We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Skylar Saba. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Skylar below.
Skylar, 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?
For me, working as a creative can be challenging. There are a lot of ups and downs that can happen when you are making money via your creativity. There is pressure on your creativity that can really suppress the reasons you fell in love with creativity in the first place.
It is important to me that the joy remains around creating. To me, what makes life so cool is people’s creativity and sharing that. We wouldn’t be where we are today in the world if we did not lean into our creativity. It is important for people to create and important for people to share creativity.
I think for me something I do to keep my creativity alive is reframe things, bask in the joy of creating, and encourage others to create.
Reframing the way I look at life, work, and clients has helped me to keep the fire in my heart going. Any time I see something or feel ticked off by something I like to think how can I reframe this? For example, when you get a massive list of edits from a client. It’s not “omg there are so many edits to my work and I did _x_ wrong”. It’s I love that they are telling me exactly what they imagined and wanted and took so much time to make sure we get this right”. It really helps to highlight the way you get to help bring people’s visions to life.
Basking in the joy of creating has seriously leveled up the way I consume content/media/life. I get so stoked when I see other people sharing their creativity. It makes me so happy. It makes me excited to create my own stuff. I look to honor creativity in as many things as I can. Cooking, music, dance, writing, outfits, people’s IG posts. It makes things so much better. I like the inspiration it gives me to not only create in my medium of choice but in every aspect of my life. This has just really helped give my creative essence new life in new ways.
And lastly, when I help others create or encourage others to create it gets me so excited. It reminds me why I do what I do, it helps bring more creative energy to the world and it helps make the world a better place.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My name is Skylar Saba, and I am the founder and creative director of Groove Street Creative Agency. We build brands that stand out. My business started a little bit by accident. I am also a sustainability content creator (going on 5 years now). I studied Fashion and Sustainability in college at The Fashion Institute of Technology. While in school learning about sustainability I was bursting with information. I couldn’t hold it in anymore so I started an online blog, Happy Earth Habits sharing ways to live a more low-waste/friendly lifestyle. I started to build an online community of fellow earth-lovers, today we have a following of around 70K across multiple platforms. As I was building this community people started to reach out about needing help for them to do the same. So on the side in college, I would help small businesses build their brand online. Helping with branding, creative strategy, and website development.
Fast forward to April 2020, the peek of the pandemic. I was graduating from college at a weird time when the job market wasn’t necessarily popping. I realized that I was starting to get more and more people who were needing support building their brands. Today 3 years later we have helped over 85 businesses build engaged communities, awesome products, and thriving brands.
The Groove Street client ranges from tech start-ups, non-profits, to clothing brands, and wellness companies. The common thread is that they are here to do things to the beat of their own drum. We build out the creative strategy for brands to show up and stand out confidently. We lean into your brand’s individuality, unique stories, and passions that drive your vision to create a strong brand that provides our clients with longevity, clarity, and confidence.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Owning a business isn’t for everybody. And successful businesses are successful for a reason. The leaders/owners/entrepreneurs are very important in the success of a business and oftentimes get in their own way. I think you have to train to be an entrepreneur and to me, having a solution-based way of thinking, leaning into my individuality, and having a positive outlook on life have been the areas most useful to train.
Everything can be figured out – lean into the solutions. Your job as an entrepreneur is to solve problems. And as a business owner, there are a lot of problems. Rather than pointing fingers at others or yourself lean into the solution. Get creative and don’t stop till you find a solution. The solution might be to go the other direction but every problem in my life has only helped make me a better person, leader, and business owner
When you are confident in who you are things are easier. You stand taller and stand out more. Since I was little I have always liked being different and I got good at feeling okay being different. To me, this was important while starting and growing my business because when I am authentically myself things come easier. You spend less money on marketing and ads because people are excited to hear what you have to say…. because you aren’t saying what everybody else says. Your individuality is your superpower.
Having a positive outlook makes things easier. You can choose to see life half full or half empty and trust me… it’s easier to see it half empty and way more fun to see it half full. Really train your brain to see things as happening for you not to you. There are a lot of bumps, redirects, detours, and roadblocks in this journey, and if you can train yourself to see them as opportunities and be grateful… you take your endurance to the next level. Plus it really makes things more fun.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
When I feel overwhelmed I lean into my self-care menu. I have a list on my phone of things that will help me when I feel overwhelmed and I will stop, take a few breaths and think. What do I need? I look at the nourishment menu and pick one. From taking a walk to headphones in work sesh, to just a coffee for motivation. This always helps me take a min and prioritise myself in the situation too. Most times I feel overwhelmed because I haven’t given myself what I need and usually once I do things feel a little easier.
Contact Info:
- Website: Groovestreetcreative.com
- Instagram: Groovestreetcreative
Image Credits
Liz Pound Photography
