Your current headshot is either selling for you, or silently costing you five and six-figure opportunities.

If you’re a founder, executive, keynote speaker, or rising thought-leader, you can’t afford to look average online. Your face is your digital handshake, and right now:
	•	❌ A five-year-old selfie is undercutting your authority.
	•	❌ Inconsistent visuals are confusing investors, event planners, and recruiters.
	•	❌ A stiff, “school-picture-day” portrait is making you seem unapproachable.

⸻

The Problem I Solve

Most high-achievers know their work speaks volumes, but their image whispers the wrong story. They need a headshot that conveys confidence, credibility, and genuine connection in under one second.

⸻

The Top-Tier Solution

I combine expression coaching, cinematic lighting, and brand strategy to create photographs that shout: “This is the leader you’ve been looking for.”
	•	Guided Confidence – I coach you into natural, powerful expressions, even if cameras make you panic.
	•	Brand Alignment – Every frame is mapped to your speaking topics, values, and target audience.
	•	Luxury Experience – From wardrobe prep to same-day image selection, you’ll feel like you’re on a VIP set, not in a photo mill.

⸻

Proof That It Works
	•	A recently laid-off client landed her dream job within weeks—her new headshot was the first thing the hiring board mentioned.
	•	One author’s portrait became her book cover, driving sold-out speaking engagements and a spike in sales.
	•	60% of my new business comes from inbound referrals, because powerful images travel fast.

⸻

Ready to Own Your First Impression?
	1.	Book a 15-minute discovery call → calendly.com/toptierheadshots
	2.	Get a personalized shoot plan that aligns with your goals.
	3.	Walk away with images that open doors while you sleep.

I have limited monthly spaces available. Reach out to book your spot.

Photographer | Author | Entrepreneur

Daniel Wakefield

Starting the year with a BANG!

TRADEMARKED!

Top-Tier Headshots is back in town, and we’re ready to put the pedal to the metal.

Headshot Photographer and First Impression Architect | Helping founders, executives, and keynote speakers elevate their game | People connector | Best-Selling Author | Published wildlife photographer

No alternative text description for this image

I have been getting SO many requests for headshots for this reason: 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• A company announcing a new employee or leader
• A person announcing a new role
• A founder launching a company
• A person getting featured in something
• A company announcing a rebrand

And when this happens, people are telling me they don’t want to look average.

They want to look exceptional.

Because who wants to blend into the masses? Who wants to look like “school picture day”?

Thankful to be able to help each new person and business make that announcement like a BOSS.

P.S. We’re back into the newsletter this January with some fresh insights and hot takes on personal brand development. Comment “GO” if you want in!

FIVE YEARS.

We filed the LLC on January 11th, 2021.

I also threw in my very first LinkedIn post....I had to go WAYYYY back to find this one!

These five years have been an absolute whirlwind. Ups and downs. Wins and setbacks. Sometimes one step forward and two steps back. Sometimes one step back and ten steps forward.

I don't think it's any secret that this platform has been a huge part of the growth and success. I truly couldn't have done it without all of you. 

So THANK YOU!

The next five years should be......interesting 😉

BIG THINGS are in store!

Big shoutout to Max Riehn for making me look wayyyyy cooler than I am.

And if you scrolled to that last image.........after five years, can I take a nap already???

If I was writing a bad cold outreach DM to spam your inbox, it would sound like this:

“Hey there! I was checking out your profile and noticed your headshot is REALLY bad. Did you swipe it from your high school yearbook? Certainly doesn’t make you look like a pro. The good news? I can help! When do you want to get started?”

(How’d I do, Seth Turnoff?) 

If I had a dollar for every DM I get like this from people “just wanting to network,” I think I could easily retire 😜

What’s a BAD cold DM example from YOUR industry?

I recently got to work with the amazing Aniley Perez. And let me tell you….she is serious about helping her clients.

Aniley is a Risk Advisor with Eastern Insurance Group, where she partners with organizations to protect their employees, assets, and reputation through risk control and proactive stewardship. Her approach is grounded in leadership, people risk management, and driving accountability.  

Specifically, she loves helping clients in the construction industry. 

She’s also a member of CREW Fort Lauderdale Boca Raton, and is making a big impact there.

Go follow her!

I knew David R. Carothers, CIC, CRM, CWCA was going to use my photos on the cover. I had no idea I was going to get such an incredible shoutout on the inside.

David, this is exactly the kind of thing I love to help people with. Thank you for giving me the privilege of being a part of it.

AND let me tell you….if you have anything to do with sales, you NEED to read this. I’ve made it a part of my daily routine. Even though it’s focused on the insurance space, the principles contained are so valuable for anyone doing sales.

