Only Elite Matters is the start-up company you need to know about

On Saturday, August 26, Only Elite Matters hosted their first on-campus event of the semester, Owl Create.

Only Elite Matters is a small start-up company created by four Temple students looking to give creative people the opportunity to work together to gain experience and build their professional portfolios.

Joshua Ortiz, Amaria Estes, Sam Colon, and Dylan Rhudd started their company to offer "an outlet for creativity." The students were hoping to connect creatives from all around the city.

Co-founder Joshua Ortiz says that through the growth the company has seen since their first launch party, he definitely feels like their goal of creating and collaborating was achieved.

Owl Create was an opportunity for creative designers, photographers and models to work together to make their creative visions come to life in different locations across campus.

Co-founder Amaria Estes used the notorious Narnia to set up her display of the seven deadly sins. Amaria used Narnia as her creative location because of the importance the area has to Temple students, as well as the connection she was able to make to the Garden of Eden. Amaria picked four of the seven sins to represent what she thinks most students are able to relate to daily: wrath, pride, greed and envy.

Amaria is a senior advertising and event planning major and was excited about the opportunity to see her visions come to life. "Bringing the emotions into one shoot," was Amaria's main goal, and it was inspiring to see the dedication brought about by each participating student.

Annemarie Reisch is a freshman psychology major who enjoys modeling on the side. Although she realized she was a couple inches too short to make it as a professional model, she still enjoys modeling as a hobby, and working for independent designers when she can. She even walked in New York Fashion Week for an independent designer. Annemarie modeled for Amaria's pride emotion. She said the aesthetic was "very her," other than not being humble. "It's pink and girly and I like that!"

Dylan Rhudd took his creative ideas to Kardon Atlantic apartments to invoke individuality. "A lot of people feel like that has to stifle what they like," and Dylan wanted to use his photoshoot to embrace differences and passions.

Dylan is a senior marketing major, and hopes to use his photography skills to help build social media content.

Photographer Matt Grove is a senior advertising major who looked to photography for a creative outlet. Matt initially picked up photography to build his advertising experience, but after getting more into the hobby, he's hoping to use his photo skills to build a career. Matt was excited to be a part of Owl Create and appreciated the opportunity to gain new outlooks and new material to photograph. "This is something you can't do alone," he says.

Sam Colon used the roof of the Montgomery parking garage to craft his shoot. Sam used inspiration from outfits from the 60's and 80's to bring his idea of a "museum live tour" exhibit to life.

Sam continued to elaborate on being a part of Only Elite Matters, offering that "if you bring something to us, we will bring something to you, and we'll share."

"It's a creative release," Sam says. "We want to challenge everyone."

To regroup after the event, Only Elite Matters hosted a photo mixer, in which participants were asked to vote on the best photos to come out of the event. The winner this year was Saliana Rosenfield. Saliana's work can be seen below.

Only Elite Matters will be hosting more on-campus events this semester for creative students and other people around Philadelphia. Be sure to check their Twitter and Instagram for the latest events and news.