Meet Mercedes Bazan

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mercedes Bazan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mercedes, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
This is something that I work on constantly. There is a part of me that always feels like its not good enough or that I am not good enough.

Doing things outside work and enjoying activities not related to design or illustration, makes me take a step back from all those negative thoughts and appreciate life from another perspective. The love I receive by the people who follow me in social media keeps my energy up and motivates me to keep showcasing what I do.

It is hard sometimes… I end up comparing myself to other people and I enter a rabbit hole of self sabotage. Whenever I feel I am entering that path, practicing yoga keeps me aligned and away from feeling not good enough. I would recommend everyone to find what works best for you, it could be anything!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

I studied graphic design at the University of Buenos Aires. While studying, I worked as an office manager in a small agency in Buenos Aires. At some point, I also worked as an editorial designer for an underground fashion magazine. I later realized that I could not sustain both jobs at the same time so I decided to be a UI designer.

School was very demanding, but at the end of my studies, I had a big portfolio full of university projects. Was thanks to that, I got an email from a startup called Stripe. They liked my work and thought I could be a good fit for the company. After numerous interviews, I got the job as a graphic designer. I am very grateful for the opportunity they gave me because it changed my life. I moved from Buenos Aires to San Francisco, California and started a new life there.

After a year and a half later, my US visa expired. The company I worked for proposed that I go to Dublin to work from their offices until I got my US visa renewed, and I did so. I spent a year and a half living in Ireland and learning a lot about myself. I was going through some sort of depression at that time and got myself into illustrating something I have always loved: anime. After that moment, I started balancing my freelance life with my full-time job, and it was not easy. Yet somehow, I managed to do it and started getting a lot of commissions requests.

I finally got my US visa in 2019 and came back to United States. I adopted a cat and felt I was on top of the world. I have worked with cool clients thanks to illustration. It gives me a lot of joy to illustrate.

I am a blessed person and I am truly grateful for all the people who gave me these opportunities. I don’t take anything for granted and I am conscious about my privileges.

My friend Pablo Stanley, who gave me lots of opportunities to develop my career, is working on a series of monthly event called Sketh Together, they are being hosted in Mexico and I would recommend going there if you wanna learn and meet new cool people.

https://lu.ma/sketchtogether

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think the most important qualities were: being open to criticism, putting myself out there and perseverance. All of these are hard and struggle with them most of the times. Nobody really enjoys people criticizing your work but sometimes it is necessary to see a new point of view.

In the university I attended (FADU) it was a regular thing to put your work on the walls of the classroom for everyone to see and to share their opinions. This has facilitated the fact of putting my work out there and being OK and open with what people think.

Perseverance is also important in order to make progress. This doesn’t mean you have to be producing one thing per day! it could be just dedicating an hour per week to do so. I personally don’t have a lot of time to illustrate just for fun because of my two jobs. So, my production level is slow and small, however that is better than nothing, so don’t be hard on yourself. The important thing is not to stop.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
When I feel overwhelmed I try to go out and see other people on the street and understand that everyone is going through things… that we are very small in this world and we are not here for a long period of time, so might as well have fun while we are still here.

I enjoy practicing yoga, going to the gym, watching a very bad reality tv show. What ever activity that can get my mind off the negative thoughts. After I come back to do what I have to do, I feel new and with a clear perspective.

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