Creating Authenticity and Happiness in Your Career with Disrupt Symposium's Sara Kolata
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Sara: [00:00:00]

Intro
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Sara: That's definitely the sort of journey that I, I found myself on through failures and successes, being a business owner, I really feel like that journey has been a very, spiritual sort of, personal discovery and personal development path and it's definitely contributed to me feeling happier in my personal life too.

And I think that that's in the core of everything that I want to talk about and do with my platforms today, is really What it means to, come to your authentic self and to live your authentic life, to get to know yourself better, and being able to reflect that back onto the world through your business.

Silvia: Welcome to Tangents by Out of Architecture.

Out of Architecture is a career consulting firm helping designers apply their incredible talents in untraditional ways. We're highlighting some of our favorite stories from the amazing people we've met along the way. We will hear how they created a unique career path for themselves from the wide variety of skills and talents they developed [00:01:00] in and out of architecture.

Our guest today is Sarah Kolata, Founder of Disrupt Symposium. Hear Sarah share about how she took the challenges she experienced as a business owner to create a life that truly aligns with her strengths and passions.

Adventurous, Curious, Daring
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Silvia: Thank you Sarah, for being a part of our podcast. And to start, I really would love to ask you, how would you describe yourself in three words?

Sara: Hey, so yes, thank you so much for having me. I think that the three words I would choose would be adventurous, curious and daring .

Silvia: I love that and I'm really excited to hear, the story behind all of those words.

So why don't you, uh, give us a little context for who you are, what you're up to.

First experience as an architect, not fitting in as expected
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Sara: Sure. so I'm an architect and, I, graduated from Central St. Martins in London and I went to do an internship in, in China. it was, The first experience of working for a practice, I was extremely excited to [00:02:00] go there.

but somehow it wasn't my best, experience ever. I didn't really fit into the team and the sort of office dynamics. I don't know if they liked me too much, but I took that experience quite personally at a time and I thought that actually. Maybe I just don't, I'm not the best worker. I was quite offended by how they were checking the time between my arrival and how long I took for lunch.

And, I just didn't feel too free, to express myself. I didn't feel I clicked with people. And also there's just a strange dynamic, between sort of the senior architects and the newbies where I think that there was overall competition, between people and I thought that it came from a very deep, place of disempowerment.

What I initially would've expected is that I'll look up to people that were above me as role models and want to be like them. And in reality I was like deeply shocked to the core as to like, oh my gosh, they don't look happy and [00:03:00] I don't wanna be like that.

So that was one part of the story. It was sort of me ill fitting and I think, you know, at a time, cause it was my first experience, I was like, what's wrong with me? Basically like, why can I not find my place in this and not enjoy, I'm not enjoying the work I'm doing, so I didn't realize at the time that it was probably because I have a very, entrepreneurial nature and I love to do things on my own and I feel a deep sense of passion when I wake up in the morning to create something that I dream the world to have or to be or, and apply my a hundred percent into it, whether or not I'll make money . Like that's basically what turned out to be. But I didn't realize it at the time. I didn't even know who an entrepreneur was. And so I I think I just thought that I'm a really bad worker or maybe not liked.

Impact from working on projects in China
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Sara: But on the other, on the. Flip side of it as well. the projects that we're working on, there were collaborations, was really big architecture practices, extremely famous architecture practices. Within the China context, there's huge development. I mean, things are happening so [00:04:00] quickly, you know, we were just doing like artificial islands putting some crazy buildings on them, and everything was just happening in mass scale.

So it wasn't just designing buildings or facades, but like urban planning nonstop. and it was incredible to see how big the projects were the design concepts, but also how the land was just like sort of destroyed for putting those projects there. And uh, you know, there was a certain disregard towards local communities that lived on this land and things like that.

And it's not to blame the particular practice I worked for, like everyone was doing that and I really, got affected by one. Stepping into a little community in the center of Shanghai, was just extremely curious. What is that place? It was sort of like, guarded by walls and there was a lot of people living there, like slightly overpopulated quarter, so to speak.

And I, uh, I was saddened to find out that those were the people that originally occupied the area and then got squished into this one quarter. And because of poverty, they actually lived [00:05:00] extremely in poor conditions, there was like one toilet to use for several families and it was leaking out onto the street, And that was sort of the, the shock of what the gentrification and urbanization of China has cost to people. And I really felt for that. And I thought that that's sad considering also that those usually were farmers and people that knew how to utilize nature, work with nature, either for food or again, shelter.

And so it was just sad to see that that sort of connection is being more squished and lost and that humanity is more leading towards distruction of nature and the principle of living with nature and. That really sort of touched me.

