We were lucky to catch up with Daria Sambey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Daria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?

What’s the point of being a business owner if you aren’t allowing yourself as many freedoms (or more!) than you would get from a 9-5? Of COURSE I take vacations.

Though I only became a business owner a short year before the pandemic, and gave birth to my second child in 2023, both of which have undoubtedly affected how much travel I can do, vacation is always a priority for myself and my family.

In my opinion not only is taking a mental and physical step back from business crucial for creativity and maintaining your energy, it is also so important to experience the world. Experiencing other cultures, other ways of life, and other perspectives when you are a business owner who serves international clients is vital to staying connected and grounded to your clients.

Don’t pigeon hole yourself by only living and breathing business, that is a sure fire way to stagnation. If you keep moving, keep playing, keep exploring you will then keep creating and growing.

Daria, 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?

I hope you like roller coasters, because my journey through entrepreneurship to get to where I am now has certainly not been a straight line.

Just two short weeks before I registered for a business license here in Canada, I had become a licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer. No, my business license wasn’t for opening up a hangar, but rather emerging into the online industry as a fitness trainer and health coach.

That was January 2019 and a few short months later in March, my contract as a mechanic was over and I went full-time into my business. Now, most people don’t recommend going full-time so early, but if you can’t tell already, I’m not exactly someone that follows what I “should” be doing. When I do something, I do it big.

And that’s exactly what happened. I stormed onto the fitness scene and made a massive impact in my first year. Did I mention that all happened while raising a daughter and preparing to hit the stage for my first National competition for powerlifting? As I said, I go big.

Yet here I am, 5 years later, and I’m now once again starting over and creating waves as a website designer- something I hadn’t even considered as a job opportunity. People have asked how it happened, the transition from fitness coach to web designer, and I still don’t really know how to answer that. I know it wasn’t intentional! It happened so organically I’m still kind of surprised it happened, even though I’ve been doing it for two years now.

I started out just sharing what I was learning as I went through the process of building out my own website. My experience in aircraft maintenance gifted me with an incredible capability to troubleshoot, problem solve, and fabricate creative solutions on the fly, which allowed me to learn the process very quickly.

I love learning, I love pushing the boundaries of my skills, and I hadn’t found a web designer that was able to speak to my unique brand voice. This was a point in the online industry where brands were very soft, luxurious, and feminine, which didn’t speak to me. So I did what I’ve always done, and I did it myself.

I guess that caught people’s attention. People just kept asking if I could figure out this tech problem for them, so I guess I kind of started out as IT support while I was gaining my design bearings. Then it just kind of evolved….and here we are!

Now I’m a full time web designer who doesn’t just design. I provide holistic design, tech support, and consulting for businesses worldwide who don’t quite fit into the status quo. I create functional art that provides brands with a voice as unique as their story and vision. I work with people who act as fast, as excited, and as sure as I do.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Everything I’m going to say is going to find incredibly cliche, but I guess that’s why they work!

I’ve only ever showed up fully as myself, and I am an incredibly loud, proud, and flawed person. I’ve been loud about my excitement, proud about my integrity, and not afraid to learn from my mistakes. In an online world where it is so easy to fabricate the perfect persona, people crave authenticity and I think I filled that role for alot of people who weren’t feeling seen or understood.

In terms of my work results, I think I am able to become a chameleon and really let my clients vision an brand shine through without leaking too much of myself into it. I think you’d be pretty hard pressed to look through my portfolio and find many websites that look alike. Because of this, clients feel seen and understood, so of course they want to share that experience with everyone.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

As someone who has experience on both the creative and the non-creative side of business I think it is easy for people outside the creative industry to see what we do as a hobby.

Yes, what we do is art, yes, but our art is also providing a vital service to every other industry there is. What we do is not just a hobby or a side hustle, it’s an absolute labor of love that uplifts and creates the foundation of everything you see. There is thought and energy into every small detail we create: from the buttons you click, to the first image you see, everything is created with intent.

We might be in the back of the business, just outside of the limelight, but creatives are the engine that keep the industry moving, and that deserves some respect.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dariamariedesigns.ca
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dariamariedesigns
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daria.sambey

Image Credits
Caroline Dorothy Photography (for photo ofe in the gym)