Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Safa has navigated through the challenges of starting her career at a young age, facing stiff competition and overcoming age-related barriers. In our chat, Safa Muhammad gets right into the heart of her work as a mother agent and entrepreneur.
Safa describes a day in her life, which is jam-packed from 6 AM to midnight, managing emails, creating content, and ensuring her models are well-placed and happy. Despite her hectic schedule, she stresses the importance of taking breaks and maintaining a work-life balance, understanding too well the toll overwork can take.
Let’s start with your background! Can you share with us your career journey and what you’re currently up to?
I am from Brooklyn, New York. My career journey has been great and very challenging. Starting my career was rough because of my age and there has been a lot of challenges because I’m facing many other agencies.
I’m facing new people & sometimes I couldn’t get into certain events because I wasn’t 18 years old but now things are starting to loosen up and I am able to enter the rooms that I need to be in. I am currently placing models in agencies and helping to develop them by teaching them how their looks could be used in certain projects and what model styles they are best fit for.
We’d love to know what a typical day is like for you. Could you describe a recent workday?
A typical workday and recent work day is me waking up at six in the morning, getting onto my phone, reading, responding & sending emails. Also doing social media content for the agency page by reaching out to models and texting them what kind of looks they need & how much is passing for placements.
I also scroll through my phone to see sponsored ads for castings that I can submit my models to. Additionally, I’m making sure my models are okay and that they’re comfortable. I check in with them weekly. I finish work around 11pm-12am because I am in contact with agencies based in Australia, AEST Time / London, and LA so the time zone needs to be kept up with for emails and communication from NYC.
Can you define work-life balance for yourself and share with us your approach in maintaining it?
The way I define my work/life balance is: When I see that things are slow in the industry, everyone is doing their own side hustle or gig in the modeling community or if everyone is working, I would just relax and finally go outside and take a break from my phone. I will get my priorities done for my personal benefit. If things are hectic and I’m really busy or feel overwhelmed, I would take a 2 four hour break and take a walk outside to listen to music..
Change is constant, and it’s essential for growth. Have you made any lifestyle changes in the past year to improve your work-life balance?
Yes, I’ve made a lifestyle change in the past year: I used to stay up for like three days straight or four days straight trying to get a website or Instagram page to look really good and get models signed with me. I wouldn’t give myself a break and I was always exhausted on my phone, eventually getting a little sick because I was so focused on the business.
I wouldn’t go outside for days at a time and I realized that it was not good for my mental health or my body in general. Now I go outside even if I have to work. I would use my phone or take that four hour break. This year, I’ve been making sure that I’m eating and sleeping and that I’m not overworking myself because it isn’t healthy.
We’re always on the lookout for new resources! Can you recommend any books, podcasts, or newsletters that have helped you in your journey towards balance?
I currently don’t have any podcasts or anything, but eventually, when I am strong enough with my business, I will definitely come out with the podcast.
Before we wrap up, do you have any final words of wisdom or insights on work, life, or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Take time for yourself to charge up again because you need yourself to grind. If you wear yourself out then you won’t have any energy to work and there’s no grind.
