#LifeLessons – Candace Braganza

NAME: Candace Braganza

INSTAGRAM HANDLE: @sclupt.25.creative

@candance.photographydubai

JOB TITLE: Founder of Sculpt25 Creative

Candace Braganza began her career in the corporate world before making a deliberate shift into

entrepreneurship. The catalyst was adopting her German Shepherd, which inspired her to develop a pet product and scale it into a full e-commerce brand.

That early experience shaped her approach to brand building and cemented her belief that while

aesthetics might capture attention, clarity, relevance, and commercial understanding are what generate measurable business impact.

While running her e-commerce platform and managing her own photography and social media, Candace was frequently asked to create imagery for her stockists. As a fellow small business owner,

she recognised that their challenges mirrored her own. They didn’t just need great visuals; they needed a sustainable, strategic marketing approach.

What began as a solution to a shared problem quickly evolved into a fully-fledged agency. And, in

2021, Sculpt25 Creative was born. Today, the agency delivers end-to-end brand storytelling that

drives real business growth through photography, design, branding, social media management, and

marketing strategy.

As the Founder of Sculpt25 Creative, Candace acts as a strategic partner for entrepreneurs, leaders,

and growing businesses, helping them not only launch their brands but maintain and grow them

sustainably. Known for her strategic thinking and no-nonsense approach, Candace challenges brands

to stop creating content for algorithms and start developing narratives that actually move their

business forward.

The agency’s portfolio spans beauty and wellness, hospitality, personal branding, and product

marketing for brands including Boho Salon, Zabeel House, Thea Restaurant, More Cafe, YP club, XYZ

Designers, Savoir Health, Emerson Beauty, and City Dog.

Here Candace shares the Life Lessons she's learned throughout the years:

#LIFELESSON – 1

Pricing as a Woman Is Not a Confidence Problem, It’s a Value Narrative Problem

When I first started my business, especially as a female photographer in Dubai’s creative industry, pricing felt like a constant internal negotiation. Not just with clients, but with myself. In the early years, I priced my services the way many creatives do: based on time, effort, and deliverables. But what I didn’t realise then was that I was pricing labour, not impact. And clients don’t experience your hours. They experience the result. 

Looking back, the issue wasn’t a lack of confidence in my skill. I knew I was good at what I did. The issue was that I hadn’t yet internalised the value of what my work enabled for my clients: visibility, credibility, growth, and positioning.

Raising prices isn’t just about “being more confident”, it’s about dismantling the story that your work

must be explained, softened, or justified. Once you understand and articulate your value clearly,

pricing stops feeling like a risk and starts feeling like alignment.

#LIFELESSON – 2

Bootstrapping Builds Resilience, But It Also Quietly Creates Impostor Syndrome

I chose to leave my nine-to-five and build my business without external funding or investment. In

theory, it felt empowering. In practice, it was challenging. For a long time, I didn’t have a team, not

because I didn’t want one, but because month-to-month unpredictability made it feel risky. I also

delayed investing in mentors and coaches, because I saw them as a cost rather than a catalyst. In

hindsight, that delay slowed my growth far more than it saved money.

At the time, I saw this as being responsible. But what I didn’t understand was how deeply this

structure fed impostor syndrome. As the business grew, the role changed. I moved from executor to

leader to decision-maker. Each transition required a new level of visibility, confidence, and internal

recalibration. That evolution is rarely discussed honestly. We talk about scaling revenue, but not

about scaling identity.

 The lesson here isn’t that bootstrapping is wrong. It’s that how you fund and structure your business

shapes your psychology as a founder. And understanding that earlier can save years of self-doubt

disguised as “grind.”

#LIFELESSON – 3

Helping Everyone Else Build Visibility While Neglecting Yours is a Mistake

For years, I was deeply focused on building other people’s visibility, crafting strategies and visuals

that helped founders and brands show up confidently in their industries. My work lived everywhere,

but my name didn’t.

As my business grew, the gap became more obvious. I had the experience, the results, and the

insight, but not the visibility to match it. The lesson wasn’t just that I waited too long. It was that I

underestimated my responsibility to be visible, not for validation, but for clarity and growth.

//

If you'd like to be featured in #LifeLessons email hello@raemona.com