Sarra Herring
Sarra’s a creative entrepreneur getting after all her dreams from Orange County, CA.
Full of faith and filled with passion, Sarra’s been building in the creative, non-profit, and ministry worlds for over eight years. No matter what she’s working on, she embraces where she’s at, all she can do, and takes the risks needed to keep moving forward.
Whether Sarra’s wearing the hat of web designer, art director, creative director, or graphic designer, she reads between the lines to see purpose in it all. And, while creativity is at the foundation of what she does, Sarra’s heart beat is for the art of it all.
With every next step, Sarra continues inspiring others by asking two simple, yet thought provoking questions - “How can we make life-transforming information palatable? How can we use our personal skill-sets to tie the message of it all together and share what we believe with the world?”
At the end of the day, Sarra’s hope is to communicate truth in everything she does, leaving thoughts of curiosity, determination, and encouragement with everyone who will listen.
What dream are you currently turning into reality?
Never working a day in my life — Growing up, my mom always used to tell me that, “ If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” For me, that’s enjoying my work life so much that it never feels like I’m “working,” or living by what culture has defined as “work.”
On a day to day, that looks like working with people who share similar values, passions, and motivations. It would be keeping the purpose of why we both do what we do as the focus point. It would be us working with people who see beyond themselves, and are passionate about a greater purpose. Getting a little more practical, it would be managing and outworking projects within the workflow I know works best for me.
My work environment is a huge factor in this. The world tells you by the time you finish high school, you need to know what you want to do. At that point, I barely knew who I was and who I wanted to be. A dream career felt far off. More than anything, I wondered how I’d incorporate everything I loved into a sustainable and successful career - Creative design work, faith, friendships, advocacy, music, and words. I thought I’d certainly have to choose between them all. And, while even now at 28 years old, it’s difficult to specify one career path as “the dream job.” Outworking all of those life loves and passions in my everyday is becoming more and more of my reality.
I never thought I’d be able to do all of the things I love at the same time..and really, that’s the dream.
When did you first realize you discovered your dream?
First, I was just out of college. I had come to the conclusion that I knew something good was possible with the outworking of my passions, and I knew I was going to go after it.
Throughout college, and really outside of my day-to-day studies, I learned that you could pretty much always find a way to monetize anything, especially those things you are passionate about (given the motivation behind it). It was simply a matter of how.
After graduating, a career path became far less daunting. Not only because I felt there was a whole new world of opportunity, but because I realized - With a handful of career paths, most full-time employers would train their new employees on how to do the exact task that was desired for optimal company/organization outcome.
All of that said, it became more about who I was as a working employee (strengths, character, determination), and less about what my degree told them I could do. I say “first” because there’s a second, and it’s this - I’m noticing every single day that I’m discovering my dream.
Every day is different and is unfolding a new facet of my dream that I never knew I had - One that I never could have given definition to years ago. Sure, there are moments when I have revelled over what younger Sarra never thought was possible, what “living in an answered prayer” looks like - Even what my current definition of a dream job is. But, the dream has changed and grown as I’ve changed and grown.
The biggest take away for me is knowing that the dreams I never had definition for defined themselves along the way, and they were better than I could have ever imagined.
How does your faith go hand in hand with pursuing your dream?
In absolutely every way. It’s everything. In fact, I don’t make any career decisions without first consulting the Holy Spirit. When I was in college, God gave me a deep desire to work for a very specific organization. And, there was no real practical way how. It was a matter of trusting God with the future job, and trusting His leading on the steps I’d need to take to get there.
So, from a young age in considering jobs, I only knew to trust God with it. Since actually starting my working life, it has looked different with every new opportunity I apply myself to. Sometimes a career path has come in a dream while other times someone said something and it just stuck a little differently. In other times, it’s just seeing a project and thinking, “Woah, there’s something about that.” But, every time the outworking of the dream comes through people.
For any seasoned believer, they’d be familiar with Matthew 6:33 - “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Added to you…it’s interesting really that as we fixate our focus towards the reigning King Jesus, His infinite Kingdom, and His righteousness, we, his people, are added to.
While you could dig this up in commentaries and learn plenty of bits from this verse, I’ve seen it outworked in the additions to my own life. I’ve allowed myself to fixate on Jesus and He’s given me vision and help in the Holy Spirit for every step I’ve taken in my career. It matters to Him how we spend our time and more importantly who we spend our time on. And, while no work situation, task, environment, or whatever it may be is perfect, it is accounted for by Jesus. His invitation to us, and ours to Him, welcoming the Holy Spirit into every aspect of our lives is just it. That’s faith outworked.
What’s one or two practical steps you take to keep moving forward?
It may seem above a normal practical, but holding myself responsible has gotten me far. If I say I’m going to do it, then I better do it. Saying it out loud to someone then holds me accountable, so if I’m accountable, I better not forget. So, what better way to help you not forget? Sticky notes. Ha! I’m a big sticky note person. I also write out my tasks on a whiteboard with boxes I check off.
I look forward to morning coffees. It’s one of the few things in the morning that can get me going with energy…the excitement of it, not even the caffeine itself. To me, there’s nothing like a slow morning with a cozy drink, a few pages of a book before the bustle starts, and a full day to look forward to.
Goal setting, creating schedules, and daily affirmations have never worked for me. So, if they don’t work for you, you’re not alone. What keeps me moving forward at its core is really the reminder that my time on earth is short and I want to accomplish what’s been purposed for me to my most excellent ability. That alone reminds me to keep dreaming, keep doing what feels like mundane tasks sometimes (with excellence), and keep exploring.
The last thing, but something that’s huge for me, is exploration. Reading fiction books, learning silly skills, crafting playlists for my work day, and just staying interesting as a person. What we learn outside of our daily work tasks and normal happenings contribute to our creativity at work.
So my encouragement to you - Be curious about everything in your pursuit of knowledge and facts. It makes you interesting.
What encouragement would you share with someone who’s going after their dream?
Stay in prayer and stay in worship. And, let the Holy Spirit lead you. Listen to Him and act upon His leading. When He says “go”, go. When He says “pause,” pause. When He says “no,” trust Him. When He gives you a gut “off-ness,” it’s for a reason. When He gives you a peace, it’s often confirmation.
Get around the right people. Who you surround yourself with matters in every single way. It’s often said that you become like the 5 closest people to you. Without the friends in my life who not only listen to my crazy dreams, but affirm them in faith, I would feel so alone and daunted. Perhaps, even paralyzed in any sort of outworking.
Getting rid of my red notification bubbles. A pet peeve. I’m the person who will ensure my red notifications are always cleared unless they are action steps that I need to outwork, in which case they will remind me I have something to do. Don’t be the red bubble guy…don’t do it.
Learn how to fail well. If you go after anything with passion and determination, you will come up against hurdles and you will fail in one way or another. But, understanding that God is for you will guide you through failure.
Maybe the dream you thought was your dream ends up falling flat, and maybe that causes you to need to dream again. Don’t let failure steal your energy or give you identity. Everyone successful in anything has failed.