Life & Work with Amber Castro of Lake Forest

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Castro.

Hi Amber, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Like a lot of creative people, my career hasn’t been a straight line.

I spent more than a decade as a photographer, specializing in maternity and newborn portraits. The art itself was my first love. I fell in love with light, composition, and creating images that people would treasure for years. But a very close second was getting to know the people in front of my camera, hearing their stories, and figuring out how to capture something that felt true to them. Looking back, I realize that was my first introduction to branding. I just didn’t know it yet.

As I ran my own business, I naturally became fascinated by everything that happened behind the scenes: websites, marketing, SEO, client experience, copywriting, and all the little details that shape how people experience a business. Eventually, I found myself just as excited about helping other business owners tell their stories as I was about telling my own.

That curiosity led me back to school to earn degrees in Graphic Design and UX Design, and ultimately to launch AFOTIK Creative Studio.

Today, I help women-led small businesses create brands and websites that feel thoughtful, cohesive, and unmistakably them. I work with clients across a variety of industries, though I’ve found myself especially drawn to therapists and wellness professionals because their work requires an extra level of empathy and trust. My favorite part of the process is helping someone untangle all the scattered ideas they’ve been carrying around in their head and turning them into something clear, beautiful, and deeply personal.

In a way, I’m still doing what I started doing all those years ago with a camera. I’m just telling stories with different tools now.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not. I don’t think any creative business follows a perfectly smooth path.

One of the biggest challenges was giving myself permission to evolve. For over a decade, I was “the photographer.” I had built a successful business, a wonderful client base, and an identity around that work. Walking away from something I’d poured so much of myself into was scary, even though I knew my curiosity was pulling me in a different direction.

Starting AFOTIK meant becoming a beginner again in some ways. I spent countless hours taking courses, earning certifications, refining my skills, and questioning whether I was making the right decision. There were plenty of moments where imposter syndrome crept in, and I wondered if people would trust me to do something new.

The funny thing is, I eventually realized I wasn’t really starting over at all. Everything I’d learned as a photographer (how to listen, how to tell stories, how to make people feel comfortable, how to notice the little details that others overlook) became the foundation of the work I do today. The tools changed, but the heart of the work stayed the same.

If anything, the biggest lesson has been that careers don’t always move in straight lines. Sometimes the things that seem unrelated end up becoming your greatest advantage.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At AFOTIK Creative Studio, I help women-led small businesses build brands that finally feel like the businesses they’ve become. My work spans brand strategy, visual identity, custom Squarespace websites, copywriting, brand photography, print and packaging design, social media templates, and the foundational SEO that helps people actually find them. I like creating the whole ecosystem, so every piece feels connected instead of stitched together.

I work with women across all kinds of industries, but I’ve become especially known for partnering with therapists and wellness professionals. Their work asks for a thoughtful balance of warmth, trust, personality, and clarity, and I love helping translate that into a brand that feels deeply human.

What I’m most proud of, though, isn’t a particular logo or website. It’s when a client tells me, “I feel like you really get me.” One of my clients recently told me, “I feel very much like you get it…that you know me somehow from a single phone call.” She even joked that I might have psychic abilities or be a witch. Of course, neither is true, but it’s the highest compliment I could receive.

That’s the part of the process I care about most. I ask a lot of questions, I listen for the things people don’t even realize they’re saying, and I look for the thread that ties it all together. Design comes naturally to me, but understanding people is what makes the design meaningful.

I want my clients to leave feeling heard, understood, and excited about putting their business out into the world. If they finish the project feeling more confident in themselves (not just happier with their logo), then I’ve done my job.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I think luck has opened a few doors for me, but curiosity is what got me to walk through them.

I’ve been incredibly lucky to have wonderful clients who trusted me, referred me to their friends, and gave me the opportunity to grow alongside their businesses. I’m also lucky that so many of my clients have become genuine relationships instead of just transactions. That’s one of the best parts of what I do.

At the same time, I don’t think AFOTIK exists because of luck alone. It’s the result of thousands of little decisions: staying curious, continuing to learn, saying yes to opportunities that scared me a little (or a lot), and trusting that all of these seemingly unrelated skills would eventually fit together.

I’ve also had my share of bad luck. Businesses change, pandemics happen, industries evolve, and sometimes life nudges you in a direction you weren’t expecting. Looking back, though, those moments usually ended up leading me somewhere better. If someone had told me ten years ago that I’d be designing brands and websites instead of spending my days behind a camera, I probably wouldn’t have believed them.

So I guess I believe luck might introduce you to an opportunity, but it’s what you choose to do with it that really shapes your story.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.afotik.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afotikdesign