Friday Feature: Kate Engelbrecht

I’m not one of those journalists who loves to snoop around and dig up hidden secrets and expose big controversy. I prefer writing about straight forward business deals, entertainment reviews, beauty tips and mostly lifestyle/personal interest stories. Over the years I’ve come across some pretty neat people doing some pretty amazing things. So, Friday’s are now dedicated to those people.

Today’s Friday Feature: Kate Engelbrecht, founder of the Girl Project.


I stumbled across Kate and her project via Twitter, followed a link to her blog, followed another link to her website and reached out to her for RelateMag’s She’s the Boss feature.

Kate is a photographer. Actually she’s a failed advertising agent with a sociology major who decided to follow her passion and picked up a camera. She’s been in NYC nearly 11 years now and has been photographing for 8 of those years.

In 2007 she launched the Girl Project, which is a way for teenage girls to photograph their life in all its raw glory. The girls request a disposable camera. Kate sends them one directly and the girls get down to picture snapping. Once the camera is completely used the girl sends it back to Kate undeveloped. She develops the film and the pics become part of the Girl Project. To read more about the project and Kate check out the RelateMag article.

What I find fascinating about Kate and the Girl Project is that she took something she loved and turned it into something that could be shared with more than just herself and the clients who book her. Plus, she’s giving teenage girls an outlet to be totally themselves. They don’t need to pretend. They can’t make much up. They can’t doctor photos or pick which one gets submitted. The developed film is life - life in the raw.