OUT For Business Youth Entrepreneurship Cohort 2021 – Connor Remus, Founder, Connor Remus Photography and Remus & Co.
The CGLCC Youth Entrepreneurship Program empowers LGBT+ entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 39 by providing them with support and tailored guidance to help them establish or grow their own businesses. The one-year program has four components:
- networking
- access to funding
- building business skills
- mentoring
Launched in 2017, the program helps a new group of young entrepreneurs each year. Each week, we will be spotlighting a member of our 2021 OUT For Business Cohort.
Thank you to our program partners: TD Bank Group, Scotiabank, Higgins & Burke Naturals, City of Toronto and Shopify.
Meet Connor! (Pronouns: he/him)
As the sole owner of Connor Remus Photography and the newly launched Remus & Co., I offer clients luxurious wedding and event photography.
My aesthetic or way I like to take my photographs is difficult to capture in one word. I roughly capture a feeling of astonishment, romance, authenticity, and glamour all at once. As a professional wedding photographer, I believe my work best expresses the sense of whimsical beauty felt when taking the time to reflect the love and inspiration offered by the world we live in.
Over 50 + clients have used my photo services to showcase their dream wedding. Mixing editorial and wedding photography is a passion that grew while attending a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Ryerson’s School for Image Arts.
Living in 2020 I want to celebrate and share my passion for art and love. Being a member of the LGBT community I want my clients to feel a safe space to create their fairytale wedding or event.
Name: Connor Remus (he/him)
Name of Business: Connor Remus Photography and Remus & Co. – Luxury Wedding & Event Photography
Remus & Co. is a luxury wedding and event photography company recently founded in 2020 with their goal to exceed customer expectations on every detail. Connor considers himself a storyteller and his photography business is a result of always living in the moment. Watching, observing and telling the story that happens in those small moments, with as much beauty as the camera will allow, is their utmost goal. With years of experience in photography Remus & Co. believes the right photograph can help tell some of the most perfect moments in a person’s life. Their photography style could be described as luxury-modern with an intimate, warm feel. He is obsessed with helping to create an environment that helps make humanistic, connected, real, authentic and natural photos for his clients. While professionally trained in fashion photography, he shoots with extreme intimacy and his images are born out of the love for what he does.
What drew you to this program and what are you looking forward to most?
Prior to hearing about the OUT For Business program I was operating my small business as a hobby or “side hustle”. I had the passion to grow the business but with limited knowledge about the process of operating an independent business I found myself extremely overwhelmed. Once I found the OUT For Business program I felt a huge weight lifted. Everything I wanted to learn, or needed to learn, to help develop my small photography business was right there in black and white. I am looking forward to figuring out the financial steps needed to help back my future goals and get my business to where I need it to be.
What does having access to a program like OUT For Business mean to you?
Having access to programs like the OUT For Business is incredibly motivational. Until this program began, I always knew I wanted to work for myself and be the best entrepreneur I could be. However, as most of us already know, life sometimes gets in our way. The OUT For Business program has kept me motivated and sets structured goals which in turn helps to grow my business knowledge. This is an extremely important program to be a part of as I have always been an extremely independent individual. If there is an opportunity to learn something new that I can do for myself I would much rather have the opportunity to learn than outsource the job to someone else. This program means a lot to me as an independent business owner.
Why do you think it’s important to support LGBT+ businesses?
As a member of the LGBT+ community I feel that our representation is always unified amongst the business community. Growing up in a small town I noticed a very rare yet heartwarming business community where a lot of small local business supported each other. I would love to see the same doctrine used to encourage the LGBT+ business community to support each other. By offering support to your fellow business owners you can help build a network of strong individuals that keep each other motivated and help to grow the market for LGBT+ run businesses.
What inspires you?
Being extremely passionate in the field of photography and an extremely creative individual I am constantly inspired by new opportunities to showcase my work. I think there is something to be said about creating your own work from scratch. Funny enough, that same feeling can be translated to almost any independent business owner. The same sensation I receive from creating a beautiful image is similar to the sensation I receive from client testimonials after offering my services. That “jump out of your seat and dance around” feeling you receive from creating a logo, launching a website, learning a new skill or receiving a new client, is what inspires me.
Interested in learning more? Click here for more information about our OUT For Business Youth Entrepreneurship Program.