Go grab a copy!

Grayson Carothers, CWCA

It’s always a privilege to have Karen Ross, EA in front of my camera, whether it’s photo or video.

I can’t WAIT for you all to see what The Daily Drip has planned for this 😁

Nicole Mastrangelo Vildosola 
Romi Wallach

I work side-by-side with founders building businesses between $5M and $25M who want to grow profitably.

Most have hit that messy middle: 
→ Growth is happening, but it's not sustainable 
→ Profit is tight or unpredictable 
→ You're wearing too many hats
→ The team is stretched 

That's where Dundee Growth Partners comes in.

I co-founded Dundee with Mark Hasebroock (co-founder of Hayneedle, sold to Walmart, and investor in 60+ eCommerce brands) to bring 25 years of executive and operator experience to founders ready to break through.

💥 Track record: 
→ PHE Inc.: $22M to $50M in 3 years 
→ RestockIt: $13M to $26M in 2 years
→ Hayneedle: $2.4M to $65M in 3 years  
→ Bluemercury eComm: $1M to $16M in 2 years 
→ Sports Authority eComm: $50M to $250M in 2 years 
→ Plus, 3 DTC brands with triple-digit growth in under 24 months

How we help: 
✅ Deep business audits that surface what's working (and what's bleeding cash) 
✅ Strategic plans with 25+ clear, actionable growth moves 
✅ Team and org redesigns to get the right people in the right roles 
✅ Channel strategies across DTC, Amazon, wholesale, and retail 
✅ CEO advisory so you're not carrying it all alone

We don't drop a deck and disappear. We roll up our sleeves with founders and leadership teams to build what's next—together. Tested strategies and operational muscle to move faster, profitably.
I've been a CMO, CRO, CDO, and CEO. I sit on a public company board. I've led in both turnaround and high-growth environments—and I've built my own path from the ground up: single mom at 22, $9/hr paycheck, and zero shortcuts. That grit still shows up in how I operate today.

Who we work with:
— DTC and omnichannel founders ready to play the long game
— Investors and PE firms who need a seasoned growth partner
— High-integrity leaders who care as much about people as profit

Ready to break through?

Let's talk about your assessment. DM me or reach out at Jennifer@dundeegp.com

Jennifer DiMotta

Leadership Lesson #36 (Special Edition for Women)
What I hear behind closed doors — and what we need to stop normalizing.

I spend my days working with female founders and executives at the top of their organizations.
What they tell me privately — and what they tolerate publicly — are often two very different things.

Too much.
Not executive material.
Too direct.
Too intense.

These aren’t leadership gaps.
They’re labels women absorb while still delivering results.

So this year, instead of asking women to fix themselves, here are five things I’m asking my female founder and executive clients to lean into — to maximize both their value and their joy.

1. Be bold. Be assertive. Be yourself.
I’ve had clients fired for being told they were “too much.”
Another was told she wasn’t “executive material.”

Do we even hear men described this way?

When women are clear and decisive, it gets labeled as a problem.
It’s not.
Your directness is often the very thing that moves the work forward.

2. Do five minutes anyway.
When feedback like this lands, motivation disappears fast.

So here’s the rule: get up and do five minutes anyway.
One email. One decision. One hard conversation you’ve been avoiding.

After five minutes, reassess.
If you’re still drained, rest — without guilt.

Action breaks paralysis.
Rumination feeds it.

3. Eat for what you need — not what everyone else needs.
I had a client making dinner every night around what her kids would eat.
She slowly stopped eating what her body needed.

Her health began to spiral — energy, hormones, focus.

This isn’t selflessness.
It’s self-erasure.

Your body is not a sacrifice altar.
Feed yourself like you matter.

4. Say no without turning it into a performance.
Women are conditioned to soften clarity.
To over-explain.
To manage everyone else’s feelings.

“No” is not rude.
It’s precise.
And precision is leadership.

5. Learn to recognize when “feedback” is really discomfort with your strength.
Harsh.
Angry.
Intense.
Too much.

That’s not insight — it’s someone struggling to keep up or stay in control.

Here’s what decades of leadership and coaching women at the top has taught me:
You are not broken.
You are not behind.
And you do not need to dilute yourself to lead well.

This year isn’t about being more acceptable.
It’s about being more effective — and letting the right people adjust.

👉 Follow Jennifer L. DiMotta if you want leadership conversations that don’t ask women to shrink, soften, or self-edit.

#LeadershipLesson #WomenInLeadership #FemaleFounders #WomenExecutives #BoldLeadership #ExecutivePresence #LeadAsYouAre

Jennifer L. DiMotta

💼 LEADERSHIP LESSON #37
Radical transparency isn’t risky. Silence is.

