People of EarnIn: Brooke Beauregard

Brooke’s one goal in life is to make people smile. That’s why she became a photographer. Now she’s instilling that same mindset in her daughter. Read her story below:

“I was born in Connecticut and my dad was in the Navy, so we moved around a lot. I ended up going from Connecticut to Massachusetts, to Virginia, to Florida, and then from Florida to Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania, back to Florida, to Illinois, to Georgia, to Florida, to Illinois... I’ve been to a few places.

I’ve been in Illinois now for 13 years. My daughter [Willow] was born in 2008 and her dad and I moved back to Illinois in 2007 from Georgia. We didn’t last but he's a great guy. We still get along so he lives around here now, despite his family being far away. He stayed because I'm here and Willow's here. She's been my roots. I don't want to have her go through what I had to go through, moving from place to place every couple of years, losing friends, having to start over again.

Willow is full of spunk and energy and she's free to be herself. I know I’m probably being biased, but she is one of the most unique kids I've ever met. She does everything she can to make herself and everyone happy and she doesn't care what other people think about her.

I wanted to give her an allowance, but she kept losing her cash. I ended up getting her a little debit card thing so when she gets paid for things like babysitting and her allowance, I can just put money in the account so she always has her money. It's actually been working out really well. And. I mean, it gives her more freedom to spend online.

She’s learning real life. You’re always thrown into the real world at 18 without a clue. And she already has basically a bank account that she is in charge of, so she can manage her own finances already. And she's 12 years old. I wish I had that at her age. And she always puts like five bucks in savings too. She saved up so much in the last year and I can't believe it. I'm so proud of her. I have never been that good with money. That’s why I came to EarnIn.

As a main job, I'm a photographer that takes pictures of products for e-commerce. My side job that used to be my main job is people photography like families, children, and babies, with newborns being my specialty. I’ve had a camera in my hand since I was a kid. I would just go through like six packs of disposable cameras, As I got older, I started putting all my pictures in albums, and now I have boxes and boxes and boxes of pictures.

The thing that motivates me is the pursuit of happiness. For myself and for everybody I encounter, my goal in life is to make you smile. And if I can't make you smile, I at least know that I tried. That's why I became a photographer. I stand with a duck on my head making silly faces to make people smile. Because if I can't make you smile with what I say, I can at least make you smile by being ridiculous. That little tiny bit of happiness can be the difference between somebody having a horrible day and a good one. Just that random act of kindness. Just making somebody smile.”

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