We recently connected with Carey De Victoria-michel and have shared our conversation below.

Carey , appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I have always found measurements of success hard to relate to. As I continue to grow in my career I feel more confident in the belief that success can only be measured for yourself. It can be easy to get caught up in success being found in accolades, popularity, appearance, money, etc. When I’m at a low in my work life, it’s often because I have lost grounding in what I’m pursuing. Especially with social media, it can be easy to go down spirals of thinking…”they are ten years younger then me and have already accomplished this…” Or, “wow I am terrible at this because I don’t have 10 million followers.” It can be easy to think that they have already defined some idea of success that I won’t ever reach.

There was a time in my twenties when I didn’t care about success. It was super magical. I was clueless in the best ways. At some point I became obsessed with rock climbing and a few years in, my choices became based on how I could do the most climbing and still have enough money to eat food. I decided to move into a truck camper I had at the time and become a climbing guide. It was an amazing few years where I guided, drove around the west coast to climb in beautiful places and I started painting landscapes I spent time in. I was quite broke, I didn’t have much of a resume or an address. I can’t say many people thought I was successful. But, that time of my life was so defining and fundamental to who I am now. It left me with the best memories and the most influential lessons.

I started graphic design as my second career. When I began to gain this traditional idea of success as a climbing guide and made sponsorship deals, got free gear, gained attention, that this was when I began to lose some of my love of the sport. It is something I have tried to carry with me as I started down a new path. Another lesson that I have learned as a graphic designer is that to gain any definition of success, I have to keep failing over and over again. Even within my own idea of what success is, I have to be equally comfortable with failure.

Success and failure are only part of the journey. Neither of them will complete my story. Neither of them will make or break me. What feels most important is staying close to my values and goals, and finding a way to enjoy the ride.

Carey , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

ROCKY is the name of our dog. He came with the name when we adopted him at 7 years old. I do love rocks, so he had a little advantage. This guy came home with us to the U.S. from Spain, where we lived in Barcelona. What better name for a studio?

Hi! I’m Carey de Victoria-Michel, and this is my workspace. I recently earned my Master’s in Visual Design from Elisava School of Design and Engineering. I sought higher education after 4 years working as a freelance creative. I have loved my experiences growing as a designer through work with small businesses, non-profits and wonderful agencies. I am always striving to grow in my practice, pushing to create work with higher quality, deeper meaning, and greater collaboration.

My creative work stems from time spent outdoors. I am drawn to themes in nature and enjoy blending them with elements of the urban landscape. I’ve also spent time pursuing outdoor adventures through rock climbing and a few years living in my van while exploring the west.

In my freelance work, I offer a range of services, including identity design, branding, poster design, web design, social media assets, packaging, editorial design, and more. I love getting to learn about people’s aspirations and visions and integrating that into my work for them.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I would say there are many lessons I am constantly learning and unlearning, in a continuous cycle. One of them is the idea that I have to have it “all figured out.” Each time I relearn this I get to know myself a bit better. I especially wish I took more time to understand this when I was say, 21. I did not take a traditional path at that time, and I often felt self conscious about that. There was a persistent underlying pressure to have a life plan. And, I did not at the time! I spent a lot of time worrying about being behind or not where I supposed to be.

Now, looking back, I would tell myself, I did not have a plan and that was okay! Even if I did have a plan it would not have gone the way I expected. There was room to make mistakes and not worry about them so much. And, now that I am here in my thirties as a new mom in a new career, I am really happy I took that time to be clueless for a while. It shaped my view of the world.

I have things more figured out at this point. But, I like to remind myself that if I had everything figured out, then there would be no room to ‘figure it out.’ I always want to have room to learn something new. As a designer, I rely on this malleability. I strive to always become a better mom and a better designer. The only way to do that is to be comfortable with figuring it out as you go. And, creativity is always morphing and changing, so I try to not get to “set in my ways.” I can rely on my gained skills, my quality of character, and my experiences to know that I got this. It is part of the process.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

This is a less defined resource. I believe it can be easy for my generation (of millennials) to feel like it’s us against the world. It is ingrained in us that we should stand out as individuals. It is all about what makes us unique. Which, in many ways I relate to. It can help us feel good about taking a less travelled path. The problem I found is that it is much harder to try and go it alone. There are so many people that actually just want to see you thrive. And, when you have been so focused on defining your own ‘brand’ then the blinders are up to all the amazing potential collaborations sitting right in front of you.

The best resources are through relationships based in helping each other grow. Whether, that is with another person, a company, an event, etc. Once in a while, we get it wrong, but more often than not something great can come of that. We really don’t have to go it alone. Especially as creatives. Creativity is way more exciting in collaboration.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.studiorocky.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studio_rocky_/

Image Credits

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