Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Valles.
Hi Sara, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story started after I graduated college from The University of Texas at Dallas. I started working at a tech company as an Inside Sales Account Manager and a year and a half later was let go due to company layoffs. That’s when I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to backpack across Europe like I had always seen in shows and movies. My boyfriend joined me for this journey and we set off into the unknown at the beginning of 2020.
During the pandemic I started picking up TikTok, much like everyone else, but it wasn’t until a year later when we moved to Madrid, Spain that I really started to understand how to use it to share my life with my friends and family back home. During my time in Madrid, I was an English Language Assistant in a primary school. My job there was very fulfilling and it gave me the opportunity to live abroad which I had always wanted to do.
The following year I lived in Sevilla, Spain. I really enjoyed my time in Sevilla. I learned a lot about the Spanish culture and was able to adapt to a new lifestyle while I was living there. My time abroad has taught me a lot about myself and has opened my eyes to new cultures outside of Dallas, TX. Now I am focused on providing inspiration to others through the content that I create and hopefully inspire people to take charge of their own lives and realize that not everyone has to fit into a mold.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Life is never as easy as it seems on Instagram. In April 2019, on my 23rd birthday, is when all things changed for me. I got in a car accident that completely totaled my car, I had to go to physical therapy every day for 2 months, and I spent three years fighting a legal battle with the insurance of the person who hit me.
Then, in October 2019 is when I got let go from my first corporate job. I was devastated, I didn’t know what to do. That’s when I decided to take a 3-month backpacking trip, which was a great start to the year 2020. That is until March came around and we were almost stranded in Spain at the beginning of the pandemic.
The pandemic brought along its own issues and made our move to Spain in October 2020 a bit harder, but we did it and I am so glad that we did.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work specializes in providing inspiration to others for travel, fashion, and beauty through honest product reviews. I am most proud of putting myself out there.
It is not always easy creating content that is fun, informative, and inviting so whenever I create a video for brands, I make sure that it is authentic to me and my personality.
I think what sets me apart from others is simply that I am able to put in the work to create videos and capture the moments that we experience in our everyday lives. I am just like every other girl, but what makes me different from other creators is that I am always authentic in the way I present myself and I also try to push sustainability into every project that I do.
What are your plans for the future?
The future is looking a bit hazy for me at the moment. I am finally in a period in my life where I feel like I am in control of my destiny and it is scary. I think I will stay in Dallas this next year to decide my next move and who knows? I might end up in Italy next summer, whisked away on an adventure somewhere. Whatever it is, it will be fabulous and I will document it, I promise.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/itssarasmiles
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itssarasmiles/
Image Credits
Emilija Maya
