Ellington

Beth Morgan Cowan, a 41-year-old Greenwood, Miss., native and current Jackson resident, turned her dream of empowering women while owning her own business into reality in 2007 with the founding of her company, Beth Morgan Photography.

"As a woman, I've always been passionate about ways for me to serve other women and see them empowered to reach their goals," Cowan says.

She attended Pillow Academy High School in Greenwood and then went to Mississippi State University. She received her bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies from the school in 2003. From that year until 2007, Cowan worked for Frontiers, a nonprofit organization in Dallas, Texas, that partners with businesses to aid in helping countries ravaged by war. She says it gave her the opportunity to travel across the world and experience cultures where women were oppressed.

"I fell in love with each country I visited, as well as the people," Cowan says.

She started her photography business in 2007. Empowering women is an important part of her brand, Cowan says, as women are often their own worst critics.

She seeks to empower them to embrace themselves and show them that everyone was created equal.

"My goal is to help women love themselves," she says.

That passion has also morphed into her helping female creative business entrepreneurs brand their businesses by telling their stories with photography.

"I love working with businesses, helping them come up with imagery to propel their brands and seeing them succeed," Cowan says.

Another focus for her is boudoir, a style of photography that features intimate and romantic images. Those sessions are a time for women to step away from their everyday lives and step into their "power," she says.

"I take time with each client and come up with words they want to feel in their images, and we develop a mood board from there," the photographer says.

Cowan is also a wedding photographer. She prefers smaller weddings more than bigger weddings because the intimacy is more apparent.

She met her husband, Michael Cowan, in 2011 on an online dating website. The couple married in 2012.

For more information, visit bethmorganphotography.com.