On Finding Flow: Cindy Y. Lo
Leading up to our Summer ‘19 iteration of WORK, we'll feature select interviews with some of our conference's speakers and thought leaders. In this interview, entrepreneur and events designer Cindy Y. Lo talks about how she finds flow. Click here for a look at Summer 2019’s conference schedule.
who:
Cindy is Red Velvet Events’ owner and top event strategist. Among touching every event, attending every meeting and answering every email, she is a wife and a mother with a passion for travel who dares to visit all seven continents within her lifetime. (She’s already tackled five.) Cindy started her career coding in the tech industry and also has a love for designing anything from invitations to a ballroom.
what kind of support do you wish you had had when you were just starting out?
I wish I had someone from the new industry I was pivoting into tell me that what I was doing was going to be ok; because honestly I wasn’t initially welcomed/encouraged with open arms when I first started since there’s a high percentage of failure in our market.
how do you exercise personal and professional patience?
I usually give myself small goals so that I can feel like I’ve achieved something (i.e., I don’t have to be as patient as you have to be for a much longer term goal).
what are your thoughts on concepts of work/life balance?
It’s all relative. You have to recognize what YOU (and your partner) want in your life….so I openly share with people that to maintain the lifestyle my husband and I have created for ourselves and for our children, we recognize we have to bring in a certain income which also means we have to work certain types of jobs to bring in that much income. At the same time, we enjoy traveling and vacationing just as much as the next person BUT knowing our roles and responsibilities at work, we also know there’s not a “true” turn it completely off for weeks on end (yes we can do it for a day or two but to completely be offline and not check in is near impossible and for me honestly, it’s more stressful coming back to thousands of emails and slack messages). And you have to know what you need for yourself to feel re-energized and what needs to happen in order for you to really be able to “turn” the work brain off.
how do you take care of yourself?
I treat myself to massages and shopping trips. I also make sure I have my own quiet time and guilt free time with my kids (this means I am spending time with them without having to look at my phone every half hour).
what's something you've unlearned lately that you're grateful for?
Your heath is so important. If you are not feeling great, everything else will be negatively affected so first take care of yourself and know your body when something isn’t feeling right.
About WORK: WORK is a biannual pop-up space, designed for sharing new ideas and approaches to creative and entrepreneurial work. The event's panels, workshops and speaker sessions explore personal and professional curiosity, storytelling, diversity and equality, business management and creative entrepreneurship. Our next conference pops up in July 2019 at Rowling Hall in Austin, Texas. ✨Click here for more information.