So I think after that experience I decided to move into humanitarian sector and work with projects that felt meaningful to me. And that sort of started a new journey where in fact, very soon after I became a business owner myself.

Silvia: What are you up to these days, from the China projects to now?[00:06:00]

Sara: You know, that again, is a whole, a lot, a lot of story to tell to arrive where I'm at today. But I think that essentially a lot of who I am is developed on, frustrations with the industry and whether it was you know, related to meaning of projects and what I was engaged with or just the way the system and the structure is set up, and how design helps or does not help in reality.

But yeah, like I eventually I ended up setting up my own charity. I moved to Central America with no Spanish and very little cash in my pocket and just started a new life there. I lived there six years and we've done a bunch of humanitarian projects, but also started working for private clients, and that was a tremendous experience of actually trying myself out as a practice owner and hiring people and taking responsibility for salaries, but also, failing at many things miserably because I didn't know how to, really deal with the finances, manage finance.

I [00:07:00] wasn't profitable and it was really hard to be profitable with the projects that I was picking up and with the clients I worked. know, again, very passion driven, but actually, I was a little bit disappointed on my, inadequate knowledge towards the task that I, I took on and I thought, at some point that there's no coming back from it. I mean, now I have tried to be a business owner. I've done that. I can't imagine myself going back to work for someone else.

In fact, the only thing I can do is learn about business and just be better at it. And so, before turning 30, I actually gave all of that up and went into studying business.

Today, I am here, which is, I have a platform called Disrupt. And Disrupt focuses on basically, education around business in architecture, and we ask questions as to what makes us successful, um, how to run a practice, how to have the right mindset, how to create equitable teams and [00:08:00] distribute the role within the office.

What creates valuable, business, you know, and a lot of things alike. And we do that through conferences and through publications and podcasts, and now a magazine as well cause Disrupt is gonna become a magazine. It's what we are working on. and so I'm very excited and I love what I'm doing, and in fact just came off a call with an amazing, architecture office out of South Africa.

Turning failures into opportunities for growth
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Sara: In fact has been, a client of Disrupt from the beginning that we launched. And it was just amazing to find out about them and hear what they do. And I just feel that I'm learning from every single person I speak to about business and practice operations. I'm learning new things that I actually sometimes take notes and I want to apply into my own business too.

So I love that sort of, journey that I'm on, of learning and really kind of discussing what a business of architecture is. you know, and it really is all the way from sort of systems that you can set up that are very easy to, to sort [00:09:00] of copy to mindset, which it's more about, refining who you are as a person and what makes you unique and understanding yourself better.

And I think that's very important. And that's definitely the sort of journey that I, I found myself on eventually, like through failures and successes. Being a business owner, I really feel like that journey has been a very, spiritual sort of, personal discovery and personal development path and it's definitely contributed to me feeling happier in my personal life too.

And I think that that's in the core of everything that I want to talk about and do with my platforms today, is really kind of talking about that. What it means to, to come to your authentic self and to live your authentic life, to get to know yourself better, and being able to reflect that back onto the world through your business.

But again, like also to allow yourself to be frustrated and not to be ashamed about it, because I honestly would not have been where I am today [00:10:00] if I didn't fail at a lot of things. And also, try to figure out why, why was that a fail? And constantly ask questions and openly speak about the fact that I failed as well and own it.

And it wasn't always easy. Um, but I think it's really important for us to stop under that sort of curious and inquisitive mindset if we want to grow so this is kind of in a natural, I guess what, where the journey ended for me and where I am today.

The crucial point where you decide to do something
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Silvia: Thank you so much for, Creating all these resources and sharing it and being passionate about that, because I feel very similarly to how you described starting work and then just not fitting in and everything feeling wrong, and then, ultimately questioning yourself.

Like, why does it feel so wrong?

It is related to not wanting to say like, I don't know what I'm doing, but also not having any resources to guide you along the way. And I, I'm really glad that that motivated you to help fix the situation instead of saying, oh, it's not [00:11:00] for me, or, I'm gonna try something else, but it's like, no, this needs to be better.

Sara: Absolutely. And you know, there's just so many things. I could break it down to things as boring as the fact that I actually discovered I hated to be a CAD monkey. I'm absolutely not fit for that. And in fact, when I started my own business, I never touched a cad. I always ask people to help me with that.

And I was just coming in and saying, change this wall, change. I hated it and I still do. You know, it's, I, I think for me personally, it was less about asking, you know, I don't know this, can you explain, but more about actually admitting that I hate what I'm doing you go to university to be an architect and you, learn all those skills, including. CAD and technical skills, but then also creative. And sure enough, by inspiration and idea of like where you fit in, you have an idea of like what you could be doing and what projects you would love to do and, and what sort of setting you would like to work in.

