By ASI EFROS
For over three decades, Niki Baratta has helped shape the visual identity of one of the world’s most recognizable fashion brands. As Vice President of Photography at Victoria’s Secret, she stood behind the lens of an era, crafting imagery that would become iconic, aspirational, and deeply embedded in popular culture.
Reflecting on her time at the company, Niki is most proud of being “an integral part of the evolution of the Victoria’s Secret brand from its early, dreamlike beginnings in the late ’80s and early ’90s into what became an iconic, aspirational, and confidence-driven global image.” Through photography and film, she and her teams created storytelling that felt bold, beautiful, and empowering. “The goal was always to invite the customer into that world,” she explains, “so she could see herself reflected in the confidence and possibility being portrayed.”
Equally meaningful to Niki was her role in recognizing and nurturing talent. Over the years, she helped build collaborative, high-performing creative teams and witnessed many careers take flight. One defining moment still stands out: “Heidi Klum came to a last-minute go-see on a Friday afternoon due to a cancellation. I booked her that same day, and the rest became history.” Looking back, Niki sees her career as unfolding alongside a broader cultural shift, when women were ready for a more embodied sense of inner strength. “I like to believe we answered that call through storytelling that was always pushing forward, offering something fresh, aspirational, and alive.”
That chapter came to an abrupt end on a freezing day in January 2019. When Niki arrived at her desk, she noticed an unexpected meeting request. “As soon as I walked into the room, I knew,” she recalls. After spending her entire working life at the company, it was suddenly over. The moment felt surreal. “I remember a deep sense of calm washing over me,” she says, a response that allowed her to move through the meeting with presence. Though she had sensed a growing misalignment in the months prior, the reality didn’t fully land until later, when she returned home and the weight of it settled in. What followed was unfamiliar stillness. “My daily rhythms disappeared almost overnight, no meetings, no structure, no familiar routines,” Niki shares. For the first time in her life, she allowed herself to get curious about what might come next. The loss was layered and profound: “I felt a deep sense of loss… my identity shaken, my community gone, the future unclear.”
She filled her days with long walks, yoga classes, and lunches with friends, quietly living inside the uncertainty. Despite the upheaval, one truth stood out: “What became very clear, though, was that I did not want to return to the corporate world.” Instead, there was “a soft but persistent whisper inside me saying, there is something else for you.”
Starting over required patience and a willingness to slow down. “The biggest lesson was to take the time I needed—and to meet myself with compassion,” Niki says. As her identity began to fall away, the process felt transformative. “Looking back now, I can see that I needed a bridge… something transitional to carry me from who I had been to what was waiting for me.” That bridge came in the form of a healing crystal jewelry business, which provided both creativity and grounding during the in-between. At the same time, Niki began to confront the physical cost of years spent in high performance. “I realized I had been living in a state of burnout and functional freeze, with a dysregulated nervous system and chronic migraines as a result.” Rather than forcing her way forward, she chose rest. “From loss and fear to rest and nourishment, I discovered that slowing down was the most powerful medicine.” What once felt like falling apart now reads, in hindsight, as a gift.
Today, Niki Baratta’s decades at Victoria’s Secret deeply inform the way she guides others. “I spent more than 30 years growing up inside a globally recognized brand,” she says, an experience that offered exceptional mentorship and leadership development. Yet she also witnessed how success can create a bubble—where perfectionism and performance make it difficult to imagine new possibilities. “I help my clients gently step outside that bubble, gain clarity, and reconnect with what feels true for them.” For anyone facing the loss of a career they devoted their life to, Niki’s guidance is both gentle and grounded. She encourages self-compassion and reflection, reminding people that this moment is an invitation. “This is a chance to begin again… on your own terms and at your own pace.”
Contact:
Niki Baratta, Life Coach
Email: niki@nikibaratta.com
Website: www.nikibaratta.com
Instagram: @nikibaratta