Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Carvalho.
Hi Sarah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m a freelance beauty writer and yoga teacher based in the NYC area, but I’ve had many careers prior to landing here!
I graduated from Boston University with a degree in Communications and started my career in Film and Television before moving into Publishing, Sales, Advertising, and SaaS. I later received my Masters in English Literature from the University of Westminster in London.
I worked in SaaS as a Strategic Account Manager up until the pandemic and then decided to make a drastic change in my life — I quit my job, got my yoga teaching certification and began writing freelance content for tech, real estate, fintech. and B2B companies. I slowly began to teach more frequently while also moving into beauty research and journalism, which is where I am today!
Along with writing for beauty publications, I also host my own podcast, The Cosmetic Chronicles, where I talk about the history of different beauty brands. I also have my Substack, the Glow + Flow Collective, which is a convergence of beauty and wellness.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not even a little bit! I have had so many twists and turns along the way, mainly with feeling frustrated that I wasn’t actually doing something that fulfilled me creatively and could also pay my bills. It always felt like I had to choose one over the other (the old “starving artist” mentality). This actually kept me from pursuing a lot of the avenues that have specifically brought me joy over the last few years.
I struggled a lot with decision paralysis because I felt like every turn I was taking was wrong, but I couldn’t nail down the answer to the “what do you want to do?” question.
The way I came out of it was realizing that there didn’t have to be a rush — I could try something and maybe it worked or maybe it didn’t. But it didn’t need to be the end of me or my career. I could just pocket the experience as additional insight and try something else. I don’t have to rush to an end result, especially since my needs, interests, and skills are constantly ebbing and flowing.
I think the challenge is always comparing yourself to others and the old belief system that I had grown up with: go to college, get a job, have that job for 30 years, retire, etc. Not only is that much more of a challenge these days for everyone, it also just didn’t fit with me. But that doesn’t mean I failed at being successful. My success just looks different.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Beauty has been a passion of mine since I was a preteen. I didn’t want to become a makeup artist (though I’m obsessed with them!) and I didn’t know any other career within the industry, so I always kind of pushed it aside. But during the pandemic, I started growing my makeup collection and created an IG page for fun. This led to some content creation and I started to really enjoy learning more about different brands, formulas, and innovations. I started writing reviews, deep dives, and product round-ups for my Substack and realized it was something I could do for money!
I love getting to interview artists and founders. I love getting to test new formulas. My favorite part of getting to write about beauty is sharing stories — both about the history of brands (some of the origin stories are fascinating!) but also about how products and formulas can really change an industry forever. I think sometimes people underestimate the power of the beauty space, but it holds a lot of meaning for a lot of people.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I’m a big fan of the Forest app for getting myself to focus. As a work-from-home freelancer, you have to be rigorous with your time management and breaking it into little moments of focus time with the app has really helped!
Insight Timer is also a huge part of helping me wind down at night. I’m actually creating a few of my own recorded meditations for the app that should be going live very soon, so hopefully I’ll be helpful to someone else as well!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sarahcarvalho.me/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glowandflowbysarah
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-carvalhosc/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecosmeticchronicles
- Other: https://glowandflow.substack.com/
