We sat down with Tamara and spoke about how she brings her creative passions, global perspective, and need for movement together to create a holistic approach to leadership while launching her business.
TP: Oh, multi-passionate for sure. ‘Multi’ is the keyword there. Then I would say energetic – this is one I’ve been told by others. It’s not necessarily something I realised, that meetings or collaborations with me translate into a vitamin session, where everyone leaves feeling rejuvenated. I enjoy leaning into that, especially while creating our new business. It doesn’t matter how difficult a topic is, my focus is on how we can end a session feeling more energetic than before. Finally, I would say movement. I am someone who needs to literally move – move places, move my body, move projects, as well. One of the reasons I may feel burnt out or uninspired is because I’m only focusing on one thing or project at a time. I gain energy when I can move between things, and bring my multiple passions along with me.
TP: Well, I was born into a very classic middle-class Chilean family. Maybe not so conservative, though, now that I think about how my mom was already separated, which was very rare. She was always independent and had her own family business. I feel like I was born into this kind of make-it-yourself lifestyle. We lived in Santiago, but we were moving to different boroughs all the time. It was actually pretty fun! My parents had a restaurant, so we were always multitasking and thinking fast.
One of the things my mom taught us was to understand where money comes from. A part of that included not only getting involved in the business from a very early stage, but also learning to value the things you build while also valuing someone else’s job. For example, my mom had an amazing relationship with the staff. She always hired people who really, really needed the job and taught them how to get to even greater places in their lives so they could make more money, too. Growing up in that environment was like university for me, and I’m thankful for that.
Once I was in school, I was super curious and I was always in something – art lessons, music lessons, ballet lessons. I was in the dance world for several years, putting in long hours. I learned a lot about discipline and passion, as well. And I learned that perseverance and hard work can get you to the places that you want to be.
And I guess what changed my life was when I was around 15. I came to my parents and I said, ‘I found this office. They do exchange programmes for teenagers and I want to go.’ Back in 2000, this was not a very popular choice for anyone in Chile. But luckily my grandmother sent my mom on an exchange programme back in the 1960s, so I had a really unique situation where she knew what it was all about. So she convinced my dad to let me go, and I’m here today because I did that. I was able to live in a different culture for a year and work on my English. I met new systems and new ways of how the world can work. And I think the global perspective I gained encourages me to actually get to know someone instead of making snap judgements. It made me more open-minded, for sure.
TP: I would have to say because of the place that I was born and the family that I have, having your feet on the ground is very important to me. I think good leadership requires that because you need to acknowledge that your perspective, or your reality, or your life is not for everyone. It's not the same and it can change overnight, as well. If you have your feet on the ground, you're actually able to connect with others. Whether you are struggling, or need any assistance or even if you are flourishing, you cannot do it alone.
TP: If I look back, I can probably think of a few instances when I was younger, but I probably wasn’t aware of it or acknowledged it at the time. A lot of that ties back to being a woman navigating leadership situations. There’s a big tendency for reverse thinking. Even if I was feeling super empowered, I would tend to pull back. But the times I feel most aware of being in a leadership position have nothing to do with work. It is through my dance lessons. For the last five years, we’ve had this consistent group of about 20 people who consistently show up and dance together. And we have bonded in a really deep way, and we inspire and push each other to be better, not just in the dance class, but in our daily life. We’re pursuing better career options or making better personal choices because the things that we share with each other ignite that flame within each one of us to pursue more.
For instance, one of my closest friends has been working as an English teacher for the past 14 years, but she was so unhappy. She was stressed and fed up with the bureaucracy and not actually following her passions. She draws, she illustrates, she’s a self-taught filmmaker. You should have seen her classes, she was incredible, but she was feeling uninspired and undervalued at work. And I told her, ‘You’re so good, you could do so much with this.’ So after the pandemic, she made the leap and quit her job. She worked for me for about six months, and now she’s working in the international department for a local university and does different work for Instagram accounts on the side. She told me, ‘If I hadn’t met you, I would still be stuck in a job that made me miserable instead of following my talents and passions.’
TP: I think my family always knew, they keep saying, ‘Of course she’s the creative. She paints, she’s handy, she’s good with creating harmony.’ My mom would decorate the house, and I was her consultant. You know, I would ask things like, ‘What does the wallpaper need to do?’
In school, however, I took more of a traditional approach. Learning was my way to explore the world. After living in Montana, I saw how other kids were going to high school, and how different it was compared to us. In Chile, we had a very set curriculum. But in Montana, they had a more flexible curriculum, where it didn’t so much matter whether you were at the top of the class or not, they were more focused on the future and what represented them. I loved that way of thinking, but when I came back to Chile, I knew it was all about getting good marks. I did the exams to get into university, and I was getting calls from all different places to study medicine, or engineering, or architecture. My dad was thrilled but I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to pursue any of those things. I love my country, but I have never fit in culturally. And for some reason, following the traditional path didn’t make sense to me either.
Back in the day, no one knew about design at all. It’s still very unknown, but back then it was completely unknown. But I applied, and I got into a design programme. I guess it wasn’t until classes started that I knew it was a good decision; I was 18, I didn’t know much about design at all. But it made sense because it mixed analytical perspectives with creative solutions. It could be as technological or as crafty as you wanted.
