A new series featuring members of the International Professional Women in Monaco group, we start with Lisa DeRea Frederiksen, founder of Lisa DeRea Photography in 2018.
What inspired your business – and what gap did you see that others weren’t addressing?
My business was inspired by my passion for seeing beauty in the world and capturing it with my camera. The need to share my work is inside of me and that is what inspired me to do exhibitions and enter contests, which led to selling my custom printed work that now hangs in homes, offices, and yachts around the world.
Photography isn’t about the camera. It’s about your eyes. It’s about knowing where to stand. It’s about knowing when to click the shutter. And when it all comes together, it’s magic.
How do you market your company and what has genuinely worked to reach new clients?
In some ways the digital and social media world we live in now has helped for my marketing, but it also made it much more difficult. Before 2020, my primary marketing was exhibitions, both group and solo. Sadly, Covid shut down all exhibitions for a few years, many never to return again.
What was the turning point in your business?
In August 2017, I exhibited in my first exhibition. In November that same year I exhibited in my first large exhibition show in Menton and won an award from the town of Sospel – and the prize was my own solo exhibition. I was surprised and thrilled, although my son, a competition sailor, asked why I did not win a trophy.
Three months later, in February 2018, the Monaco government granted me the official status of “Artist-Photographer.”
What is one unglamorous but essential step every woman should take before launching a business here?
Hard to say, possibly the paperwork things to get started. Even opening a bank account here takes a long time.
What advice would you give to women ready to bet on themselves and start their own business here?
Go for it! Monaco has an amazing network of wonderful women who are always helping and supporting each other. Also, the Monaco government has great websites – most with an English-language option – showing all the steps with documents to download for the things you need to do to start your business and complete reporting, which will be needed throughout the year, for example for the Monegasque Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (IMSEE).
Follow Lisa DeRea Photography on Instagram and see the Annuaire des Artistes de Monaco.
The International Professional Women in Monaco Group brings together English-speakers currently working or retired to share information and support each other.
Article first published on May 2, 2026.
