highlights restaurants, landmarks, events, local businesses, and anything and everything else that makes Lafayette great. What’s better than that?!

I was so excited to discover Living Lafayette that I actually begged Kelly Rice, my employer at Treefrog Marketing, to allow our Content Department to contribute to Living Lafayette’s blog. Luckily, Kelly is wonderful and said yes, and now, I have opportunities to work with Kelsey and Living Lafayette though both Luminant and Treefrog! Can you tell I’m pretty happy about it?

Kelsey’s the whole package.

Indiana oddly experienced a 65-degree Saturday in February, and to my dismay, I didn’t have a session scheduled. I posted about the open session on Facebook and Instagram and was very excited when Kelsey messaged me asking about head shots!

We met downtown that warm Saturday evening and had a great time snapping photos next to some of our favorite spots. Well, I had a great time. I can’t speak for Kelsey, but I hope she enjoyed it too!

It’s rare to meet a woman who’s equally gorgeous, fun, adventurous, confident, and ambitious, but Kelsey truly is the whole package. Originally from Lafayette, Kelsey moved to Nashville to work for four years. While she loved it, she realized that much of what she enjoyed about Nashville could also be found in Lafayette; Lafayette just wasn’t sharing all it had to offer. When Kelsey moved back to the Hoosier state for her career and to be closer to her family, she made it her goal to shed some light on Lafayette, Indiana through a blog and social media.

Kelsey, thank you for taking the time to start this initiative for our city. You’re amazing.

Follow Living Lafayette, and apply to be a collaborator!

I clearly love this blog and want to encourage anyone and everyone near or far from Greater Lafayette to follow Living Lafayette’s blog and the organization on Facebook and Instagram.

Creatives, if you believe you can benefit Living Lafayette in someway, apply to be a collaborator! Lafayette, Indiana is a great place to live, and if your talents can bring light to that, I hope you’ll consider giving your time.

Luminant Photography, owned by Victoria Rayburn, is a Lafayette, Indiana photographer that offers family photography, newborn photography, maternity photography, senior photography, and engagement photography. Contact Luminant Photography with questions or to book a session!

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