Community Highlights: Meet Haleh Shoa of Picturli

Today we’d like to introduce you to Haleh Shoa.

Hi Haleh, 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 grew up understanding, at a very young age, how fragile memory and belonging can be. At nine years old, my family fled Iran during the 1979 revolution with almost nothing except our photo albums and a few pieces of family memorabilia. Those photographs became my only tangible connection to a childhood, a country, and friends I would never see again. Long before digital files existed, those albums carried our history, our proof, and our sense of continuity.

Years later, after building a 27-year career in advertising and global operations—helping launch major campaigns for brands like Apple, Jaguar, and Land Rover—I found myself returning to those same questions of legacy, memory, and meaning. I began digitizing and organizing my own family’s photos in my twenties, creating albums and keepsakes for relatives scattered across the world. The response was deeply emotional. What started as personal became a calling.

In 2016, that calling became Picturli. I founded the company to help families, individuals, and institutions preserve, organize, and truly enjoy their photographs, videos, and physical archives. Today, Picturli manages complex, multi-decade collections—often hundreds of thousands of assets—transforming overwhelming libraries into beautifully organized, searchable archives that can be passed down with intention. At its core, my work is about honoring stories, safeguarding memory, and making sure nothing meaningful gets lost to time or technology.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. Like many founders, I built Picturli while still working full-time in advertising, balancing a demanding global operations role with nights and weekends spent building systems, learning new technologies, and serving early clients. The transition required a great deal of patience, discipline, and financial risk.

One of the biggest challenges was building a business in a field that many people didn’t yet realize existed. Photo organization, digital asset management, and personal archiving were often misunderstood or undervalued, which meant I had to spend a lot of time educating clients about the scope, care, and expertise required to handle irreplaceable materials. Establishing trust—especially when working with family histories and one-of-a-kind collections—was essential and took time.

There were also practical challenges: developing workflows that could scale, investing in archival-grade equipment, setting pricing that reflected both labor and responsibility, and learning how to say no when a project wasn’t aligned. Not getting paid consistently in the early years, while still investing heavily in the business, was difficult.

That said, every challenge sharpened the business. Over time, those early struggles helped define Picturli’s standards, processes, and values. What once felt uncertain is now a deeply established practice built on experience, trust, and an unwavering respect for the stories people entrust to us.

We’ve been impressed with Picturli, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At its core, my work centers on helping people preserve, organize, and make sense of their photographs, videos, and physical archives—so their memories remain accessible, meaningful, and intact over time. Through Picturli, we specialize in large, complex collections that span decades, formats, and generations.

Our work includes consolidating and organizing digital photo and video libraries; digitizing analog materials such as photographs, albums, slides, negatives, home movies, artwork, and paper ephemera; and building structured, searchable archives with accurate dates, metadata, and naming conventions. We also design archival photo books and legacy pieces that allow families to experience their history in a tangible, intentional way.

What we are best known for is our ability to bring order, clarity, and calm to collections that feel overwhelming. Many of our clients come to us with tens—or hundreds—of thousands of assets spread across devices, drives, boxes, and cloud platforms. We don’t just digitize or organize; we create systems that are sustainable, intuitive, and built to last, so families can actually use and enjoy their archives rather than fear them.

What I’m most proud of is the trust our clients place in us. These are often irreplaceable materials—family histories, life’s work, and deeply personal stories. Being invited into that space is not something I take lightly. I’m also proud that Picturli has helped define professional standards in a field that didn’t always exist in a formal way, combining archival best practices with modern digital asset management.

What sets us apart is a rare blend of precision and sensitivity. My background in global advertising operations trained me to manage complex systems at scale, while my personal history taught me the emotional weight that memories carry. That combination allows us to approach each project with both rigor and humanity—honoring the story while protecting the asset.

What does success mean to you?
I define success as creating something that is both meaningful and sustainable. For me, that means doing work that protects what matters most to people—family history, creative output, life’s work—while building a business that operates with integrity, clarity, and care.

Success also looks like trust. When clients hand over decades of photographs, films, and personal archives, they are placing enormous confidence in us. Earning that trust, honoring it, and delivering work that gives people peace of mind is a measure of success I value deeply.

On a practical level, success means building systems that last—archives that are organized, searchable, and usable long after a project is complete. It means clients don’t feel overwhelmed by their memories, but empowered by them.

Ultimately, success is knowing that the work we do today will still matter years from now; that stories won’t be lost, families won’t have to start from scratch, and what was once fragile has been thoughtfully preserved. It also means freedom, of course.

Pricing:

• Projects are priced on a project basis, not hourly. Final pricing is confirmed after a full inventory and assessment of the collection.
• Discovery & Assessment Starts with a comprehensive discovery session (in-home, in-studio, or via shipped materials) to evaluate scope, volume, condition, and complexity.
• Scanning & Digitization (when applicable) Standard resolution: 600 ppi for prints and album pages High-resolution scanning: 4000 ppi for negatives and slides Includes cropping, rotation, file naming, and re-dating when information is available
• Typical projects range from several thousand dollars to larger multi-phase engagements, depending on size, formats, and deliverables.
• All projects are designed to result in an archive that is organized, searchable, and built for long-term access, whether for personal, family, or institutional use.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.picturli.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/picturli
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/picturli
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/picturli/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@picturli
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/picturli-los-angeles-3