Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Salaverria.
Sarah, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Sometimes you take the scenic route and realize it’s led you exactly where you’re meant to be. That’s my story! I was born & raised in the CA, bay area, where my love for everything creative was absolutely nourished. I was lucky enough to practice and participate in various extracurricular activities from an early age, including theatre, and scrapbooking, but dance was my real passion! From competing to teaching and eventually deciding on a Musical Theatre major in college, it is safe to say that dance was my LIFE!
I was absolutely set on dance being my career, and even determined to be a choreographer for Disneyland parades! However, it took about two weeks in the BFA for Musical Theatre program for me to completely re-think all of my plans, hopes and dreams, and decide that I did not want such a competitive and hustle lifestyle (this becomes very ironic later). So I went from being completely confident in all of my goals to ‘OMG now what do I do!’ in a matter of weeks! But, I decided to join the Disneyland College Program, and work at the “Happiest Place on Earth,” while I figured it out.
All I have to say is thank GOD for my dad. My dad, who is an entrepreneur himself and has owned and run various businesses including restaurants, a construction company, and now an entire coffee empire in El Salvador, has always been very supportive of my creative passions, and very understanding of my crazy want and need to do a 1000 different things, because well… he is the exact same way! When I told him I was completely lost, he brought up that I should look into FIDM (The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising), where my sister had decided to go for Fashion Design. Of course my response was, I’m not trying to be a fashion designer, but he very quickly explained that they teach way more than that. And he was right.
I decided to go to FIDM, where I received my first degree in Visual Communications, and while in the program decided that I wanted to be an event coordinator. While in school, I landed an internship for the City of San Jose planning local events and got to help coordinate a televised Christmas parade! Towards the end of that internship, I got a seasonal position working for the Oakland Raiders, Premium Suites team and even met Adam Sandler.
After graduating, I landed an internship at an event firm in SF, and within a year was promoted to event lead! I got the chance to work with amazing companies and learned to manage all the logistics as well as the design & décor of my events. I was only 22 and very quickly saw my whole life flash before my eyes! So in true ME style, I decided to leave my events career and go get a film degree.
I landed an interview to work on the NBC show Grimm in Portland, the day of my graduation, landed the job two days later and moved to Portland within a week! Eventually, I found myself in LA, where I worked on various productions for companies like Disney, Bravo, MTV and Buzzfeed!
I had essentially tackled my job bucket list at this point, and while I had some awesome experiences from working all these jobs, I found myself feeling unfulfilled and so over the hustle lifestyle of always looking for my next gig. I found myself itching to have more control of my day-to-day, work with clients in a more personalized fashion and build something of my own! What can I say; I am my father’s daughter.
So I decided to leave LA and start all over again! I moved to San Diego, CA and started my business Digital Decorist, where I help high-acheiving entrepreneurs design business brands that attract hight paying clients, and absolutely LOVE it! It’s been two years now of growing and running it. And it was a windy road to get here to say the least, but I truly believe that my less traditional route to entrepreneurship is what gives me my edge, and allows me to approach design and my clients in a much more unique and intuitive way.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not, haha! I have moved about ten times since graduating high school, all to advance my career and chase my dreams. Don’t get me wrong! It has been an adventure getting to live in some of the coolest cities in the U.S including San Francisco, LA and Portland. But starting from scratch time and time again was extremely challenging. I found myself in survival mode way more often than I would have liked.
It was also very lonely! I was very envious of all my childhood friends who stayed in the bay area and were getting to “adult” together! I missed a lot, and many of my relationships suffered because of it. In addition, about my second year in Film school, I started to experience extreme chronic pain. I went to several doctors, had many visits to the ER, and six years later, I’m still not absolutely certain what is wrong, although the assumption at this point is that I have fibromyalgia. So as you can imagine, being alone in a new city, hustling to land gigs, and being in mysterious pain was not the most ideal combo!
All that said, these challenges are absolutely what led me to entrepreneurship! I felt that if I could build my own online business, then I would finally have the flexibility and balance I needed to take care of myself and others, spend more time with those I love, and have more control of my life in general. So far, I was absolutely right!
Please tell us about Digital Decorist.
I am the Founder & Creative Director of Digital Decorist! I help high achieving entrepreneurs create a brand strategy and design their brand assets, so that they can attract high-paying, dream clients. This includes everything from defining their overall brand concept and aesthetic, to developing a brand strategy that encompases their mission and effectively attracts their niche audience, and converts into sales. And of course designing their brand assets including, their mood board, fonts, color palette, logos, website and any other design assets they might need for their online presence.
My main 1-on-1 service is a 4-6 week process, where we start with brand strategy, then dive into brand design, and end with brand application & presence! I combine coaching sessions, exercises and design to give my clients everything they need to leave with a well defined brand, a clear strategy, and a beautifully custom designed brand that attracts their ideal clients and leads to more money in their (digital) pockets!
I specialize in working with new age and creative businesses and am known for taking a more intuitive and personal approach to design and how I work with my clients. For example, I created a fun Brand Style quiz, that I send all my clients to get a better sense of their personal style. I believe that an entrepreneur’s business branding should reflect them entirely! I like to start by defining my clients’ personal style first and inserting their industry into that, rather than the other way around. By doing this, they stand out, rather than just following trends and simply fitting into their industry.
I pride myself on really caring about my clients and challenging them to find the inner creative within them. Experiencing their transformation from when we start working together to the end is absolutely my favorite part!
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Intuition. I know this is a buzz word that is thrown around a lot, especially in the online business world, but for me, it is what drives my choices. As I have been navigating how to run my business, I have learned that there are so many different ways to do everything. And when everything you’re learning is new, it is easy to just follow the crowd or just do what someone successful tells you to do.
After two years of taking advice, I maybe shouldn’t have and doing things the way I am “supposed to,’ when I knew in my bones that certain things didn’t make sense or feel good, I have finally learned to just listen to my intuition. This is extremely challenging! It takes bravery and being 100% honest with myself and my business mission, but the second I made this shift, it made all the difference.
Even when things fail or maybe just don’t go the way I wanted them too, by following my intuition, I feel good at the end of all my choices. And this inspires me to keep going. I enjoy the process more, I attract more dream clients who appreciate authenticity and honesty and I learn and grow faster both in my business and as a person.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.digitaldecorist.com
- Email: hi@digitaldecorist.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/digitaldecorist
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digitaldecorist/?ref=bookmarks
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/digitaldecorist/
Image Credit:
Kaitlin Cooper
Charlee Sage
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