And then you go into practice and all of that sort of disappears because something is expected of you [00:12:00] and it might be something along the lines of what you actually don't like to do and where your personality is sort of slowly disappearing. And in that point, there are two paths.

One person will feel ill-fitting not enjoying themselves, but they'll push through saying to themselves, maybe I have to be better, at this, or I need to fit in better and I'll learn to do that. And somehow they do mold in.

And another person, whether they know it or not says, okay, this really feels bad, and I need to figure out where else can I go that I'll feel better about what I'm doing and enjoy my path better. And you know, this is, I think that moment where sometimes the decision is so because it's about. Who you become in the future.

And perhaps it's an opportunity to be an entrepreneur and create your own reality. Create your own projects, create your own business, make money from what you love doing. And if you don't follow that path, that is uncomfortable because in the first place, you have to turn around and say, actually, I don't like [00:13:00] what I'm doing, or I don't like what this career turned out to be. And I don't know where I'm going exactly, but it's worth it to go into that unknown and figure it out for myself because I'm so young and I deserve a life of happiness. and that is the crucial point. It's like if you don't make that decision and you try to mold in, sometimes you might find yourself that you're trying to make it work and you're trying to make yourself happy in this, but it's not fully fulfilling and that feeling will never go away.

So, , even though it's not easy and I think it's very scary and there's a lot of like actually emotions of like almost failure and no uncertainty, which definitely is how we want to feel in life. But I think that through that something beautiful can happen and today that we are more exposed to ideas like this, to conversations like this through this podcast and other forms.

I think it's important to tell people that when it feels uncomfortable, it's also an opportunity for you to actually ask yourself like, what is the [00:14:00] reality you want to live and what else could I do to combine my passion in such a way that can also bring me money and fulfillment.

Getting closer to who you are
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Silvia: Absolutely, and that is why we have this podcast. if you work in a traditional office, you are surrounded by people similar age, probably similar experiences. You probably all feel some sort of like uncomfortableness maybe like I spoken to so many people where they share similar feelings, but. you are never having these conversations in the office. So it just seems like a really, you know, kind of miserable place at the end of the day.

I like how you were saying that this uncomfortable space, but also once things start aligning it has a beneficial aspect to your life while you're kind of growing in this hard place.

So it's not easy to grow, but it also. benefits of it. So what kind of thought processes do you have? Like, like what kind of conversations do you have with yourself?

Sara: Yeah, it's interesting. mean, of course that evolved because I think that over time the more I was, You know, not giving up [00:15:00] on myself, I think that's the right word to use.

it became more and more clear that at the end of the bad feeling something good can happen if I walk through it. And as I learned that now I am a little bit more daring, I think, and a little bit less stressed to go into the unknown because I know that it can bring. Actually, what it can do is bring me closer to my center and who I truly am.

And when you align with who you are, how you wanna live, and you don't hide parts of yourself anymore, mean, to me it's a definition of freedom, personal freedom. And so I'm actually excited now to step more and more into my own freedom. However, you know, I define that.

Coming back to your question, like in respect of, you know, actually being in that, It is as scary as it can be because sometimes it might mean you're not making money for some time because you're figuring out, that job isn't good for me. This is not good for me. [00:16:00] Maybe I try something new. So it might be, you know, affecting you financially.

It might be also emotional because your family might have an expectation or perhaps the industry has an expectation for you to continue. Like, do you know many people that are. allowing themselves to take a year or two or three out of architecture to go to travel or whatever and then come back in and not be somehow ashamed or uncomfortable about the fact that they had a gap in their cv. You know, that sort of stuff. So I know that it costs something, but as you question those beliefs that, that sort of are limiting us, like why would it be a bad thing that I take a time out?

Why is it a bad thing that I figure out what I like and don't like and actually be able to like follow the path that I'm interested in. Like why would it be bad? I think in the old way in which we navigated through our career and architecture, we always wanted to like have that continuity.

And fit a certain mold of like what's [00:17:00] expected from us as we are moving through that career.

but today I think that empowerment is found in being able to question like the status quo within that industry and saying, you know, this doesn't suit me. How can I make it better? Or Can I find a place that is more accepting, or, uh, more aligned with my values.

Mindset around profitability
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Silvia: And can we talk a little bit about money? because this is a career for us. This is a profession where we try to make a living from it. I understand that you create opportunities for architects and you work with them to really help them profit from their abilities and work. What did you see that wasn't working and where did you see where you fit into the equation?