TP: I had money drilled into my mind since I was a kid. So I started working when I was in university. One of the good parts about my college was the idea that you had a fixed programme, but also had a flexible part where you could take classes and explore other careers. So I started taking classes in theatre, literature, aesthetics and journalism. I started meeting people from other areas and I landed in this group where there was this journalist. We became friends and he started working for the local student government during university and he said, ‘You know what? We’re creating this platform, we want to create a magazine. We want to make everything feel more professional. Would you be willing to work with us?’ Working with them opened doors once I graduated. I guess my professional life has just been a series of returning favours. I have done a lot of pro bono work in my life, and then someone will call me later on down the line and ask to work with me. One thing always led to the other that way.
TP: I got a job. If I didn't like it, I left. I didn't need much security before quitting a job. If I hit a wall, I knew it was more of a cultural barrier than anything. I knew that would take years to break that wall down. I knew that I didn't want to be that person who dedicated her life just to demolish one wall. Instead, I was in pursuit of places and people with whom I could build up instead of tear down. I think I was super brave back then to think I had such a lousy salary, too. People were always telling me to hold onto a job, it’s not worth it to lose the money. But it was never worth it if I wasn’t pursuing the work that I wanted to do. So yeah, I quit a lot, like, a lot.
TP: As I said before, I always give the people the benefit of the doubt. In Chile, most of the creative industry is in advertising. When I joined the advertising world, it was just after the huge rush of the nineties, so there was this idea that creatives are kind of like superstars. I came from more of an academic perspective where design is very anonymous and you don’t do it to be famous and get prizes – you do it because you actually want to create change, to make connections and generate impact. So I would have conversations with supervisors, creative directors, and people who ran the agencies to try and understand our differences. And what I found was they were often very condescending to me, like, ‘Oh, what does this young woman know about life and creativity? We’re not actually going to take her seriously.’ I would stay for a couple of months and see if anything was willing to change. If it wasn’t, I would leave.
TP: I tried to open a small coffee place when my dad bought his last restaurant. I was not ready. I was not mature enough to actually understand how your life will transform. I love the food industry, I love restaurants, and I have such a high respect for everyone who runs even the smallest food business because it's very life-consuming. It's not just time-consuming. You're just thinking about it 24/7. Later on, I figured out why it was not a match for me because I need to be able to do other things at the same time, which is not possible when you have a restaurant. I used to sell chocolate snacks at university to pay for my materials. My grandmother used to make french fries in the summer, put them in little bags and all the kids would have to go outside and sell them. So we kind of have the entrepreneurial side built in us, it’s a part of our DNA.
But the seed for my creative business, Love & Fear, came in Module One of the Design Leaders Programme. I started the programme without any expectations. I had just quit my job and was freelancing and my dad convinced me to join the programme and that it was a great opportunity. He just had that gut feeling. So during Module One, I just had this lightbulb moment where I thought, ‘Maybe what I’ve been doing as a freelancer and throughout my career is something I can shape into a business.’ It doesn’t have to be flat and systemic, it can keep changing and can take the shape I feel it needs depending on the context.
TP: Especially when they have no idea what you do. I've been a designer for over 15 years and they still do not understand what I do. It's a mystery, but hopefully it works.
TP: I think it was a mix of everything. Module One planted that seed, especially because I was meeting so many people and hearing their stories which made me think I didn’t need to be US or Europe-based. Maybe I can do something in other latitudes, and do well. And it was in Tony Browne’s class on how to make organisational change that I realised this was the connection I was looking for. This was the first branch of the seed.
TP: Especially when he presented his case study with the H&M group. That example was so good because he was creating the in-house creative team for H&M, and you can see how well the company has been doing after that. So that was a business changer, for sure. Design is a superpower and it has been undervalued for so many years. To be able to see real-life examples like that was super exciting for me.
TP: I was still not a hundred percent determined. But then I got this book called Build the Damn Thing by Kathryn Finney, who is an amazing African-American woman who built her own company, which started from a blog. She shares her journey and methods which took her to where she is now, and she even has a fund for Black business people. She’s such an inspiration. Reading this book, I thought, ‘Okay, it doesn’t have to sound so scary or hard. It needs focus and organisation and determination.’ And that was my starting point. I highlighted half the book and made myself a to-do list. I called a friend and gave her a very bare-bones idea for the business. I told her I needed someone to back me up – I don’t want to get lost in other things and I don’t want to get super excited and then not follow through. I need someone to hold me accountable. She agreed to be my partner and we built the thing.
TP: Like anything in life, but especially in design projects, you have to add a lot of iterations. I remember being in London during the Design Leaders Programme and I had breakfast with a fellow delegate. And he agreed to look over my raw plan and give me feedback and I’ve been building it from there. And after Module 5, where we presented our projects to the industry panel and to our peers, I’ve had so much amazing feedback from everyone.
TP: It’s a design studio. I call it this because one of my goals is to position the design concept in Santiago and Chile as something that goes beyond aesthetics. I want companies and professionals to understand the invaluable tools that designers bring not just as doers, but as thinkers and visionaries, too. It’s based on human creativity and how we can propel businesses to design business ideas and support them in the communications and execution of it. So what I usually do is get involved with the entire team in charge of communication. This could be design, marketing, or a mix depending on the size of the company. I do this to understand the journey of the brand, what it has done, and engage in lots of conversations to extract the magical words that tell us what the brand's purpose really is and where it is going. There are so many businesses out there which have a really strong purpose and vision and capacity to make change, but they haven’t found the right words to define what they do. So that’s my step one: discern what it is a business actually wants and what you are actually doing. Sometimes, a business might think they are doing something very random and average. But I want to highlight that, oftentimes, what they are doing is very unique. I like to highlight those aspects of the business.
TP: We creatives tend to sell our skills as services. It’s very transactional – what do you need? Do you need a plan? I will charge you for the plan. Do you need rebranding? I will charge you for the rebranding.
What we have created with our message is that design is more like a partnership. Since last October, my role as a consultant has completely changed. For instance, we’ll start with something more focused on branding and analysing how the brand works. Then we would expand not only into how the brand looks and sounds, but also into how the team works, how the company works and how companies communicate with each other. So now we’re restructuring the entire marketing team and we’re doing it with the founders and people inside the team, and at the same time we’re redoing the visual products like the website, the brand book, and how they can collaborate with more partners. When you see design as a partnership instead of just a product, you approach the work with a totally different mentality.
TP: Exactly, because if you have a design mentality, you will carry that with you in every conversation you have. It doesn’t matter whether it’s with the owner of the business or with the youngest person who’s been there for a month. The power of design thinking is that it can draw out key conversations; it’s there for a reason and if you can actually see the potential that it can bring into the business, the scope of your ambition as a business grows, too.
TP: Well, actually, this is the first time that I’ve had a clear vision for a long time. Before doing the Design Leaders Programme, I was having a vocational crisis; I almost decided to quit design. But after the Programme, I have so much clarity. I want to bring the best practices of brands from Europe and the US to Latin America, especially brands who believe in sustainability and are accountable for it. I want those brands who believe in social justice, climate justice, and gender equality to be closer to our creators on this side of the world who might otherwise feel super alone. Those who want to create better things but don’t feel supported by anyone where they live – I want to make those connections possible. And on the flip side, I also feel like emerging markets in South America, as well as in Africa and some parts of Asia, have so much to offer to businesses already based in Europe, the US, and Australia. What I mean is there is so much possibility for growth in places where nothing is a given and you have the chance to pioneer and create positive change, as well. So I see myself splitting my time between Europe and South America to try and connect people.
TP: Number one, and it’s something I will be working on my entire life, is trusting in your self-confidence. I don’t know that many outspoken businesswomen. Instead, we tend to recreate the way male leaders show themselves in a public space, as though that’s something we need to imitate. And that’s very uncomfortable for me because that’s just not who I am. Which leads me to my biggest takeaway from the Design Leaders Programme, which is to believe in my own authenticity and use that to my advantage. It’s a hard thing to do because it requires a lot of internal work and needs to be revalidated and reevaluated every day. It’s very fragile, but at the same time, it’s very enlightening when you’re in contact with that part of yourself.
TP: So many, but what really stood out was one particular night during Module One. There were about six or eight of us who wound up at this bar after dinner, and there was live music and dancing. And I could just see how eager everyone was to relax and show themselves for who they really are. That was just amazing – everyone there either had their own businesses or were older than me or more experienced, but once we were dancing it was like we were thirteen years old again and just having fun. It was such a happy memory because it reminded me that at the end of the day, we are all humans and we connect through basic emotions which are deeply beautiful. It reminded me how undervalued the simple things are, like jumping up and down and dancing.
TP: That’s right. True connection does not require a big amount of money. For example, we tend to think that success is measured by how much money you invest in any given thing. But the things that people remember the most are the most simple ones, like having a sandwich with a friend or jumping around to music at 3AM. It doesn't require so much effort or money, it’s just there. You just need to grab it.
TP: Yes, I have two things for people in the cohort or anyone reading this who is in the creative business. We live in a world that makes it scary to show who you really are because we are surrounded by so much content and rules about how life is supposed to be and how you’re supposed to do things. Most of the time we don’t feel we have those qualities and we try to fit into something we’re not. The most valuable moments that I had with people in the cohort were when people were willing to open up in a very vulnerable way and create true bonds with everyone. Because of that, I feel passionate about keeping in touch with everyone even though the course has ended for us. And I know it took a lot of effort for people to put themselves out there in that way, it’s super scary, but it’s so worth it. You create better, too, when you are not trying to be someone else.
And the second thing is to listen to that voice inside of you that says you’re ready for a change. You have to take a pause and actually listen to yourself, or else you risk getting stuck in the tremendous noise that surrounds us. And that’s not fair because I’m sure everyone everywhere has beautiful ideas and things to share. You have to do things in your work that you not only love but that you believe in. You have to trust that we actually want to know you and that what you do is important, even if it’s just for one person.
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