Meet Sierra Houk

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sierra Houk. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sierra below.

Sierra, we are so deeply grateful to you for opening up about your journey with mental health in the hops that it can help someone who might be going through something similar. Can you talk to us about your mental health journey and how you overcame or persisted despite any issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

Wow, where to even begin. I’ve been affected by mental health issues since my childhood. I experienced grief very early on when I was four and my brother Dylan died at birth. Not a fun place to start but my mental health story doesn’t feel complete without including it. That (of course) had a huge impact on my identity and relationship with depression and Big Feelings.

In school I ran on anxiety and perfectionism to hide the sadness, shame and general feeling like I don’t belong that I carried into adulthood. That overachieving kept me safe and was rewarded in school; it got me to valedictorian and graduating from college a year early. But it also led to massive burn out and self harm in my late teens/early twenties. At that point I really made the choice to commit to taking care of my mental health–and it has taken a ton of commitment just doing the work, let alone navigating awful American health systems that make it hard to access care.

Medication has helped me but it was also a long and difficult process to first find the type that worked for me and then find the right medication combo (Cymbalta♥️Wellbutrin) and dosage that doesn’t have *too* bad of side effects. Talk therapy is really the thing that has helped me the most, though. I wouldn’t have gotten far into my career without learning different coping skills and having a dedicated space where I feel like I’m allowed to express my feelings.

In the early part of my career I struggled to find a work place that I felt comfortable in and didn’t massively trigger my anxiety. Ultimately I’ve found that I am very uncomfortable in office culture and am so much happier just doing my own thing as an independent freelancer. It’s made a huge difference in being able to make my own accommodations, like communication preferences (I’d rather email than talk on the phone), working in private from my home office, or just being able to set my own schedule. Being able to step away from my work to eat/take a walk/stretch/whatever when I need to without feeling like I’m going to get in trouble with someone has been huge in helping me actually take care of myself and my mental health.

Dedicating time and energy to my own personal art projects has also been a huge plus of freelancing which helps my mental health. Plus it just helps make me a better artist overall. I like to make clothes and jewelry—I try to make things that I would have loved as a weird teenager. I have experimented with selling them at flea markets but feel like I haven’t quite figured that out yet….

Finally, on the topic of things that help my mental health: when I’m in my feelings I like to listen to my sad songs playlist and it helps me feel less alone: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6L5XSmpE2zwpnM0gZS9q6V?si=11bc099ce20d45eb

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

As a freelance designer I am interested in doing work that is socially impactful and for a good cause. Currently my client makeup is one agency I work with pretty consistently making social, email, and display graphics for nonprofits, plus a handful of other agencies, independent project managers and local business that have projects for me here and there throughout the year. That leaves me pretty flexible to take on new projects as they come, which I’m always open to requests and if it doesn’t fit with my schedule at the time I’m happy to recommend some other folks in my network to reach out to.

I really love freelance work and running my own business because I can work with the ebb and flow of projects and then actually rest or work on my own projects in the slow times. August through December is usually busy for me, and January and February end up being pretty quiet which is a nice recharge (so long as I can stave off the guilt and fear things won’t pick up again). In that time I also catch up on things like organizing documents for taxes and updating my portfolio with all of the work I just did for end of year.

I’m especially interested in doing work that aligns with my values and the causes I care about. My areas of interest all pretty much stem from my strong belief in body autonomy—I’m passionate about healthcare for all, women’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of gender expression, end of life care, and access to mental health resources. I feel especially lucky anytime I get to create something in this realm.

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?

First off, my work ethic has definitely helped get me far but I’ve also had to learn to reign it in. For other anxiety-driven overachievers, I’d say that you know you can work hard and be creative when the work is there, but you also need to figure out how to rest and recharge without feeling guilty or beating yourself up for it. The various office jobs I’ve had mostly just took advantage of my work ethic without compensating me for additional responsibilities and didn’t leave room for rest. Being independent and having full control over my schedule has let me build a structure that doesn’t burn me out.

An area of knowledge that I’ve enjoyed exploring throughout my career is video production and animation. I loved video production class and doing theatre tech in high school and even though I didn’t go into those fields, graphic design still lets me dip my toes in. There is a vast world of animation and video programs that still feel pretty daunting to me, but there are tons of simpler, low-fi applications for motion throughout the kinds of things that I make—emails, social posts, banner ads.

Lastly, we talked about therapy a little already but it really has been so helpful for me in building the skills I need to take care of myself throughout my career. Especially in a creative field, there is so much rejection, impostor syndrome, critique, and pressure to preform out there in the professional world. A regular therapy practice has helped me with practical skills for stressful situations and also given me a space to work through identity issues like job and productivity being tied to self worth and that you don’t have to suffer and be sad to be a proper Artist. Finding a therapist that you like is expensive and sucks if you get someone you don’t click with, but for me I think it has been really worth the commitment over time.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

I love to work with nonprofits and change-making organizations. I want to use my design powers for good, and am always looking for other people who are out there fighting the good fight. I love when I get to use my skills to promote the important work other people are doing and free up their time to focus on what they’re good at. I can help make the presentation decks and instagram stories look good, they can focus more on making the world a better place.

With working relationships I’ve also found that I really hate hierarchy… I believe everyone’s time is equally valuable and everyone comes to the table with unique skills and ideas. I only want to work with folks who treat me as an equal part of the team, all working towards a common goal and all valued for our contributions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://SierraHouk.com
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/sierrahouk
• Linkedin: https://Linkedin.com/in/sierrahouk