Sara: Yeah, it's interesting. I think that my relationship with profitability was that I always imagined myself actually being able to live a free life. And what that meant is like, oh, I wanna travel and I can afford it, or I want to do something like, I dunno, pick up an expensive hobby like skydiving, which I do, and be able to afford it.

I think that I [00:18:00] always felt uncomfortable with not being able to just go and do what I want to do because of money. And unfortunately in my twenties when I started the charity and lived in Guatemala, I struggled financially. And so perhaps I had a beautiful life there because of being constantly in the tropics and you know, fulfilling myself also on many levels by working with the community building and running projects there.

But there was definitely that sort of, discomfort around finances. And I couldn't imagine myself living like this in my thirties. I just wasn't wired to stay poor. So on one hand, my heart can follow something that is, uh, my passion and I don't really look at profit.

But on the other hand, there is like maybe a. Personal, buffer in there that like to make me happy. I need to have a certain amount of money that like I generate in order to be able to pick up my pleasures and not, struggle. And yeah, I take it quite personally actually. If I can't afford something, to be honest, I think that [00:19:00] I am absolutely capable to make money.

And so why, why wouldn't I be able to do something? So it is quite a personal thing for me and. I think that, you know, hitting thirties, one of the reasons why I stopped doing the charity work was just like, okay, I, I can't imagine myself continuing like this into my thirties. I want to have money in my thirties and so I will learn how to do better business.

That was one. And then I think that through all of this, what was interesting is that I discovered that it's not some kind of woo, and, you know, it's not really about being materialistic. It's more about actually understanding where your limits are.

And I think money very much so. Like I spoke about this internal buffer, it's a little bit of like our conditioning. We take it from our parents, we take it from our environment. you know, who associated maybe a negative feeling to earning money because of some type of pain point or trauma that happened to us, we might be inclined to actually not want to make money and otherwise, you know, sometimes we [00:20:00] might have unhealthy relationship with money as well because of pushing ourselves too hard or you know, having to prove something to our parents. And that's just, what happens anyway to everyone.

Now, when it comes to architecture, there are problems such that, for example, Globally, architecture doesn't pay us enough. We don't get education in business from school. So therefore oftentimes we might, not really know how to price our projects, how the projects generate money altogether. We might not be familiar with using the right tools in order to actually manage our budgets throughout the project.

And then also I think soft skills, like we might lack an ability to negotiate well or be able to for example, face objectives in the sale when the client says, oh, that's not really what I like, or I wouldn't wanna spend money on that, if we dunno what to answer to that, that would be still encouraging and develops a deeper relation with the client. But we close off and feel uncomfortable with the moment we heard an objection.

It's the moment where we can [00:21:00] lose a sale and therefore lose a possibility of working on a great project or maybe even fulfilling ourselves as a designer through that project. And so I think. I certainly felt that I actually lacked enough knowledge.

So outside of like the sort of psychological conditioning around money, there was also education like that I, I felt I didn't have, and it was quite inspired by learning about it and in fact, There was a certain amount of just pure, knowledge of business finance and management, that that's resolved a lot of the discomfort.

But then also watching and reading books about entrepreneurs and watching mindsets and seeing how people move through it. You know, even reading things like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, which is all about the mindset of money. I think that it was, really interesting for me to navigate through actually define what it means to me personally.

So profitability is [00:22:00] important in our industry because we are actually trained visionaries. We know exactly how to take an idea and execute it through building, which I think is much harder than doing it through business.

And building a business is very similar of a path, to building a building, you know? Have to apply an economic layer, you have to apply your, you know, created time schedule of milestones that oftentimes manage a team as well. it's just that the outcome is a business, not a physical building, but the process is, very similar. And so I think that, in order to fulfill ourselves creatively in architecture, we need to be making money as business owners and even as employees, we need to navigate through what is worth, to us. And so personal worth equals also financial worth actually. And so learning that and moving through those, sort of psychologic boundaries, I would say, and conditionings, but also learning more [00:23:00] about it.

And so I guess what I'm trying to do with Disrupt is really divide that into many different aspects because when we talk about profitability, it connects with the way you communicate yourself. it connects to how you see yourself, it connects to physically how you measure your success on the piece of paper, actually, you know, controlling your finances, but also how you run leadership and how you train people and how you collaborate with people and build teams.

And so in fact, all the business aspects somehow connect to it. And so on the big disrupt stage. We talk about those topics in general and in personal mentoring, uh, sessions, whether working 1 0 1 with architects or through masterminds, we basically are breaking it down to a little bit more of a personalized tone, of working.

