Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Shoulak.
Hi Sarah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I probably need to start off by explaining that I do a lot. That’s part of the reason this interview was so daunting for me, I wasn’t sure where to start, but I suppose I’ll narrow it down to just the time I’ve spent in Florida. Before that, I was born in Ohio (until 11), raised in Minnesota (until 20), went to college in Colorado (until 23) – studied abroad in China for a bit there – and then moved to Miami for graduate school.
My undergraduate degree was in Communication, so I wanted the opportunity to continue that at the University of Miami and enjoyed living near Coral Gables for a few years. This is where the pattern started. It seems like my career always jumped me back and forth between teaching at colleges and working at digital agencies. They’re both fast-paced places where you have to juggle a LOT of chaos and always somehow feel a smidge underpaid.
Maybe it’s because my earlier work experience was waitressing, but it was a familiar rush of “I’ve got this, look, I’m helping” that kept me going to work everyday. If I don’t feel useful, I feel miserable.
Of all of the jobs that have come and gone, two have been constants over the last few years: Relatively Speaking and KALUOHS.
I don’t normally talk about them together because they’re so dramatically different, but I like to joke that, “both my right and left brain started a company.” Relatively Speaking is my “LinkedIn-facing” persona. This is my company that I operate in partnership with my mother who has a strong corporate background. KALUOHS is my creative pseudonym that I created so that my students wouldn’t find my sometimes questionable art (so there goes that secret).
It’s always felt healthy for me to have both outlets. Relatively Speaking allows me to run workshops, coach emerging leaders, and help companies reach their potential. KALUOHS on the other hand, allows me to pick and choose projects that inspire me or that bring a different kind of joy to people. I’ve painted walls, bodies, boxing gloves, even the giant Wall Street chair in downtown Orlando (remember when it was a toilet in Dec. ‘2020? Yup. Yours truly). I’ve even had the honor to create a few pieces at Wall Crawl, so be sure to check them out!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No matter what line of work I find myself in, I try to always look at every situation and say, “How can I help make this better?” But, sometimes you can’t do it alone.
Early in 2021, I was taking a big risk on myself and leaving traditional, salaried, 9-5 work. I figured that between these two companies, I can make it. Instead of calling myself “unemployed,” I affectionately referred to this time as, “Scaling up my self-employment.” I knew that I would miss the camaraderie of an office environment the most, so I tried to find some peers since I wasn’t going to have co-workers by default anymore. While researching Orlando networking groups, I discovered the Women’s Executive Council (who’s celebrating their 50th Anniversary right alongside Charlie’s Bakery). These ladies have been incredible since day one and I’m thrilled to serve on their Board of Directors.
This type of network is essential since I don’t have close family nearby. I’ve been used to that for a while with all the moves I’ve made over the years, but it was such a different situation with the pandemic in full swing.
Throughout your career, there are some challenges you can anticipate, some you can’t, and some you might have anticipated but still ignored. The point is that you have to have a general awareness for situations you’re put in and what the best course of action is to get out of them. Picture someone in quicksand: there’s many ways to react, but only one way to get out safely and calmly.
I made the personal decision to quit drinking alcohol in December of 2017; I’ll celebrate 5 years of sobriety this year. To me, that was a big milestone for me taking myself seriously and making some big changes towards my own health and happiness. Now, it didn’t all become wonderful overnight, but it really helped me focus on self-improvement and discipline in a way that now gives me strength in other areas of my life.
The thing to remember is that obstacles and challenges are everywhere you look. They’re external like traffic, weather, your industry shifts, or the government/world news. But, they’re also internal when it comes to self-esteem, self-confidence, and overall determination. You have no idea how much power you have until you change how you react to things. I do agree that it sounds a little idealistic to just say “ignore all challenges” because that makes you unprepared for them when they do arise.
As someone who has seen their share of challenges and obstacles in both my business and personal lives, I believe that it’s the memory and experience of those challenges that keep you safe and humble. That’s where your intuition comes from.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
But, maybe that’s just my takeaway because I’ve always wanted to help people. When I was young, I used to tell my mom that I wanted to be a Life Coach and she’d joke back, “you have to have lived your life and then you can coach.” That became my mission. I wanted to dedicate myself to studying and understanding people better to be able to help them be themselves better.
Not “be better versions of themselves.” I wanted to specifically help people express themselves and that fit right into the jobs I was taking. While in graduate school at UM, I started working down the road at FIU. Helping college students who were preparing for their Public Speaking classes really ignited my passion for teaching. I’d go on to teach Speech and Communication at the Valencia – Poinciana Campus shortly after it opened and if it wasn’t for the drive, I’d probably still be there.
Those skills proved helpful when I went back to working at the agencies I mentioned. I was often in a type of managerial role that required strong Communication skills, so I was usually the person called in to “explain things to people” or “fix something,” or maybe just to facilitate the meetings and take detailed notes. More than anything, I just enjoyed being needed, appreciated, and made to feel useful (who doesn’t?). However, those environments can also be exhausting and that’s when I knew I had to take advantage of the opportunity when I was faced with it.
At the end of 2020, I was leaving my agency employer to take a risk on myself and it was working! I had a steady stream of clients that allowed me to do what I was passionate about with a healthy balance of professional and creative projects. That’s when I really hit the jackpot.
I mentioned that I moved to Florida a number of years ago now and when I finally got up to Orlando after graduate school, I ended up buying a house in Southeast Orlando, near Lake Underhill. Little did I know that a budding young Main Street District was getting started around the same time. I first heard about Curry Ford West in passing from a friend as a referral for a mural opportunity.
Curry Ford West is one of twelve Orlando Main Street Districts that work to improve economic vitality and beautification initiatives (along with hosting fun events) within hyper-local communities. This one stretches across Curry Ford Road from approximately Ferncreek on the West to Gaston Foster on the East. I knew this area like the back of my hand; it’s my backyard!
I reached out to them to get involved creatively and was quickly asked if I could step in as the new Executive Director.
My background fit what they needed at the time and how could I turn down the opportunity to help? Even my experience with my family’s nonprofit music festival would be perfect to know the industry language, making me able to jump in and start moving pieces around.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
The world is still very unpredictable. Can we trust shipping times? What’s going to be randomly sold out everywhere next? What new project is going to stall because of back-orders or shipping issues? Just like I said before, challenges are absolutely everywhere. It’s hard to look into the future without having a tinge of pessimism with war, division, hatred, and just general “people hating people” vibes around what feels like every corner, but the power of positivity is that you have to try.
There is one thing I do believe in (professionally) above all other concepts and that’s community. We try to create it with “company culture” elements and we try to celebrate it with our networking circles. We need it when there are tragedies and we realized quickly that we couldn’t live long without it when we were all locked down.
Community can include families and strangers. It can be generated on a global scale or on a scale as small as an inside joke shared within an elevator. The ability to relate to one another is the biggest superpower we were given and we need to take advantage of that more.
I’m honored to have the trust and support of the CFW Board of Directors to help guide this organization in a way that helps so many, but I know I’m not doing it alone. As a completely volunteer organization, it’s critical that others feel how close community is and how we can strengthen it.
The world isn’t perfect, I’m not perfect, and nothing will be, but let’s enjoy what we have, share what we can, and love as much as possible along the way.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://kaluohs.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaluohs
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kaluohs
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/kaluohs
- Other: https://relspeak.com/
Image Credits
Matt Keller Lehman | https://www.mattkellerlehman.com/
Maya Bolduan Photography | https://www.mayabolduanphotography.com/archive
Matt Keller Lehman | https://www.mattkellerlehman.com/
