Ladies who love their cats get a notoriously bad rap. Fashion and beauty photographer BriAnne Wills (featured above with Tuck and Liza) is one of those ladies, and it was her affinity for felines and meeting new people that sparked the concept of her ongoing photo series, Girls and Their Cats (girlsandtheircats.com), which has her smashing stereotypes with every shoot.

Back in September 2014, Wills, a Portland, Oregon, native moved to Brooklyn with her husband. As a way to network within the creative industry, she began taking photos of women nude in their homes. During one shoot, a cat jumped into the shot. “We kept that going because it became so cute, intimate, and special,” explains Wills. “The photos were more interesting than her being naked.” After that, Wills noticed that there were “crazy cat lady” photo series and series of men with cats, but “no one had focused on cool, interesting cat ladies,” so she decided to make that her mission.

In the beginning, she shot friends of friends. Now she regularly gets emails from ladies who want their cat connections documented. “I’m looking for women in the [creative] industry who have interesting stories to tell,” says Wills, who has photographed more than 176 woman, including artists, writers, musicians, and designers. Her feline subjects have ranged from hairless sphynxes and massive Siberians to steely-eyed Himalayans and calico rescues, but two that stand out in her mind are Lois and Maxine. The black-furred beauties belong to New York–based journalist and gallery owner Alexandra King and have cerebellar hypoplasia, also known as wobbly cat syndrome. “They don’t have balance or coordination, and they walk like little drunks,” Wills explains. “They’re so sweet; it’s a special story.”

Now Wills is looking to take Girls and Their Cats to the next level. “I would love to do a book,” she says. “I would love to take this on the road somehow and photograph girls and their cats in Tokyo, Paris, or L.A.” As the project progresses, so does Wills’s network: “One of the most incredible things about the project is how many amazing women I’ve met,” says Wills. “I moved to New York without knowing anyone, and I now have 176 new friends.”