So perhaps it's not as generic as it is through publications and Disrupt, but in fact it really, splits to many different elements I would say to learn to be profitable. It's [00:24:00] not just to learn about finances. It's so much more, and I think that we shouldn't shy away from those topics anymore. We live in a time where, You know, we have a freedom of speech so much more so now because of social media and because of internet and we're exposed to a lot of ideas and a lot of different lives and so, we can navigate through that by being inspired, but also actually being able to tap into that knowledge and that's fascinating to me.

You're actually responsible for your own growth today. You can't really expect for school or for the practice you work for to educate you on certain things. You know, it's your personal responsibility and there are resources put in place everywhere around you. So therefore, I really advocate for that. Like take personal responsibility, you know, and, and the knowledge will come. All of that knowledge, whether it's like technical or self skill, knowledge. It will come.

Steps to Combining your passion with architecture
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Silvia: Yeah, there's more access and resources now more than ever. And the conversation around all these thing things and not just like, oh, paying your [00:25:00] dues. That's so like old school at this point. Do you have any advice for people who are kind of at this turning point in their lives where Their priorities are probably shifting. We're all getting, older at this time, but I find that a lot of people are leaving architecture just because it's not sustainable anymore. The pay is not working for them. The hours, the need to be in the office or just like the rigidness of the the way that people are working or the companies, that they're leaving the profession. But it's not because they don't enjoy being an architect, it's just because they need a better structure in their life.

Sara: Sure. Absolutely. And you know, honestly, the one thing I can say is that is the most blessed state you can be in because the moment when your inner self talks to you and says, listen, the environment I'm in doesn't suit me.

I'm not happy here like I should be somewhere else. That is the most powerful place you can be in because it's, it's you, yourself saying. [00:26:00] I want a different life and I, I deserve it. And to be fair, it's like I said before, it can be very scary because that might be, equaling you losing a job or, having pressure from the environment on the outside or maybe even giving up on something you a dedicated seven years to study and being like, okay, actually I don't wanna be an architect anymore.

That is so hard. I mean, I went through that. I didn't leave architecture. And that's also an important thing and I think that, I know what you guys stand for within, Out of Architecture and it's not really all about, Hey, just drop out. You know, it's about find your own passion and you can combine it also with architecture.

I think that, you know, it's, it's great to advocate as well for remaining in the industry, but doing it in your own way.

So going back to answering your question, I think what I would say to people is, first of all, Kind of honor that stage that you're in because it's beautiful and actually go all in. I know that it might be scary, [00:27:00] especially if you end up being cut out from resources like financial or otherwise, but really asking yourself where you belong and what. What is the perfect job that you could be doing is so important at that state? So I really believe in sort of vision boards and writing down your intentions and figuring out what you want with everything, because the worst thing you can do, and that applies to starting a business or designing your career, is not really knowing where you're going.

Like if you're setting up on a trip, you know you always have a destination and then you plan how you get there. And so have that destination. Don't be ashamed or afraid to say that you know where you wanna be, something really far away from where you're at right now. Even if you have no idea how you're gonna get there.

So I think don't settle for less is the first thing and have that vision. And if it's just, you know, something like changing a job or working in a slightly different industry, that is also a great goal. [00:28:00] And so therefore define it first and then finding a way together. There's a lot of different ways, you know, let's just say you can walk it, you can bike it, you can fly it, you can, there's many different ways.

Take different actions to get there? I think so try different things. Talk to people about it, like what you want and where you wanna go to, because sometimes it's not really about how you get there, but like who can help you out with it? You know? Like who you can ask for, I don't know, a connection and advice and email to someone.

Maybe someone knows someone and so we open to that. But I think the moment, you know where you wanna go, that's literally like all your success already there, then getting. Something. This happens in magical ways and you know, I certainly have experiences of that on daily basis where I'll just dream about something happening and then it randomly comes to me , and it's like, okay, I didn't even have to actually put effort into making this happen.

It just. Did because I knew I wanted it. And I think that that's the sort of powerful [00:29:00] ingredients.

So first of all, don't be afraid of being in that place. And second of all, like know where you're going and where you wanna go. And if it takes time to figure that out, take that time because you can take it now when you're 20 something and in your forties, live your dream life.

Make money exactly from your passion and what you wanna be doing and like never look back and it's worth. To take that year or two, or whatever time it takes to figure it out at that stage, then then having to shift careers when you're already responsible for your children or family, or, it's so much harder down the road.

So, and then again, you know, if you're, if you find yourself at that stage, in your forties, again, the sooner the better. Honestly, , the sooner the better.

Creating a life you want to live
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Silvia: Did, you know, this is what I wanna do, like I wanna build this business for helping architects.

