OF
STORY
Hey!
I am Ioana Dodan, and I want to tell you why I do what I do, how I got here, and what the deal is with prosecco and my personal brand.
I was born in Bacău in '86, and from a young age, I loved singing in the choir, dancing, eating at restaurants, performing in theater shows with my troupe, and throwing big parties with lots of good friends.
Fast forward, I discover a love for drawing and structure, leading me to navigate through six long and beautiful years of architecture school, studying in Bucharest and Lisbon. During university, I meet Vlad (my husband/partner in Fab’s websites), and we become partners in exploring the world. We worked in the USA in 2007 and 2010. In 2011, we set off together for Shanghai, China, to be "real" architects and explore Asia.
We only managed to truly explore Asia after about two years of adaptation, during which we designed millions of square meters, worked with people of all nationalities, and I began to realize that my superpower is seeing a person with a creative eye and helping them come out of their shell. China was the perfect place to practice this because I could sense people beyond words (which I didn’t understand).
Shanghai shaped me. It made me question who I am and embrace that now. The experience of working as an architect in a firm with 200 other architects, only about five of whom (maybe!) spoke English, was both brilliant and disruptive for the traditional architect profession. I specialized in conceptualizing and presenting solutions to clients because I loved understanding who the client was, getting into their mind, and building for THEM, not for myself. I met very diverse people there; each came with a purpose or a dream. The part about the DREAM intrigued me. I started asking myself what my professional purpose was.
I dreamed of feeling like it’s the weekend every day at the office, being surrounded by people who inspire me and do good, and being FREE to create everything they need, to advise them on their image.
In 2014, in Shanghai, we opened The FAB Squad—right in one of the rooms of our home. The women of Shanghai, a society focused on appearances, image, and "beauty," were the perfect fit for my services. So, on weekends, I was happy to be "the FAB" Ioana. During the week, I was tired of being "the architect" Ioana.
When we returned to Romania, I knew that The FAB Squad was my future. I started with just photography and makeup, but with the same concept of self-empowerment and personal rediscovery, all with a glass of prosecco in hand. Even I didn’t fully understand how to merge what I knew from architecture with what I was doing now, but I had identified a market need. People, especially women in Romania, were much more ready to GIVE THEMSELVES MOMENTS, to be AUTHENTIC. Plus, there was a growing need for professional photos that truly reflected who they were. I essentially demystified and democratized photography and prosecco. I created the studio as the perfect setting for people to open up—to me, and more importantly, to themselves.
Looking back, I realize that my flair for analyzing and understanding clients comes from architecture.
Later, I continued listening to their needs. I understood that photography was only part of the process. Many wanted a visual strategy—a VISUAL ALPHABET for their online presence. An architect is a visual strategist, and that’s what I do—I bring clarity and structure to your visual plan so it speaks to your target audience. The ONLINE HOMES I create start with a deep analysis of the client and their market. Once we establish the concept and structure, we build the walls (social media accounts), followed by the roof (website), and then we populate the house together. :) It’s very similar to classic architecture. I just realized I’m much more motivated to help people build an online home than one on the ground. That’s how I reintegrated my architect identity into my current profession.
OK, OK
WHAT DO WE DO
At The FAB Squad, we are unique as a "one-stop shop" for Visual Personal Branding.
We are an agency for personal brands, meaning we work with individuals, not big brands—this allows us to be specific and deeply involved in every project, putting our heart and soul into it.
Our services are integrated—they happen in the same place and are built on the same concept, saving time and money. Our goal is to create a complete vision of personal branding—photography, graphics, styling, and web design—what we call the ALL-INCLUSIVE VISUAL start pack.
What else sets us apart? ME—Ioana—the person who believes there’s no greater superpower than liking yourself.
I call myself a "self-love activist" because I fight daily—with myself, with the people who come to me, and with my squad—for self-esteem to be healthy and natural. I don't believe authentic brands can emerge without self-love. That's why we also have our manifesto project and the first atlas of diverse and authentic beauty in Romania, SELF LOVE ATLAS, which you can find on our website. – https://www.thefabsquad.com/self-love-club
We work with both individuals and groups. Our clients are predominantly entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, or professionals, but on the photography side, we also collaborate with teams or companies—your squad.
Individually, our clients are mostly women entrepreneurs who want to put a "face" to their business and connect their personal brand to their venture. With them, we dive deep (or better said, into prosecco :))—analysis, photography, graphics, and website. Some don’t know exactly what they want—they just know they want to discover their target audience and how to reach them strategically and visually. No problem, we figure it out together.
The companies we work with need employer branding—a unified and coherent image of their employees for their website or online presence, aiming to foster a stronger sense of team belonging.
Everyone is looking for someone they resonate with—in business, in relationships, in life. The people who come to FAB share the same values as me and need someone who speaks their language, someone who can dive into their minds and bring out their essence.
Those who come just for photography place a lot of trust in me. They’re not models. It’s rare that I photograph people who’ve done a photoshoot before. They’re regular people like me, like you, like him, like her—with vulnerabilities and insecurities. What I do is study them before the shoot and during makeup, with prosecco as my secret weapon (well... not so secret anymore), and POOF! FAB photos! I don’t ask them to say CHEEEESE; I ask them to say, "I like myself!"
I’m a creative mind with good instincts. But I’m overwhelmed and intimidated by numbers and accounting. I get a lot of help in that area. Managing my time and that of my collaborators or employees has been a major challenge. It still is, but I’ve made progress. I seek help and resources among my friends, but especially from Vlad, who has always been a pillar of support. Since 2022, he’s officially 100% part of FAB, handling all things web design, process optimization, and basically any administrative task you can think of.
Our team consists of me, Ana, and Vlad, always connected to the Squad, plus about 10 collaborators. Ana is a communication strategist and creator of FAB visuals, while I’m... the jack-of-all-trades. The three of us have visuals, geometry, and humanity in our blood. We all want to help the people we work with feel at home in their online spaces. We want them to use these spaces with joy and feel less pressure.
Ana and I share a love for dance and R&B music.
Vlad and I share a marriage—a perfectly imperfect family. And we have Toma, our 3-year-old son (at the time of writing this article and posting the picture below - he’s now 7)
We see each other daily at our studio in the city center, near the university. We have weeks filled with photoshoots and weeks dedicated to drawing and creation. We enjoy specialty coffee and prosecco, trying to order less food and stay healthy. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we don’t. :)
The FAB Squad consists of all the people who come to us. Over 3,000 people with whom we’ve worked, who are the happy owners of a portrait, brand, or website marked #fab—diverse individuals with what I call "perfect flaws," who want to change the world in some way, to improve it. Or at least their own world.
“Join the Squad!“
Ioana Dodan