If there was a formula for how to love your job, it would probably go:
Empowered to make decisions + Surrounded by happy people = Job you love.
Our next guest has that down at both her day job AND her personal project. Let’s hear how!
Please introduce yourself to our readers…
My name is Sarah Cogan. I am a scenographer for film, television, and live performances; I design sets, costumes and lighting.
Recently, I started my company around a new garment bag called Set Ready created out of my work as a designer.
Can you tell us what company you work for?
Set Ready — It is a company based around its patent pending an all-in-one dressing bag made to generate ease and peace of mind getting celebrities ready onset and for the Red Carpet.
What is your title there?
I am the Founder and President.
What are the exact responsibilities of your job?
Right now, we are in the launching phase and a small start-up. My responsibilities are quite extensive: approving all PR, organizing marketing campaigns, communicating with the manufactures, managing new designs, and heading up our Kickstarter campaign which goes live on June 21st.
What is it about your job that makes you love it?
Starting Set Ready became inevitable when I realized that achieving my life goals and dreams were inherently tethered to striking my drum and providing a product that improves the life and work of others. I get to give the everyday person a piece of the Film and TV Industry on their big
day with our Wedding Bag and the peace of mind that everything they need on their special day is in one bag.
It’s pretty exciting, plus all the entrepreneurial problem solving is surprisingly fun.
What particular skills or talents are most essential to completing your tasks?
Persistence, strong problem solving and letting go.
For example, I can be humdrum about our limited resources or I can find a way to include as many people as possible in the telling of our story to leverage our reach. It’s easy to get caught up in the “Woe is me” mentality, but what I have had to learn is the acknowledge my feelings of doubt, frustration, etc. and let them go. They seem to be more of a distraction from the moment and the task at hand than helpful. So, letting go has become one of the most important things I can do. I am coming into business from a very different world, so of course things are not going to go exactly as I want.
What level of education would you say is required to perform your role?
I have a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and an M.F.A. from UC San Diego both the performance design. My training at these two establishments has made me a better communicator, creator, and collaborator. These are all things that I bring to the table.
That said, staring you own company has less to do with a degree and more to do with the ability to educate yourself on the things that matter for your business, such as the willingness to go into mental territory that is unfamiliar and uncomfortable to grow and the persistence it takes to keep something moving forward.
Do you find that you bring your work home with you? (And is that a good or bad thing?)
Right now, Set Ready is my life in many ways — Which I don’t mind!
I enjoy working on it, and I am very proud of the product we offer. I still plan to have the film career I want, so eventually Set Ready will have to make room for the many other projects I am working on.
How does this job compare to other jobs you’ve held in the past?
My work at Set Ready is similar to my work designing when it comes to photo shoots and commercials, but very different in most other respects.
Firstly, I only report to myself; being a designer is more a collaborative, creative service to the director or producer’s vision of the project. The workload is completely different; instead of being on me feet all day while shopping or designing, I am sitting at a desk for hours on end.
I’ll chuckle to admit that I like having the final say.
All that said, there are similarities. In my scenography work, I am in charge of my department’s budget, the delegation of tasks and work load, and inevitably responsible for the quality of work that comes out of it. Those aspects are the same.
What is your favorite food?
Sweet potato fries with hot sauce or really good fish tacos with pineapple salsa.
Thank you for sharing Sarah! You can find her on Facebook at SetReadyGarmentBags.