Sara: This is interesting because I never really said I run a conference platform and have a magazine, but I said I wanna work remotely. I want to do what I [00:30:00] love and I wanna make easy money, basically.

And to be fair, exactly what I wanted happened. And the way I'm doing it is like I wake up in the morning and I'm the happiest person to be able to open my laptop and interact with people to have these interviews, to interview someone else, write an article to organize Disrupt. I love doing that. I love working with the sponsors that are involved, that the opportunities that they also open up.

And it is just, I mean, I'm so excited for the years to come because I think Sky is the limit. But I've never done it for making conferences. I've never done it for, building an online community. My goals were more like, I didn't wanna be shy. I wanted to come out of my shell. I knew that I, I had a, you know, I don't know, a gift maybe of speaking.

I loved always to talk. I would overtalk everyone in conversation. And it used to be like a thing where, where I felt uncomfortable about it, and now I work through talking. Like, I love that, you know, it's like coming [00:31:00] to a place where I actually use my, you know, advantage or disadvantage for some people, talkative people can be tiring.

Um, but if you do it through business and you know, you for example, engage with so many conversations and get on calls a lot with people in the evening, I like to quiet down. I meet my f. Friends, and we just go for sunset kite surfing and relax. And I don't really even seek to express myself through words so much, but I love the fact that I can be myself at work.

And so I guess when I was figuring out what I wanted to do, it was more The way I wanted to live my life. And I guess that's really where it started. And then the rest followed. So again, you know, it's kind of like tapping into that thing of like, what is the perfect life for you? How do you want your career to make you feel?

Those are the questions. I think that is the end goal, ultimate end goal, you know? And then the rest it just kind of figures itself out really. I think it's enough to say I [00:32:00] wanna work remotely. It's enough to say, I. More money or it's enough to say, I want to allow myself every winter to leave for a month and have a holiday and just turn off.

Or it's enough to say, I don't wanna think about work under my shower. You know, those little things that basically, Create your everyday experience of yourself and, you know, define your happiness. They, they are really the most important questions you should be asking about. Whether that's how you wanna live your life, you know, and the rest as to what you're doing from nine to five. It follows. It's not so important even anymore, actually, if you think about it.

Silvia: Yeah. I've heard Jake and Erin say like, what do you want your ideal week to look like in a year's time from now? And it's not that you're working towards that, but I think when you acknowledge to yourself or say it out loud that this is what I want in my life, and then when you see the opportunity that comes, it's like, oh, well that doesn't align, so I'm not gonna take that. Or like, yes, I love that for [00:33:00] myself.

First steps towards creating your life
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Silvia: What did the first steps towards this path of owning yourself and your voice and what were the steps that kind of started this whole process in motion

Sara: so many. I mean, you know, it's just incredible.

I don't think people even realize, but actually I started my Instagram and my LinkedIn and my YouTube only about two and a half years ago. I hated social media, like genuinely hated social media. I hated the way it made me feel to scroll down Instagram. I felt like my life wasn't good enough because other traveling more or having more or this, and it's just like, oh my God. I, I, I did not enjoy feeling that way.

And then also, I've never really been the type of person that wanted to show up. It makes me so uncomfortable when people tried to compare themselves to me and whatever. So I, I didn't post on social media at all. I didn't have accounts. I didn't go on them.

And then when I started to get into this whole. Digital business, Everyone was just like social media. Social media, social media. And so [00:34:00] the hardest thing was for me to even start. And figure it out. And I still completely suck on some platforms.

Like I've actually had a conversation recently with Jake and Erin to say like, I don't even know how to do my Instagram correctly. And now that achieved some success, I actually have been ferociously hiring for people to help me live that because it's my absolute nightmare. I will take photos and I travel a lot. Like this year alone, I've been in Bali, I've been to Greek islands in Spain, Japan.

Now I'm in Colombia. And you know, I'm constantly surrounded by waterfalls, Caribbean, like beaches, whatever. And I take personal photos, maybe not even like posing with an idea of this to be a perfect Instagram picture, but I never really think about posting it and it's been really difficult. But I came out of my shell and I said, okay, gonna have to try it.

Even if it doesn't fully align with the way I imagine doing my day, you know, maybe I can hire someone for fiber to just go through the photos, select the better, the best ones, [00:35:00] you know, filter them a little bit with, I don't know, illustrator or what is it, light room and, and send back the few that are good and then post those, you know, just finding ways in which I can do something in.

