We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Laura Arango. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Laura below.
Laura, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
I have a personal motto written down in my mirror that says: “Perform how you want to be remembered” and I live up to it everyday. I believe that at the end of it people will remember you by moments, memories and stories about you that caused some kind of impact in them and if it is an emotional impact, then its bigger because people do not forget a feeling. I hope to be remembered for doing unique things that help people to see life in a different way, to be more creative in every single thing they do and to aim to do things in a different way always. I want to be recalled for never going for the easy, conventional way and for proving that absolutely every single thing you aim to do you can accomplish it because there is always a way. As one of my favorite brand says: “Impossible is nothing”.
Laura, 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 started playing Ultimate Frisbee when I was 13 years old back in middle school. 2 years later I had my first participation in Colombia´s u17 national team for a European championship in Belgium. 2 years later I participated in Colombia´s u20 national team for the World Junior Ultimate Championship in Waterloo, Canada were we got second place. I have won a couple of national championships and have also participiated in last years WUCC 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio were I was Spirit Captain for Macondo UC. This year I am participating again in a World Championship with Colombia´s U24 National team, coming back as captain as well. I have been practicing Ultimate Frisbee for the past 9 years and have had some amazing accomplishments that I am proud of. Aside fromy my sports self I am also a Product Design Engineering student at EAFIT University. Last year after Worlds I got accepted into a minor exchange programme in the Netherlands were I lived for 6 months. I enfasise in developing new products and redesigning some existent ones that need a refresh. I am currently an intern in a Colombian Motorcycle company called AKT Motos were I develop new looks for the upcoming new editions and help the development team with new designs and ideas. I am most proud of in my professional and athletic carreer in getting people to know me for doing things in a non-conventional way, for showing off skills that are rarelly seen on the field and for being a super fast learner. I like to always broad my set of skills and to think out of the box for the best eficient way to do things perfectly.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me the most rewrding aspect as a creative is havin the oportunity to design and create products and things that I would like to see in the market. People usually complain about how ugly the color palette of something is, or how the shape is not the right one, or how they would have prefered certain product in a different color, etc. But they do nothing about it, just critizie someone else´s work. being a creative allows you to do all this amazing things that people like or not with constant innovation and it gives you the power to, if you are good enough, make the things that you like, trendy and iconic. There is no way to describe how amazing it feels to see your product in the market, seeing it materialized and people admiring it, that´s one of the most rewarding feelings.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think people believe that you are either creative or not, and they associate it with the amazing abilities of drawing, or painting, or designing, or writting. I believe there is a huge difference between being an artist and being creative, because every single person can be creative. Creativity is something you use probably on your daily basis when performing your career, or your regular tasks on your schedule. Creativity can go all the way from creating a new sculpture that defies gravity, to a surgeon developing a new wahy to develop a surgery mid-procedue to save a persons life. Because creativity does not have to do just with artistic stuff, every singñe human being is creative in their own way, and they can do amazing things with those different types of creativity. I learned this from an amazing podcast in Spotify (is in Spanish by the way, called The F*cking Podcast. Never say you can not do something because you are not creative enough, Neuro-Linguistic Programming is something really powerfull and your mind does not differenciate between sarcasm, so if you keep on repeating to yourself that you are not capable of doing something your brain is going to believe that just as much as if you start believing and telling yourself you can accomplish any thing you get focused on. Believe in you and your capabilities.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lauraarango.myportfolio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraarango701/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraarangomejia/
Image Credits
Vuela Abuela Math Valbuena Interactive Environments Minor staff – Tu Delft