SeaLab | Meet The Team: Mary Pawlowski
Digital Nomad Newcomer.
Hey there, I’m Mary, a contract Graphic & Digital Designer at SeaLab — a custom web design studio in Austin, TX.
I live in South Austin, with my husband Todd, four cats, and two roomies. Our neighborhood is quiet barring the sounds of hens, roosters, dogs, random a cappella, and Tejano music carried from garages or backyards across our patio. A fast walk or bike ride gets me to a CapMetro bus stop for a consistently interesting ride into the downtown area. Moving to Austin a little over six years ago I had limited experience with public transit but soon discovered it’s my preferred method when I’m not biking to get around this ever-growing city. The bus allows me to read, have a genuine conversation with a stranger, get caught up on the news, check emails, or glean inspiration for a future project.
It’s a small world after all
About two years before starting at SeaLab, my days off didn’t coincide with most people I knew. Mondays and Tuesdays at noon became my established workout time at Austin Bouldering Project. I started seeing the same faces and soon had new friends. Last year after a yoga class, Matt and I discussed life and I shared my desire to grow my graphic design career. Matt had someone in mind; Heather, founder, and CCO of SeaLab. Kelly, his partner, worked for SeaLab. Matt beamed telling me about the extraordinary person Heather is and the rest, as they say, is history.
Home office version 2.0
After working remotely for a little over eight months, I can truly say I’m embracing it while continuing to evolve how and where I work. I don’t have a strict schedule. Ideally, I’m in front of my computer and ready to work around 10 AM with coffee or tea, mainly coffee. It’s important for me to find time for personal projects. Primarily that means working on them between contract projects and on weekends or in the evening.
For most of my career, my home office was me working from a collapsible, inexpensive, garage sale style table (now getting weathered outside, making the perfect grill side table) and a generic folding chair. Not comfortable.
Four months into working from home made me realize, “I need a real desk and office chair!” Coming across an affordable, adjustable-height desk and knockoff version of a Herman Miller chair is certainly doing the trick. A bonus feature with the desk is its glass top. Instead of wasting paper and having another thing take up valuable wall space, I use dry-erase markers to write a “working on” checklist of tasks I’d like to complete for the day and erase them
as they’re completed. If I don’t get to something, it’s added to the top of the following day’s list, unless of course, it has an official due date. Sometimes I listen to music, the radio, different podcasts, or just the sounds around me if the others become distracting. With this new setup, I regularly work from my abode; however, Austin’s Central Library is my home away from home and an excellent place for any meetings that come up throughout the week.
Four-legged companion interruptions
Yes, I currently live with four cats. Before you think I’m a crazy cat lady, let me explain. Two cats belong to me and Todd and the other two belong to one of our roommates. These cats have unique personalities and vie for my attention whenever I’m working at home. Shutting the door no longer works for privacy since three out of four have learned to scratch at the door to be let in or meow incessantly. Creating a space for them in the office has also helped but doesn’t stop the occasional, “Surprise, I’m in your lap now”, or “Let me help you type on that keyboard” moment.
ABC, easy as…wait. What?
My first assigned project with SeaLab had a few hiccups but I was able to work through them and still hit the flexible deadline. After a heart-to-heart video chat with Heather on which line of communication to use — email vs slack vs asana, and when, helped immediately. Knowing that I have a team in my corner that’s willing to work with me through the growing pains and provide solid advice is another thing I love about working at SeaLab.
Do you work remotely? What’s a memorable spot you’ve worked from? Thanks for reading! Comment below or on any of our other platforms.
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