Still, do what I know is important today, and I certainly succeeded more with LinkedIn. I like the way the platform works. I love the way that you can interact with people. They're exactly the type of people I wanna be talking to. Instagram is not necessarily like that. There will be a lot of people that are travel, like following you for different reasons, and it, it doesn't have that direct engagement where you end up talking to people through personal messages. But on LinkedIn, almost every person connects with me. I will immediately start a conversation with, or they will. And so I meet people nonstop over LinkedIn. I love it. All my communities on there. And again, I'm not the best posting all the time and the best in creating like extremely engaging content, but I do love being on LinkedIn.

I'm there [00:36:00] every day and still learning to be better at it. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that some things have really not aligned with like, My persona and how I imagined myself interacting with technology in the first place. But I decided to just give it a try, give it a go. And I think it will pay.

I mean, it already pays off tremendously. Like I don't have many followers. perhaps on both, you know, YouTube and Instagram. But the opportunities that that come off it already are tremendous. You know, from the podcast, through connections, through sponsorships, through organizing events. I must say that pretty much everything all the success of my business happened through social media.

So it was really worth it, and I think. . That's the thing is like, sometimes you just want to acknowledge what's out there, what opportunity is, and, and try to do it, but also without completely losing yourself, you know? And yeah, it requires you to learn a new skill, but it's, I think it's worth it at the end.[00:37:00]

Silvia: Absolutely. I have a very beautiful image of what success looks like to you, cuz I've heard it through how you live your life today. Is there anything else that you would really love to share or add to this conversation? I loved what you said in the beginning about how you wanted to, you needed to own yourself.

Sara: Yeah, it's true. We had a little, conversation before we started to record just to prepare, and then you asked me sort of, What does it mean for me to be on tangents? And I said that, you know, looking back, it's been so many different things that happened in my life that created me who I am today.

It was the frustration with the system, the frustration of not fitting into the office, the frustration with cad, the frustration with the pay that I went into practice and as frustrated about profitability and. Lack of business acumen. And of course all of this was, married with fear and unknown and really moving away from the traditional path of architecture.

Much, much and much so. And I think that in all of this, the, the dominant factor was I was, [00:38:00] Kept asking myself along the way, who am I and what I want to do? And the one thing that I can say that this experience really gave me is it allowed me to come more to the sort of center of who Sarah is and how, what is my authentic self, what I love about myself, me about myself.

And it's not coming from a place of egoism was more like self-love, um, but also like actually allowing myself more and more to. To shine through that and come from that place of empowerment and self-love. You know, present myself from that place towards my business, towards people that surround me, and all the opportunities that come with it.

And I think that I'm very grateful for however hard the journey was to today, being a place where I'm connecting from a beautiful beach in Colombia. I'm kite surfing. I'm skydiving here. I started a pilot license this week. It's insane, really following my passions, being able to enjoy that. But in the same time, also [00:39:00] like I love my work, I love what I'm doing, the people I'm interacting with, and I would've never even dreamt of that sort of outcome to come from an architecture school.

But I think in the core of o of all of it is like who you become as a person. How sometimes when you meet criticism or even dislike, because you know there's always people along the way. Simply don't like you. They don't like how you present yourself or who you are as a person. And that can be really affecting your choices and the way you see yourself.

And like, yeah, of course I'm sad when that happens, but in the same time, like I never allow it to really bring me down. And I think over the years I. I feel like all those hardships have helped me to grow to actually live more authentically and live happier and, and define what my happiness is. And like, I think that the most important thing is that through those uncomfortable places that happen to you throughout your career, that you, you question whether you [00:40:00] belong here or all that stuff.

When you define what you want, you'll kind of come to your center more and that creates happiness, you know, and it's sort of, Like knowing yourself and being with that. Almost in the Buddhist tradition that sort of is that fulfillment and coming to happiness and. I really am grateful for that the most, no matter the money, no matter the opportunities and all that stuff, that's like an external success.

But internally, being happy with where you are is everything. And I wouldn't change that for anything else. And I'm just excited about what, what new incredible things I can do. You know, I have certainly a lot of dreams still that are following. School times from university times, you know, uh, either about interacting or meeting some architects or maybe, you know, being in New York, organizing an event there and interacting with amazing practices there.

And I know that with Disrupt I can get there and I can't wait for this to happen. It's so exciting. but again, it's like, it's more about me living this life [00:41:00] rather than making something happen, you know?

I think bottom line is, doing business, designing your career is really like a spiritual journey.

the more you stand for yourself and your truth and choose rightfully for your own like values, the more you come to like live a life of you. And we need more of you not another architect that is molded to be an architect that thinks like an architect should from this university or another university.

