We recently connected with Sarah Liriano Alba and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned in school and why that lesson is important to you?

Self confidence in your abilities and knowledge will determine how far you’ll get in life. I learned this lesson way too late in my opinion. I was in grad school and already had several years of work experience under my belt. I was always of the mind that others, especially ones that speak with confidence, knew better than me about everything. That I could always learn from others but they would never be interested in what I knew. I thought that others that had more experience always knew best. It’s still a work in progress with me honestly, it’s really hard to change your whole perspective like that.

People often focus on learning all sorts of skills or perfecting a specific craft and learning how to sell their services. However, very few if any tell you or focus on the self-confidence needed to do all of those things.

It is vital for everyone to learn that sometimes you do know better, that your voice is important and that you do have something to offer that is unique. This will affect how others see you (if you aren’t confident in yourself you can’t expect others to be), this will affect the things you take a chance on because if you don’t believe you can do it you’ll always be afraid of failing, it will affect the price you ask for your work and the salaries you request for your services.

Since I realized this, I’ve tried more new things, become less risk-averse and more confident speaking up. But again, still a work in progress.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve always been interested in storytelling and experiencing magic. I started visiting Disney World at 2 years old and became obsessed with magical experiences and fantasy. Fairytales and fantasy novels became my reading go-tos which intensified my desire to bring these stories to life for others to experience.

Unconsciously I tailored my career to arrive at my current role. I started out in branding and packaging because I wanted to bring each brand’s story to their target audiences, and beyond, in a tangible way. Making these brands a part of the world and of people’s lives. After that, I added event design to my repertoire by working with luxury brands on different events. This helped me bring my skills in branding and packaging to the 3D space at a large scale and learn how brands transfer from printed materials into things like interior design, lighting, music and themed entertainment.

I decided I needed to learn better skills in tech in order to upgrade and bring my experiences to another level. So I went to grad school and eventually landed where I am. I currently design experiences using emerging tech for the themed entertainment industry and other industries that want to bring their brands to life in tangible ways and push their messaging farther. Besides designing the experience itself I also design the visuals, motion graphics and user interfaces.

My favorite projects are the ones where clients have an important message and I figure out how it translates to an interactive experience that not only conveys this message but cements it in participant’s minds and provokes a conversation or discussion on the topic beyond the experience itself.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think any story about an immigrant making it in this country is a story of resilience. It is incredibly difficult to not just be accepted into a school, but to excel and develop skills while always knowing that things may not turn out the way you would like.

I remember when I got my first job fresh out of undergrad. I had gone through many interviews and had to persist through a bunch of rejections. As a non-American that requires a visa sponsorship after the first year, you get a lot of rejections, and they were always really honest in that the rejection was due to that and not my skills, which at the time made it feel worse for me for whatever reason. Now, I see such a thing as frustrating but quite positive.

I finally got an offer for a job I loved with a team and a boss that were supportive and helpful. In my first year alone one of my concepts was picked to be developed into actual packaging for a Hershey product. As a junior designer one seldomly has an opportunity for such a thing. I so badly wanted to continue my work and grow in that industry but sadly, I was not selected in the visa lottery that year and had to go home.

This was quite a blow for me just starting out in my career and I wanted to give up and move on to something else. i spiraled and considered giving up design altogether. Eventually I, with the support of my family, stuck it out and am glad I did. Otherwise I would’ve never developed my skills in event design and subsequently gone to grad-school or arrived where I am.

I’m extremely happy I continued despite the struggles because both my career and personal life benefited from it.

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

Not so much resources as access to specific knowledge. I grew up in a very traditional country and the knowledge about the possibilities as far as careers go was very limited. For creatives there wasn’t a lot that was widely known as an option besides advertising, design (graphic or otherwise) or fine arts.

I wish I had looked into things more, and perhaps my career could’ve gotten to this point much faster. If I had known about programs like the one I went to for grad school, or things like industrial design and imagineering perhaps I would’ve had a more straightforward path. On the flip side, i wouldn’t have learned all that I did if that had been the case.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sarahlirianoportfolio.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahliriano/