I'm so pleased that CareerBags.com customer and web designer Lea Alcantara is the next entrepreneur to be profiled in our Professional Profile series. Below she shares her thoughts on starting her own business, advice for other geek girls and, of course, what's in her Career Bag.
Name: Lea Alcantara
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Profession: Web designer and sole proprietor of Lealea Design
How did you choose your career?
When I was five years old, my parents took my sister and I to Hong Kong for a family vacation. While there, we passed by a toy store and my mom told my sister and me to go pick out ONE toy. What did I choose? A toy computer. At five years old. I think since then, my fate was sealed. I was going to be a geek for life.
On top of that, I've always been an artistic person, dabbling in art and writing. At one point, I thought it would be cool to be a comic book artist or an animator. However, at the end of the day, I ended up marrying my love of technology and art and bam, I'm a web designer.
What's been the most challenging aspect of launching your own web design business?
Probably the most challenging aspect of LAUNCHING the business is overcoming your sense of self-doubt and doing what you feel is right for you, even if others -- well meaning or not -- have a lot of reservations. I know that a few friends were worried that it wasn't a "stable" decision to go for business for yourself, but I quickly learned that "stability" is a mirage.
Being hired for a company is no more stable than running your own business. You can be laid off tomorrow for one reason or another, the same way a business person may not get enough clients. I think, though, that if you have a strong enough will to persist doing what you love, then I don't see why one couldn't succeed being self-employed vs. having a traditional employer. Also, when you're self employed, you tend to have more motivation to keep doing a good job because you're the only one accountable!
What's been your most rewarding professional experience?
I wrote this article series on my blog called The Art of Self-Branding which chronicled how I designed my site and launched my brand to help others like me who wanted to market their fledgling business. The most rewarding part of that are the numerous people who've come up to me to thank me for outlining my processes in plain English and inspiring them to work on their own businesses a lot more. It's so rewarding knowing that something you've done has actually had a positive effect on someone else.
What advice would you offer other women interested in pursuing a career in your field?
To women, specifically, if they want to work on the web there are two big pieces of advice I want to say:
1) Don't be afraid to promote yourself and to work ON your business, not just in it and,
2) Learn to play nice with the boys. Like a lot of technology-related careers, it's dominated by men. But most of them are actually quite nice and are great to work with, but you have to be able to stand up for yourself and be comfortable in a geeky male space.
How would you describe your personal/business style? Classic? Casual? Funky?
This is a hard question! A little of all, depending on my mood? I think overall, though, I have a mix of classic and casual. I love a nice blazer over a lace tank top and jeans to wear with heels or ballet flats. Of course, everything has a punch of colour at least in one place. I'm more a "t-shirt and jeans" gal that likes to add a little more formal elements.
What were you looking for in a laptop bag and why did you choose the Veronica London?
When I was looking for a laptop bag, I didn't want to scream to everyone, "Look, I have a laptop." Also, again, in such a male dominated space, so many laptop bags were looking too much like backpacks or briefcases... and that might look good on a man, but it looks out of place on a woman.
I chose the Veronica London bag because it looked more like a giant purse than it did a laptop bag, had a GREAT amount of storage, and can look seamless and versatile with whatever I wear. Also, I think the little personal touch of the monogram was pretty cool.
What's in your career bag? What day-to-day essentials do you carry around?
As I work from home, I don't overstuff my career bag with too much stuff. When I travel for work or decide to work out of home, I usually bring the basics:
- 17" MacBook Pro
- Writing Pen
- Scraps of white copy paper
- Manila folders with project info
- Business cards
- earphones
- spare USB mouse
- laptop battery pack
On occasion, though, if I decide I don't want to bring my actual purse with me, it's been stuffed with my digital camera, lipstick, wallet, and contact case/solution. :)
Thanks for the great interview, Lea! Hope you're enjoying the Veronica London Laptop Tote! It was so popular that we sold out and I've just finished designing a new version (coming soon!).
So, readers, if you're keen to get a first look at the new model, be sure to subscribe to this blog or head over to CareerBags.com, scroll down to the bottom of the page and sign up for our newsletter!
