Community Highlights: Meet Heather Borman of The Selfie Room

Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Borman.

Hi Heather, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’m from St. Louis, even though I’ve lived in a few different places. I graduated from Hazelwood West in North County and went to William Jewell College in Kansas City. My professional background is actually in corporate Leadership Development. I worked for both The Boeing Company and Caesars Entertainment for years and traveled extensively for both. Back in 2016 my now ex-husband got a job in Las Vegas, but I stayed here and continued to work for Boeing. I was loving my work and getting to train leaders all over the world, even got to go work in Australia and England for a bit. Eventually I also found a job in Las Vegas worth moving there for, and in 2018 we sold our home here and I made the move. Just a few short months after I moved out there, he got a job offer in Macau, China. So we sold everything in Las Vegas too and moved to China in 2019. I didn’t have a work Visa there so I spent my time getting to know my new home in Macau, which was fascinating and scary and fun and often lonely. I tried to learn the language but it didn’t stick lol. While there, I also started my first business, it was an online shop called Weird, Fun, Cute. The premise is that each week I would find three new items and sell only those on my site for a week, one item for each category. It didn’t quite take off, but honestly, I still think the idea has legs!

Living overseas gave me a new perspective, and time to reflect on the many years I’d been fighting to make a marriage work that had always left me feeling sad and wanting. I’d spent so long trying to earn love by changing myself, bending, shrinking, apologizing, until I finally came to the painful realization that I am already worthy of love, just as I am, but I was married to someone who couldn’t give it.

So, for the first time, in my adult life, I chose me. With the support of friends, I was able to gather up the courage to leave. And so, in December 2020, in the middle of a global pandemic, I packed two suitcases and a carry-on, left behind everything else and flew home to St. Louis. I had no job, no car, no home – but I had friends, a soft place to land, and a determination to stand in my truth and learn to love myself.

As I found my footing again, I took on consulting work in my field of expertise, which led to establishing my next business, LPD – Leadership Through Personal Development, and I still enjoy working in that capacity from time to time. I also got curious about new things – namely cryptocurrency and blockchain. That curiosity turned into Cryptocurious, a project aimed at making the topic more approachable for people like me who are starting from scratch and don’t want to feel intimidated when asking questions and learning new technology.

Eventually, I accepted a full-time remote position with another Fortune 100 company, but it didn’t take long for me to realize I was done with corporate politics and micromanagement. I wanted freedom, I wanted to build something of my own. That’s when I found out about an interesting and unique local business for sale – a creative, community-driven space downtown. Something clicked and just sixw weeks later, in November 2023, I became the proud owner of The Selfie Room STL LLC!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
For some reason I find this question to be hilarious. Has anyone ever answered this with just, ‘Yes, it’s been smooth sailing the whole way’ lol!

So besides making it through all the whirlwind of major challenges I just described, on top of that there’s the years and years of negative self talk, self-doubt and insecurity that come from growing up in a poor, dysfunctional, alcoholic, family, followed by nearly two decades of trying to make a marriage work with a controlling, emotionally abusive man with a drinking problem of his own. I am the farthest thing from perfect, and have so many areas of my life where I still need to learn and grow, but I’ve always been dedicated to developing self-awareness and learning new ways to be just a little better than I was the year before.
It’s an ongoing struggle, especially when I fall into the trap of comparison. One challenge I had to face right away after purchasing The Selfie Room was the enormous amount there was to learn about social media as a tool for business success. I didn’t know the difference between a story, a reel, and a post, but now I’ve come a long way, and even getting ready to launch a Content Creator focused event at The Selfie Room! But now, spending so much time making and posting content, I find that feeling of inferiority pop up more often, and it gets uncomfortable, but I keep going. The real flex has been learning to love myself, TRULY love myself through it all.

And then there’s the humbling part of thinking that all my experience and wisdom would make it easy for me to walk in and make this into a booming business that I could franchise and expand in a matter of months. LOL. The number of plates that you have to keep spinning as a single small business owner, while building relationships, making mistakes, pouring thousands of dollars into new projects and services to the challenge of understanding your customer, delivering a high level experience consistently… it’s not been easy. But it has been fun, and challenging, and exciting and rewarding – not financially yet, but in many other ways, and we’re on track to do better this year as well.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Selfie Room?
So many people ask me, ‘What is The Selfie Room’? I think my answer is different every time lol. What we do is curate a studio space with multiple scenes and background where people can take great pictures with professional lighting using our signature Selfie Kit – a tripod and bluetooth remote. It’s like a self-guided photoshoot opportunity. But what we really offer, is a safe space for anyone to come in and experience the joy, fun and excitement of being creative, deepen the connection they have with themselves, discover and grow self-love, and create memories that will last a lifetime. Either solo, with a partner or a group of friends or family… I’ve seen all kinds of people come in and find that they enjoyed themselves much more than they thought they would, and leave smiling from ear to ear! To see someone look at a picture they took of themselves, and really smile from within because they love the person they’re seeing is something that never gets old and keeps me wanting to do this even on the tough days. We also make sure that professional photographers, videographers, and all kinds of content creators have a great place to do their best work. We offer professional photoshoots, relying our community of fantastic local photographers. We also make a great space to host fun and exciting events, from fashion shows to birthday parties, workshops and everything in-between. And I’m excited to announce the we now have a new Pro Studio, a space dedicated to professional photographers with seamless paper backdrops, studio lighting, and everything you would need to rent for a professional photoshoot! We are proud to be in downtown St. Louis, to have local artists work showcased, offer merchandise of other local business owners, and just bring people together to be themselves and find joy in that.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
The biggest lessons are learned by making mistakes, so I try not to beat myself up too much over the mistakes I’ve made, I just try to learn from them and use them to make better decisions going forward. Personally I tend to lead with my heart too much, often to my own detriment. It’s ok to lead with your hear to an extent, but remember to keep a level head and lead with your brain too. It’s easy to spend money, thinking it will help you make money, but always try to vet the services you pay for, make sure there’s a track record of success before spending your precious few resources and then not getting a return on that investment. And it’s hard to stay focused on the right things if you don’t have clarity, so do what you can to establish that clarity and get help with accountability and motivation if you need to in order to stay focused and moving forward. I would also say that it’s important not to neglect friendships and family because you’re so buried under work. There are sacrifices you have to make but your mental health and wellbeing are priorities too. Be open to receiving help. That’s a hard one, but it’s been important for me. Spend time networking, you never know what opportunities will arise just from meeting new people. Some of my most amazing friends have come from networking while running The Selfie Room.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theselfieroom.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theselfieroomstl/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theselfieroomstlouis
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@theselfieroomstl

Image Credits
1. Heather Borman (selfie) 2. Heather Borman (selfie) All other photos by Kevin De Miranda