Early in my career, I watched a leadership team “protect morale” by soft-pedaling the truth.

Revenue was slipping.
Cash was tightening.
Everyone felt it — but no one named it.

What happened instead?
• Rumors filled the gap
• High performers quietly started interviewing
• Decisions slowed because no one trusted the inputs

The truth eventually came out anyway — just later, louder, and with more damage.

That’s when I learned this:

👉 People don’t leave hard truths.
👉 THEY LEAVE UNCERTAINTY

What the data says
• Teams with high trust outperform peers by up to 50% (Harvard Business Review)
• Transparent organizations see 30% higher employee engagement (Gallup)
• Lack of clarity is one of the top predictors of burnout — not workload

Transparency doesn’t create fear.
IT CREATES CONTEXT

The Radical Transparency Framework I coach leaders on
(Not oversharing. Not chaos. Structure.)

Share the “why,” not just the decision
People can accept almost any outcome if they understand the reasoning.

Name what’s true — even when it’s uncomfortable
“Here’s what we know. Here’s what we don’t. Here’s what we’re watching.”

Separate facts from stories
Facts calm nervous systems. Stories inflame them.

Tie truth to ownership
Transparency without action is anxiety. Every truth needs a next step.

Your Next Controllable Steps
You don’t need a town hall or a memo. Start here:

• In your next meeting, say one thing you’ve been avoiding
• Clarify one assumption you hear people whispering about
• Share one metric you normally keep “up top”
• End with: “Here’s what this means for you.”

That’s leadership.

Not spin.
Not polish.
Not pretending.

Just clarity — DELIVERED WITH COURAGE

If you’re a founder or executive scaling a team and want leadership that actually compounds, follow along.
This is the work that moves businesses forward.

#LeadershipLesson #RadicalTransparency #TrustAtScale #OperatorMindset #PeopleFirstLeadership #ExecutiveLeadership #FromGritToGrowth

💼 From the Operator’s Desk 17 
Being tactical is just as important as being visionary or strategic.
Yes, just as important.

Hot take:
If your leadership superpower is “big ideas” but nothing ever ships…
you’re not leading — you’re entertaining.

I’ve been in far too many rooms with leaders who:

Worship vision

Romanticize strategy

Treat tactics like “execution work” beneath them

Meanwhile, the business is sitting there like:
“Cool deck. Still broke.”

Because let’s be honest:

Strategy without tactics is just a confident opinion in a nice font.

Operators know the truth:

Tactics are where strategy gets exposed

Tactics reveal who can actually decide

Tactics force tradeoffs

Tactics create accountability

If you can’t answer:

Who is doing what?

By when?

With what resources?

Measured how?

You don’t have a strategy.
You have a very confident opinion in 16-point font.

💡 From the Operator’s Desk — Reality Check
Great leaders aren’t allergic to tactics.
They move fluidly between:

Vision (the destination)

Strategy (the plan)

Tactics (what actually happens Monday morning)

If Monday morning is fuzzy, your strategy is fake.

🎯 Your Next Controllable Step
Take your “strategy” and stress-test it:

Name the next 3 tactical moves

Assign real owners (not “the team”)

Decide what must be true in 30 days

Pretty ideas don’t scale.
Execution does.

👉 Follow Jennifer L. DiMotta for real-world leadership, operator insights, and no-fluff execution advice.

#FromTheOperatorsDesk #Leadership #Execution #Strategy
#OperatorMindset #FounderLife #BusinessLeadership
#NextControllableStep #BuildNotTalk

Leadership isn’t just about effort or results — it’s about trust and how those results are achieved.

In this episode of From Grit to Growth, Mark Hasebroock and I share lessons founders only learn the hard way.

🎧 Watch or listen here:
YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ejVDu6TM
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eYR9nuF4
Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/e-9D3jqp

#FromGritToGrowth #Leadership #FounderMindset #EmotionalIntelligence #CareerGrowth #DGP

Early in your career, it’s easy to confuse effort and results with good leadership.

You stay late.
Fix broken accounts.
Keep clients happy.
And assume that’s the whole job.

What surfaces later is the cost of how those results were achieved.

Speed, pressure, and control can solve short-term problems — while quietly eroding trust with the people around you. And by the time you notice, the feedback is usually blunt.

In this episode of From Grit to Growth, hosts Jennifer L. DiMotta and Mark Hasebroock explore the leadership lessons founders only learn once results stop being the only scorecard — and the books that shaped how they lead through those moments.

