We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sabria Sparrow a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sabria , thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
There are so many mindset shifts that have helped me overcome imposter syndrome. The first has to do with my identity and perceived positionally within society. I’ve mentioned this before, but especially being young, black, and a woman, you are often constantly sent signals, whether you consciously pick up on them or not, that you don’t belong in the spaces that you’re in. And for a long time, I believed that. Even when I was trying my hardest, I always succumbed to the belief that I wasn’t good enough. Although I did not directly tie my feelings to my identity, I realize now how much it is — it is an extra layer added on top of the normal human emotions of feeling imposter syndrome. I thought getting a degree would make this go away, and then getting another one, and then getting experience, but it never quite went away until I shifted my mindset to believe that I belonged and that I deserved to take up space. This came with the conscious realization that my identity was a strength and not a weakness. Black women are known for being able to understand things often first and on a deeper level, and it’s because our intersectional experiences, like many others who have intersectional identities, give us a unique and peculiar insight. And understanding my perspective to be a strength, seeing how the women before me and the women I look up to take up space, on top of realizing that my value and worth are inherent, have allowed me to change my mindset from “I shouldn’t be here/I don’t belong” to “if anyone should be here, it should be me.” On a more human level, another shift has just been realizing that this is everyone’s first time living (that we can conceive of) and none of us know what we’re doing— we’re all just winging it, and we’re all just focused on ourselves.
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?
Right now, I have labeled myself a content creator. At the moment, I am an adjunct professor, and while I’ve been deeply invested in “academia” in the past, right now, I’m identifying more with being a Content Creator, and always identify as a creative. I’ve mentioned this here in the past, but I began creating content because I wanted to write and be a writer. That is still true, but I’ve also developed a fairly newfound love and perspective for creating content. I saw a post recently that said “think of your content as art” and that changed everything, because while I’ve always known this, I began to dig deeper to understand creating content as an art and as a beacon of the current cultural landscape. Often Content Creators and Influencers are seen as people who just take pictures, film videos, and push product. While it’s true many get into both or either for the free stuff and brand deals, others see these things as merely a part of the bigger picture and a bigger impact they are hoping to have on the world and their audience. Regardless of one’s intentions, however, the fact is, Content Creators and Influencers are helping to shape culture as we see it today. Our reinforcement of trends and cultural mindsets through fashion, beauty, lifestyle, thought leadership content etc. greatly impacts what is popular, how people see the world, and will subsequently not only drive forward the very ideas that we will look back on in history, but is helping to shape history as well. This may make it seem like I am giving Content Creators a lot of credit, but the truth is, all prominent aspects of society today, including what we’re creating and consuming, (which, let’s be real, we all spend too much time on Tik Tok) are shaping the future of tomorrow. That’s what I think is so exciting or special about it. As far as my personal brand, I’m looking forward to continuing to create and experiment with digital creation and art forms and being a part, even if only a small part, of the cultural pivot we are currently in. I am currently doing this through social media, and am loving expressing myself through minimal style and lifestyle as well as on YT where my goal is to showcase navigating joy and resistance as a Black girl. Additionally, I am hoping to expand into UGC creation this Summer for brands.
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?
I think the three qualities/skills that have been most impactful in my journey is the ability to observe and learn from everything in the world around me constantly, to see all of my knowledge as integral to my end goal or bigger picture whatever that is, and to keep going. You have to keep going. This sounds cliche, but you don’t actually know what that means until you’re in a position where things feel like they’re not working and it feels like the only reasonable next step is to stop. If you ever feel that way, don’t.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
All the challenges I’m currently facing have to do with being “in between” options/ideas/mindsets. As a young woman with so much to learn, I’m constantly taking things in, and the biggest struggle I’m having is between what I’ve been taught, and what is true. Another way to describe this would be theory vs. reality. I spent a lot of time in school, and in the last year and a half, dealing with the “real world” as both a creator and adjunct professor has been extremely eye opening. I’ve always known how valuable “real life” knowledge is, but to experience understanding certain ideals, cliche’s and just things that feel opposite of what’s logical, has been interesting. For example, we’re often taught to stand up for what we believe in, to fight for injustice, that we can be anything we want, that we can overcome anything if we try hard enough, that the world works in this linear and logical way. This may feel contradictory to what I said in my last answer but… that’s just not true. It can be, but even when it is, it doesn’t look the way you thought it would. The biggest challenge I’m having right now is learning how to navigate the world’s systems while remaining true to who I am, and the inevitable truth is that oftentimes we have to sacrifice one for the other or engage in the struggle of finding a happy medium.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sabriasparrow.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/sabriasparrow
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@SabriaSparrow?si=lvkp2fQFq2cHj1hL
