Meet Sara Obando

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sara Obando. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sara, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

As most designers, I got into this creative field because I love creativity. And people often think we creatives are naturally always flowing with new ideas waiting to be brought to live. Which is not completely untrue, but it’s hard to train ourselves to use our creativity in a focused way, which is what we need in order to stay on top of projects.

As a teenager, I was the random weird kid carrying a notebook around everywhere I went to. Because I was always ready to draw and write whatever came into my mind. Going into graphic and web design was a choice I made easily when time came for college, because I knew that’s where I could put my creativity to good use.

But in college you are forced to use that creativity again and again for work. Paintings, essays, readings — all that energy that was free flowing before gets exhausted just trying to keep up with the load of homework. And work as well, if you were already working as a designer somewhere while studying like I did!

By the end of the day, there wasn’t any creativity left for my hobbyist self.

It wasn’t until years after college, and working a regular desk job doing web design work, that I realized the creative spark was barely there. I had gotten used to keeping things simple, following the company brand guidelines, functional although somewhat boring creative work that got the job done. Creativity in a box.

I realized I wasn’t reading for fun. I wasn’t following design blogs. I wasn’t scheduling any time to do things for fun. It had been years since I had painted something other than for work or school. All those things I used to do when I was younger, which had led me into taking a creative career path, were actually no longer a regular part of my life.

And I decided that needed to change. I needed to be creative for me, without considering how to monetize my creative work. I needed to set boundaries around my creativity. And I needed to let myself be creative to relax, not just creative to work.

It started with reading outside of work — and I especially gave myself the freedom of reading fiction for fun, not just restricting myself to design, work, and self-development books. With the help of the book The Artist’s Way, I started scheduling artist dates with myself where I could be creative. Try writing again. Try painting again. With absolutely no work-related agenda behind my art. I started doing web design projects for fun: coding my own lorem ipsum generator, or setting up a blog about being an introvert–projects I had thought of long ago, but hadn’t given any time to because they were not a work priority.

As I started taking a bit of time every week to let myself be creative, the spark started coming back. New ideas came up for client projects. New projects popped up for my own business that allowed me to have more creative freedom.

And don’t limit your creative outlets. I’m not a kitchen person, but sometimes I want to be experimental with food, and I give myself an evening to create a new dish for myself, and enjoy that creative process. Or taking my time every morning to prepare myself tea or coffee, and let myself be a bit creative with it. Sometimes I just want to sing karaoke. Sometimes I want to draw flowers. Set time apart every week to be creative for yourself, without limiting how you will put that into action. And then just follow what your brain wants.

And as you explore all these creative outlets, your creative spark in general will be fueled so that every aspect of your life and work will be more creative as a consequence of it.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’m Sara, and I’m a web and brand designer focused on building online presences for health and wellnesses businesses. Among my clients I have yoga instructors, therapists and counsellors, coaches, non-profits, and other service providers looking to make the world a better place.

I love my work, because it’s literally helping make the world a better place, even if it’s through small steps. Our clients are educating people, helping people find better work for themselves, improving other people’s health, helping people get out of hard situations, and even providing education for kids in areas of the world where they otherwise wouldn’t receive a good education. Our clients are changing lives, living their values, reaching the people that need their services, and we get to amplify their voices through an online presence that connects them with even more people. It’s an honor to do this work!

I also have a community for solopreneurs and small businesses needing support starting and building their online presence, called the Online Presence Library. It’s a great place for people who are building their own website, but need guidance through their journey. I provide resources and answers, and we have quarterly workshops with other guest experts that talk about topics relevant to our students. If you’re looking for support in this area, we’d love for you to come take a look — https://stargazedstudio.com/library

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Embrace Change
Our journeys are meant to develop over time, and if we don’t embrace the change, we won’t continue forward in the journey. Going through these changes is what leaps us forward, transforms us, and takes us to the next level.

Connection
We cannot do this alone. It doesn’t matter what part of the journey you are in, if you have the support of others, you will get through it faster and better. Support systems, mentors, accountability partners, there are many different ways in which we can connect with other through our journey. And of course, passing it forward to others and supporting them is what makes this cycle work.

Ask for Help
It is ok to be vulnerable and admit that we need help. It can be hard because many of us feel like we are failing if we need to ask for help. But that is not the case! And letting ourselves be vulnerable will actually help us attract others that relate to our circumstances, thus creating connections that are even stronger (see previous point!)

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?

Since I am a big believer in relationship-based marketing and real connections, I’ve been working on expanding my efforts. I am looking for people who work supporting the health and wellness industries, who would like to partner with a design agency that benefits their audience.

We can be a guest for your audience and provide trainings and presentations, or help you provide access to wellness-specific design templates, or even be the go-to consultant in your community for anything web design and online presence related. Your provide the service, and we fulfill it.

Or we can just be partners and refer to each other.

I have multiple ideas and options available through my Design for Wellness program (https://stargazedstudio.com/services/design-for-wellness/) open to anyone who wants to collaborate together.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://stargazedstudio.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/stargazed.studio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stargazed.studio/
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/stargazedstudio
• Other: https://pinterest.com/stargazedstudio

Image Credits

Team photo by Lee Pectol | Pectolite Photography
The work portrayed is part of Stargazed Studio’s portfolio