By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
Elder planning attorney Angela Bilen also is co-owner with Jen Dera of Capture A Moment Photography in New Baltimore — and the two are helping local youngsters with the “I Am Me” charity photo event June 12 that celebrates tweens and their interests —dance, soccer, artwork, books, music, gaming and just being themselves.
The two, friends for more than two decades, are very familiar with the complex lives of youngsters. Both are mothers of tweens/teens and their main clientele in their photography business are high school graduates, and families with children.
Bilen has three children, and Dera has been a foster parent of teens for more than four years and also has adopted children.
“As both a photographer and a mom, experience has taught me that kids are struggling to find themselves during their teen years,” Bilen said. “As parents, we ask our teens to wear a certain outfit during family photos, to smile with teeth, to stand a certain way, we have an image in our minds that we want to portray.
“The’ I Am Me’ event is different — it allows the teens and tweens to be themselves, choose their own clothes, stand the way they want and smile any way they want, even if it’s just the eyes. This event allows us to celebrate them the way they see themselves and allows them to truly shine and that is why we do this.”
A graduate of L'anse Creuse High School, the Macomb County resident earned her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and her law degree from Detroit Mercy School of Law.
Her other passion has always been photography, and she and Dera have won First Place for Detroit A-List Best Portrait Photography and Second Place Wedding Photographer in the Metro Detroit Channel 4 WDIV "4 The Best" contest, and travel all over Macomb, Oakland, Wayne and southern St. Clair counties taking photos at different venues.
In addition to gifting each child with an art piece, Bilen and Dera will donate all proceeds from each “I Am Me” session to “Love for a Child”,” a faith-focused, 501c3, nonprofit organization that serves children, youth, and families within Michigan’s foster care system. Founded in 2012, and with the slogan Fostering Faith For Foster Families, the program focuses on impacting children of trauma, who have experienced different forms of abuse, abandonment and neglect. The organization, based in Oxford in Oakland County, has created and facilitates overnight camps, mentorship
opportunities, and tailored resources for foster families to meet the specific needs of children in their care.
To learn more or to sign up, call (586) 646-8189 or visit camevents.youcanbook.me/.
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