TRC #8 - On earning the freedom to come and go
Encouraging creatives to follow their passion
HELLO, GORGEOUS
This is a very special edition of The Renegade as I have exciting life updates. So here's one of my favourite playlists to you. I encourage you to press play, pour in some black coffee, get on your pidgeon pose and read along...
RENEGADE - ON EARNING THE FREEDOM TO COME AND GO
A bit over a year ago I left my full time job as a senior regional manager in the beauty industry to pursue a career in photography (and if you follow me long enough, you've already heard this a million times)
Photography was a new hobby to me back then but it only took me a few gigs to realize how wonderful and fulfilling could a career of photographing others be.
And indeed it is.
I came up with a game plan to learn all the skills I felt i had to: colour harmony, composition, camera settings, lighting, business, customer workflow, pricing, strategy, service sales and the list qoes on. I put together a mindset and financial strategy that allowed me to leave my full time job and pursue photography. I even launched a course about it and have been helping others to do the same. I travelled, I became more resilient, I learnt how to be my own boss - rest when I needed and work harder when I had to. I also beat myself up quite a lot (as we do) - I'm not good enough, what am I doing, who do I think I am were some of the thoughts that crossed my mind frequently.
Luckily I had enough mindset work, therapy work and a very supporting partner that helped me stay on track.
And on track I have been most of the time, with the occasional missteps, for the past year. And of all the things I've learnt and built for myself on the course of this journey, the biggest one was freedom.
I learnt that we are never too old to learn something new. And we are never too new at something that we can't make a living out of it if we dedicate to learning it everyday. But above all I learnt that having gone through all of this I bought myself the freedom to come and go between professions as I feel like it.
When I left my job as a senior regional manager in the beauty industry I gained all of these learnings and autonomy I mentioned before but I also lost the thing that kept me there for all of this time which is the ability to develop people and help others go as further as they wish to.
Which is why I launched a course and offered coaching calls to others who wish to make the leap to a solo career, and why I continued to dedicate some of my time to work as a consultant for upscale retailers and help like minded businesses and brands grow in the human aspect of things - inside and out. And in this process I was offered an exciting strategic position in a brand I admire so much, at the city I love the most and with the exact amount of challenging for this moment in my life.
Today I move to Rio to embrace a whole new chapter of the life I created for myself that will allow me to live the best of both worlds:
• working on the growth strategy for this beautiful brand while developing people and building up solid and fulfilled teams
• while continuing to meet inspiring women and telling their story through photography in Brazil's most inspiring landscape
Rio, I'm coming.
And while photography remains a full-time passion and a part-time giq, I'm coming back to corporate as Head of Retail to a beautiful Brazilian beachwear brand (can you guess which one?)
If you've been following me for my career journey, here's what I can tell you: keep pursuing your big leap into the career you dream of. It might be your end goal, or it might be a stepping stone to something higher and hotter or vou might have no idea of what it will be just yet.
Just know that wherever the wind blows you, the process will bring you growth and freedom to come and go wherever you like. And there's nothing more freeing than having autonomy over our life.
The next newsletter will be written with an ocean view.
Until then, stay safe and keep going.
I hope you enjoyed this edition of The Renegade Collective. As always, I'm so grateful for your support and love having this opportunity to serve you in the inbox. If you ever want to suggest a topic for discussion feel free to reply to this e-mail :)
- Mafe
