Meet Ty

Produced by Smoov Productions

Rooted in Compton

The city of Compton is my core — it's what has shaped me into who I am today. My strength, my reason to keep going. My resilience has been influenced by what I've seen on my block growing up and my reasoning to not necessarily wanting to 'make it out' but to show that we can be better and take our place in our ways. I rep my city like no other and strive to be one of the success stories that stayed and made more change.

A Foundation of Family

Ty is a product of her family — a foundation that allowed and encouraged her to always be creative, do what's best for her, and be good at various things that resolve in self expression. I am humble, yet know the weight I hold and the weight I pull.

Fueled by Loss

Losing that foundation of family, including my parents, over the past 9 years has moved me in ways I never thought it would. It's fuel. I have many angels looking down at me and I have a purpose to fulfill. Although they're not here physically to push me, I want to impact our future generation to grow into a staple of my community. If I can get where I've gotten in life, the future of Compton can too.

Photography as a Gift

Photography has allowed me to showcase my emotions in projects, but when it comes to clients, I have been able to give others their spotlight — their moment of feeling like they're the only one in the world. I get to create miracles for others and give them an experience that uplifts them and repeatedly proves to me how creative I actually am and how much more I can be.

Always Growing

The people I work with push me to further limits, and so I'm always finding myself actually excelling at new things and finding out what enhances my growth.

What Is Next for Ty

Right now, I'm in the midst of curating new products to offer with my photo packages - such as books and calendars, continuing my partnerships with the three nonprofits I work with — telling their stories through my lens — and most importantly, releasing Raised Between to the public - the book that encapsulates my story in Compton. From what we see as kids, how we can get caught up as we get older, and how many opportunities and activities are actually out in our city to help the youth keep on their paths or find new ones that don't cage them in.