Haleh Shoa on Preserving Family History Through Photo Organization and Digital Archives

In this episode, Haleh Shoa, founder of the Los Angeles-based archiving studio Picturli, joins Scott Turman to discuss the vital importance of preserving family history through professional photo and video organization. Haleh shares her journey from advertising executive to "photo manager," a transition sparked by her own family's experience as refugees fleeing the Iranian Revolution with nothing but their photographs.The conversation explores the technical and emotional challenges of managing “analog mountains” consisting of boxes of photos, old slides, and outdated digital media like CDs. Haleh explains how her team turns these items into searchable, high quality digital libraries. She describes her unique business model, which balances manual curation with modern technology, and discusses the strategic decisions behind scaling a high touch service business. From uncovering 19th century family secrets to navigating the risks of climate change on physical assets, this episode highlights why our visual legacies are worth the investment.TakeawaysPicturli is a specialized studio focusing on the chronological organization and digitization of analog and digital media.Context is key: Redating and renaming files during digitization is what makes a photo collection searchable and usable.The "Circle of Life": The business often moves assets from analog to digital and back to high-end, space-saving digital photo books.Manual Curation vs. AI: While AI helps with facial recognition, human experts are required to curate collections based on family history and emotional value.Scaling Challenges: Haleh discusses the "scary" necessity of saying no to the wrong clients to maintain high standards and healthy margins.Risk Management: With the rise of global warming, digitizing physical photos is a critical step in protecting family legacies from fire and water damage.Future Vision: The goal for Picturli is to establish a lasting brand and standard operating procedures that allow the mission to continue beyond its founder.Entrepreneurial Grit: Haleh shares the "immigrant story" of her parents and how it influenced her drive to build a business with a "zone of genius."Today’s guest, Haleh Shoa, can be found online at:Webiste: https://www.picturli.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/halehshoa/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halehshoa/Your host, Scott Turman, can be found online at:BrightRay Publishing: https://brightray.com/Entrepreneur Website: https://scottturman.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottturman/keywordsphoto archiving, digital asset management, analog to digital, business scaling, family memories, photo organization, digital preservation, entrepreneurship