🎧 Watch or listen to the full episode:
YouTube: https://lnkd.in/d9mF_2sZ
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dV83XBBS
Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/dxKzBhFm

#FromGritToGrowth #Leadership #FounderMindset #EmotionalIntelligence #CareerGrowth #DGP

💼 From the Operator’s Desk 18
Work–life balance is a lazy conversation.

We turned it into calendar math, color-coded boundaries, vague self-care, and a lot of talk about “protecting my peace.”
And yet… people are still exhausted and miserable to work with.

Here’s the reframe most people avoid:
It’s not work vs. life.
It’s selfish vs. selfless.

The Energy Responsibility Model™
Every decision you make puts your energy in one of three places.

1. Selfish Energy (Others Pay)
Feels good to you.
Costs everyone else.

You “protect your peace” but snap at people.
You set boundaries and vanish when things get uncomfortable.
You rest… and come back just as reactive.

That’s not balance.
That’s unmanaged energy.

2. Selfless Energy (You Pay)
Feels noble.
Ends in burnout and resentment.

You say yes when you should say no.
You absorb stress that isn’t yours.
You confuse availability with leadership.

This helps short-term.
It breaks you long-term.

3. Regulated Energy (No One Pays the Price)
Disciplined. Intentional. Generous.

You manage your emotions before they leak.
You rest so you show up better, not less.
You hold boundaries and accountability.
You don’t make your stress someone else’s problem.

This is real balance.

Your Next Controllable Steps

1. Audit the bill
Ask yourself honestly:
Where am I expecting others to absorb energy I haven’t managed?

2. Redefine rest
Rest isn’t escape.
Rest is preparation.

If your rest doesn’t make you calmer, clearer, or more present — it’s not working.

3. Set one regulated boundary
Not “leave me alone.”
But “this helps me show up better for everyone.”

4. Measure impact, not hours
Stop asking, “Am I doing too much?”
Start asking:
“Am I easier or harder to be around because of how I’m living?”

That answer tells you everything.

If this irritated you, good.
That usually means it landed.

👉 Follow Jennifer L. DiMotta for leadership built in real operating environments — not Pinterest quotes.

#FromTheOperatorsDesk #Leadership #EnergyManagement #ExecutiveLeadership #FounderLife #HighPerformance #EmotionalIntelligence #LeadershipDevelopment #WorkLifeReframe #SelfLeadership #NextControllableStep

Most growth problems aren’t problems — they’re collisions.
Too many priorities competing for the same limited attention, capital, and decision‑making bandwidth.

When everything matters, nothing moves.

The fastest‑growing companies don’t do more. They do less — with precision. And when focus returns, decisions get easier, execution tightens, and confidence compounds.

👉 Full blog here: https://lnkd.in/gt6V4rqA

 📌 Learn more about how Dundee Growth Partners helps founders design focus that scales.

#Leadership #FounderMindset #Boards #Governance #FromGritToGrowth #DGP

Most growth problems aren’t problems.

They’re focus collisions.

Too many priorities competing for the same limited attention and decision-making bandwidth.

When everything matters, nothing moves.

The fastest-growing companies don’t do more.
 They do less — with precision.

👉 Full breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/gsZscq9M

One of the hardest lessons for founders is that involvement isn’t the same as leadership.

When every decision and fix runs through one person, speed disappears and growth stalls. Scaling requires trust, clarity, and letting go at the right time.

This breakdown nails it. Founders don’t slow companies down on purpose. They do it by holding on too long. 

Worth the read: https://lnkd.in/ePMWuVuP

Most founders don’t realize they’ve become the bottleneck.

They’re still involved.
 Still responsive.
 Still solving problems.

But when decisions, fixes, and context all run through one person, speed quietly disappears.

Founders don’t slow companies down on purpose.
 They do it by holding on too long.

👉 Full breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/exXB8dmm

Keeping your options open feels smart. It feels safe.

But at scale, it kills momentum. Half-built projects, endless meetings, teams stuck waiting for direction — that’s the hidden cost of optionality.

Growth doesn’t come from hedging. It comes from deciding. Committing. Building.

Close doors long enough for effort to compound. That’s how founders move fast and scale. 

Read the full piece → https://lnkd.in/gbu6MPen

“Keeping options open” feels smart.

At scale, it’s expensive.

Optionality creates decision drag — and decision drag kills momentum.

The founders who scale don’t hedge every bet.
 They commit for long enough to let effort compound.

Indecision isn’t safety.
 It’s friction.

👉 Full breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/gbu6MPen

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Jennifer DiMotta

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The Battle

Daniel Wakefield

Jennifer DiMotta

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Daniel Wakefield's LinkedIn Performance

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