Hey y’all 👋🏼 if you’re receiving this email but don’t know why, it’s because at some point you subscribed to my first newsletter but if you’re not interested in this one, it’s fine! the unsubscribe button is at the bottom of the email 🙂 

— Sana Tabassum

🍎 food for thought

Okay, I’ll be real here. This is my 3rd time trying to write a newsletter and I have no idea if this one will stick but I’m keeping positive. Over the last 4 years, I’ve come across so many creators, content and just simple and effective advice but I’ve not had a space to share those. Sometimes I save these to my notes app, which is also a bit of a mess. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that I love sharing stories. But they only last 24 hours.

So I’m not going to do the typical thing of welcoming you to my newsletter, but instead, I’ll just get to the meaty bits. (P.S. be prepared for all sorts of food-related puns 😛)

July has been a bit of a blur for me as I recently went on holiday to Dubai for my 25th birthday 🥳 Crazy, I know. I shared my quarter-life crisis lessons on the entirely new social media that popped up while I was gone. So I’ll sum up things that I’ve been thinking about lately.

What I’ve learned 👇🏼

• turning 25 isn’t as big of a deal as people tell you it is. I don’t really know if my brain is at its ‘peak’ but I’m honestly happy with where I am in my life right now 🧠

• I didn’t have great WiFi for a week, and it was kinda stressing me out because being a creator, you get this sense of FOMO if you’re not up to date on everything. Made me actually want to start limiting my screen time slightly ⏳ seeing how dependent I’ve become. Is anyone else the same?

• as farmers say, you reap what you sow 🌱 and lately I’ve been seeing a lot of the benefits of creating content, building my personal brand and having architects approach me to refer to their practice… it’s a weird feeling but I’m welcoming it with both arms

🍗 content nuggets

I’ll start with some classics since y’all are new here. When I’m in deep work and I don’t want to sit in silence, I’ll put on a chill R&B playlist by Bobby Nsenga 🎵 He’s a genius, and I’ve previously played some of his playlists to start off my day in the right mood! Here’s my favourite one 👇🏼

Over the next few weeks, as I get back into my YouTube bingeing routine, I’ll share more channels, videos and other bits of content on the world wide web that I’ve loved during the week 🌎

Something I’ve pulled from my Notes app is this reel that I love to look back on by Daniel Bennett 🫶🏻 It’s basically a small mindset shift where you go about daily life but with ‘a bit’. I think for a while, my bit was along the lines of ‘because why not?’ but I do quite like scrolling through the comments and reading some funny ones. We should definitely all have a bit 😉

I’ve also been very kindly gifted The Creative Act by Rick Rubin which is on my reading list 📚 excited to start giving that a read soon!

🦋 casual magic

This part of the newsletter is to celebrate the soppy, cute and happy moments, not just ones particularly happening to me but just around the world 💫 If you’ve got a bit of casual magic as Jade from UnJaded Jade likes to call it, feel free to hit reply to this email and let me know so I can share with everyone 🤲🏼

For me, this month so far has just been extraordinary in the experiences I’ve been able to have, the opportunities that have come my way and meeting so many incredible people throughout. I went from a stressed, anxious student and part-time creator spread way too thin, to working on my own terms and just taking it a day at a time 🕊️

Spending time with my family and going on a holiday after sooo long was rocky at first, but then it truly made me appreciate these moments. I still feel like a little girl around my parents so I know that in 5-10 year’s time, I’ll be able to cherish the memories from our trip 🔮 just super grateful.

I’ve also started a new freelance role 🥳 and it’s been pretty great so far. I’m still designing, doing the things that excite me and getting to learn so much from the wonderful people involved. More on that in the next few weeks.

It’s weird though. My identity so far has predominantly been of an ‘architecture student’ and that’s probably how most of you know me too. But I’m looking forward to the shift in roles and trying new flavours!

🔥 on the back burner

Not sure if this is slightly late to promote but hey, it’s still a win 💪🏼 Tomorrow is the first of three days of :scale studio — my latest course full to the brim with all my lessons, advice and even methods that I’ve kept safely guarded so far on how to level-up your career 🚀

Seats are still available, but if you’ve got a busy weekend ahead and can’t make it, I will do some more studio versions in upcoming months. Thinking out loud — these might be self-paced courses to avoid the whole live attendance situation 🤔

If you’re just joining on Threads, I am attempting to share my raw and unfiltered self there. I don’t yet know if I’ll be solely talking architecture, but I love the big group chat energy 🤘🏼 All you gotta do is follow 🔌

peace and well wishes y’all 🤍

— Sana