Sabrina Percy
Certified Coach, Fashion Illustrator & Mentor
I’m Sabrina Percy. I am a Certified Human Potential Coach. I work with individuals and organizations using positive psychology and coaching psychology methods to help clients towards goal attainment, psychological well-being and insight. I used to model occasionally and also worked as a professional fashion illustrator. I got into the industry after completing my BA in fashion illustration from the London collage of Fashion, and after leaving I went straight into freelance work.
I am a good friend of Sarah Ann Macklin’s, and I have been fortunate enough to attend two of the Be Well Collective events. I was so inspired by the incredible work that was taking place that I was eager to support in any way I could. When the Mentoring opportunity came, it felt like the perfect fit.
Why do you want to be a Mentor on the Mentoring Young Creatives programme?
Being in the fashion industry can both be exciting and glamorous, exhausting and challenging. I wish I could of had a mentor who had the life experience to help guide me through and help me to short cut any mistakes not worth learning the hard way. Even just a confidential ear to discuss work and what I felt about everything would have been ideal. But I didn’t have that. So, now that’s what I hope to be for others entering the industry who feel that they need the support.
What past experiences do you have which you believe will help you to mentor a young person in the creative industries?
Well, certainly 4 years of freelancing will teach you a lot from how to get jobs, to networking, and it will especially teach you mindset is everything! When you are a company of one, putting yourself out there as a brand every day, there is going to be a lot to master. You are effectively wearing so many hats at one time. I hope to be able to pass down what I’ve learnt over the years to help newbies in the industry find their feet and succeed.
What do you hope to achieve from the Mentoring Young Creatives programme?
I would love for my mentee to achieve their goals, build mastery in whatever it is they choose to pursue and develop a mindset that will serve them forever. That would really mean the world to me.
What are you most excited about in starting the Mentoring Young Creatives programme?
Probably listing to new challenges my mentee is facing in the industry and learning together what would be the best solution. I love the process and conversation of problem solving. I find it endlessly fascinating.
How do you think your career and health would have been affected had you had the opportunity to be mentored early in your career?
Things that I think mentoring could have really helped me with are especially things like structure, company on what can feel sometimes like a very lonely journey, accountability to the hopes and aspirations I held for myself and my career, to be able to converse with someone who just get it can sometimes be all you need. To be understood and then helped to overcome the challenge. I would have really of loved the opportunity to be mentored.
What is the best piece of advice that you have been given by a mentor/colleague/friend?
Everything worth having takes time. She was not a mentor of mine, but Patti Smith has this amazing quote that has always stayed with me: “Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises, don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful — be concerned with doing good work and make the right choices and protect your work. And if you build a good name, eventually, that name will be its own currency. Life is like a roller coaster. It’s never going to be perfect — it is going to have perfect moments, and then rough spots, but it’s all worth it.”