We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carla Sendino. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carla below.
Carla, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?
I live in an (apparent) perpetual vacation, I am a freelancer! I can wake up anytime I want, go for a coffee at 12pm on a Monday or stay in the sofa reading a book all day, if I pleased. But there’s a catch, I never know when I will land my next project and when I do, any of that free time disappears and my life becomes, literally, the project I am working on. All work and no play! To me, managing all of this is what makes somebody a “successful” freelancer. That is, using all these challenges to become more resilient and don’t let work (or the lack of) define you.
We live in a capitalist system where the main focus is being productive and it thrives by maintaining an oppressor/oppressed model. This affects heavily our mental health, that’s why if I fall in the trap of placing my worth in my doing, I allow it. We are social creatures and we are living in a system that is failing us.
That said, I love my job and I rather take on the challenges that involve a freelance life than a 9-5 one but that doesn’t mean things on the outside should change in favor of the people, of our well being. Vacations and rest should be mandatory and not a luxury many people don’t have.
Carla, 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?
Hi! My name is Carla Sendino and although I was born in the US, I was raised in Spain. I have been living in Los Angeles for the past 12 years. My obssesive search to find my one and only passion, has led me to where I am now: knowing that I don’t have just one passion, that I have many interests instead and that the career path of Production Design checks many of the boxes for me, which is what i have been doing since 2020.
I entered this profession slowly and in an indirect way: first being interested in filmmaking (as a Director) to then getting into the interior design field. Neither being a director or an interior designer made sense to me but when I blended both, something just clicked. It was clear that I had to give it a go at being a Production Designer.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Because the type of resilience I want to focus on is the one that comes from stepping out of our internalized capitalism and not the one that glorifies productivity, I could highlight all of the times I said no to a project that considered unfair paid even though that would mean earning less that month and facing the guilty thoughts that might arise form it. Facing those thoughts, allowing them and nurture myself afterwards knowing I did what was best for me is the biggest sign of resilience I have been learning this past year and Im most proud of.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I remember when I was trying the Interior Design career path. I was very serious about it, I left my previous career in film and pivot to design. I went to school as a young adult and even moved across country to try out an internship at a company I admired. Many internships followed to no hires, no company I liked would hire me.
Defeated, one day in my room I relaxed and realized I was actually relieved none of those companies I interviewed with hired me, because deep down I didn’t like working as an interior designer, I loved design and the process I went through until I actually started working in an Interior Design office.
That relaxing into acknowledging this truth let to the surface the idea of trying Production Design and I haven’t looked back since then.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.carlasendino.com
- Instagram: @sendinosaurs
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8148586/