Meet Sarah Ikerd

We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Ikerd recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

My optimism comes from feeling a connection with God / Universe and my personal understanding of that so far. I connect through prayer and meditation for trying to understand the context of different situations and events in my life and how to navigate. This helps me continue to grow. The creative or life force definitely makes me feel optimistic, also learning more and exploring, trying to cultivate feelings of love and peace through spirit.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Studio Shangri-La multimedia including the label OCTAVES Music is my company. Music releases have been a big focus this year, from classical to electronic to rock, along with accompanying cover art. And coming up, even submitting to the Grammy’s this year.

On the artistic front, for Studio Shangri-La I have a current commission from a multinational development corporation for some science influenced pieces. It’s a pleasure to partner with companies that are focused on making improvements for environment such as re-greening, and public health. The publications branch is also active with the Kindle sci-fi series “Awasis.”

With design, the companying is in the process of branching into engineering for innovation and sustainability. These tests for design build are ongoing.

I definitely have a do-what-you-can-with-what-you-have approach and that is paying off in more ways than one. It’s very fulfilling to make ideas tangible.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I am actually writing a book about this right now, about what I have learned so far. One very important point to me is to follow the joy or enjoyment. That’s not to say you have to be thrilled all the time, but connect with what is good in the moment about the process, and the purity of that. That is what makes life rich and also gather momentum.

I have actually had somewhat of a rough journey to learning about this, what this means to be fully present and what feels like. Prayer and meditation have been key for me, as I mentioned before, and being open to learning. And of course I still am, having gained many insights along the way.

Another important point — to give oneself the stamp of approval. You don’t have to wait around for that from someone else. Do what you enjoy and find rituals to stay connected with that enjoyment. Too much mass media noise may distract from that, honestly. Relaxing in the beauty of nature is another great way to (re)connect.

I like to share what I have learned and what works for me, because that’s evolution. I will share this with my future children too so they have a leg up. Yet, with a dash of recognizing the opinion base and that every situation is unique.

Keep building!

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Yes, it would be a wonderful to connect with musicians, artists and designers to collaborate on projects, releases and events. For the innovative envirotech projects, with scientists and engineers. The label and company are in an ongoing state of growth to have positive impact. I am involved with multiple projects at any given moment and really enjoy figuring things out, but the collaborations are so much more fun and yield magically powerful and unexpected results.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

All images produced by Sarah Ikerd / Studio Shangri-La / OCTAVES Music

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