Because that's not unique and the world doesn't need more of that, you know, of that sort of machine robot that was created by a bunch of beliefs that were put into our head to think that that's, you know, that's how we should lead our career and live our life. And I think today it's about being unique and owning your own uniqueness and for that to happen to you to know who you are.

So the more you choose yourself along that journey, the more you know who you are, the more you can actually. Really live, like not only your own [00:42:00] personal happiness, but also contribute to people from that place of personal happiness. And, and that's great. That's like a really joyful, experience for everyone.

So, I think that would be the one thing that I, I would encourage everyone and I can share, is to, treat those difficulties as just like an opportunity to come closer to who you truly are.

Silvia: So well stated because why be another person of what you think you should be because the amount of joy I've had from this conversation of you living in your joy, it's great.

We need more of that.

Disrupt Promos
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Silvia: For Disrupt coming up. Do you want to, put in a little plug for it.

Sara: Sure. Absolutely. There's actually a few really exciting things to say.

So 8th of March we have a full day woman edition. I'm super excited for that.

Basically wanted to make it a no brainer for people to join. So we're selling tickets for that for $19 only. And the point is it's a full day stream. You can connect at any point. You can also purchase recordings later if you wanna watch. But we invited women from [00:43:00] all around the world, their ROS women from India that you know, first woman started her own office in India. a woman that builds bamboo airports, so like massive public buildings made out of a material that you wouldn't expect to be, you know, a right fit for such a project. And, you know, she's living her passion, you know, through that sort of, contribution. Um, then we have women from New York who have, Incredible speakers from London, from Europe, and you know, each of these women, is very unique in their own right.

They're all business owners. They will speak to practice operations, to, being a woman and architecture, what that means and how. You know, they've been empowered but also disempowered by certain things and you know, how they manage to navigate through all those difficulties to, to run their own practices.

So this is coming on the 8th of March and then, uh, we have actually a collaboration of Out of Architecture, which is first to the 2nd of April, and we're doing an Out [00:44:00] of Architecture Disrupt edition. , which, essentially is dedicated to people that maybe not necessarily left architecture altogether, but started to do something extremely interesting of their own, accord in architecture.

And that's why they inspire us. And, I'm looking forward to this edition because we'll have not only people that actually work in architecture still, but also people that left architecture and became successful in other fields. And it's gonna be an opportunity to learn from them, to listen to their talks.

But also, as always, in Disrupts, we have this interactivity, 10 minute conversation after each speaker with the speaker. Between audience and speakers, asking questions, having discussions through chat and live, and also networking sessions towards the end. So I'm really looking forward to all this interactions.

I'm also looking forward to connect more with the community from Out of Architecture, which is people that are certainly looking for, new ways of living and designing their career. And that is gonna be really exciting cuz I'm [00:45:00] extremely passionate about it.

And then we have our traditional stage, which is first to the 3rd of May, Disrupt Symposium. And that is really the original disrupt that we started with last year. that brings the stage, famous leaders of architecture practices to speak about practice operations and what makes success happen in architecture in their own definition of that. And yeah, for this, uh, very addition, we have absolutely amazing lineup.

We have already, confirmed, founder of Nito Sono, Gabriel Laos. China Director is coming to join us, Managing Director of M V R D V, Partner from Diller, Scofidio & Renfro. We have also partner of BIG Barcelona that established the office in Barcelona. We have a chairman of Building Smart who is a former C E O of H O K, who wrote books about how to run practice in business operations and also have a partner from Tatiana Bilbao office. All these [00:46:00] people are confirmed. There's also some secret guests coming, but we're gonna have 15 speakers. It's gonna be a three day event, and I'm really looking forward to it. We're working extremely hard to bring that, forward. We're gonna be launching the website soon, so the next three months are busy for us, but extremely exciting. There's gonna be a lot of community, a lot of collaboration, and especially looking forward to the collaboration with Out of Architecture. I'm very excited for that.

Silvia: Wow. That is amazing. So exciting. I can't wait to see all of that.

Outro
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Erin: Hey everyone. It's Erin from out of Architecture. If you find these stories inspiring and are looking for guidance, clarity, or just need someone to talk to about where you are in your career, please know that we offer 30 minute consultations to talk about what may be next for you. If you're interested, head to out of architecture.com/scheduling to book some time with us.

Jake: Hey everyone. It's Jake from Out of Architecture. We love hearing your stories, but we know there's [00:47:00] more out there that we've still yet to experience. If you or someone you know would be a good fit for the podcast and has a story about taking their architecture skills beyond the bounds of traditional practice, we'd love to hear it.

Send us an email at tangents@outofarchitecture.com.

Silvia: Thanks for listening to our podcast, new episodes every two weeks. See you then