The Un-Ordinary: An Anti-Gatekeeping Series on Freelancing (Featuring Mayara Sousa)

Meet Mayara Sousa.

Mayara is a graphic designer, helping women gain confidence and clarity around their digital brand to attract their ideal customers & GROW.

‍

What's the craziest design request you've ever received?

I've gotten the occasional "let's just do exactly what brand X did" request - clients who show up with a competitor's logo or website and basically want a carbon copy. My "favorite" was this client who wanted to create "the next WhatsApp" and when they explained their groundbreaking app idea... it was literally just WhatsApp with a different color scheme 💀

‍
What do you do when you get stuck creatively?

I switch things up completely - sometimes I'll grab my iPad and head to a cozy cafe for a change of scenery, or I'll take a solo walk with my camera. Or if I'm really stuck, I'll actually step away from design completely and dive into a good book! Lately I've been setting small design challenges for myself, like creating quick mock logos in 10 minutes, just to get out of my head and remember that not everything needs to be perfect. And there are days when I just need to accept that it's not my day, close my laptop, and come back tomorrow with fresh eyes.

‍
If you could design a new emoji, what would it be?

A "Jim from The Office staring directly into the camera" emoji or a pink cowboy hat emoji for the girlies (the fact we still don't have a pink version of this is genuinely upsetting)

‍

‍

What are the most common forms of gatekeeping you've observed?
How do you think we as a community could change them?

I've literally watched designers refuse to explain their process or share resources because they're "protecting the industry." From what? Other people's success? That's why I share so much behind-the-scenes content.And let's talk about digital products in the design/marketing world - everyone's teaching the exact same basic things, but the moment someone reaches that next level, suddenly they have nothing new to share or they hide everything behind a $6000 mastermind.

‍

What's your greatest pain point in managing your business?

Consistency. And not just in posting on social media - I mean consistency in literally everything 😅 I'll have these amazing bursts of energy where I'm on fire, coming up with new projects and products, planning for the long term... and then suddenly I'm overwhelmed, ghosting my own Instagram etc. I'm fantastic at creating systems and workflows for my clients, but when it comes to my own business, my brain goes "nope, let's hyperfocus on redesigning our website for the 100th time instead of sticking to the actual plan". My Notion is full of half-finished templates, I have about 17 different "final" versions of my brand guidelines, and my client work never suffers from this chaos - it's just my own business that gets the "creative chaos" treatment.
‍

Find Mayara online, on IG and TikTok

‍

"The Un-Ordinary: An Anti-Gatekeeping Series on Freelancing" by Roam.

Roam is the most intuitive business management platform for digital creatives, here to equip creatives with the practical tools and support to streamline their workflows and thrive in business.
‍
‍

‍

‍

‍