Vanessa Rojas – our first Growmoter from Venezuela 🎉

27-year-old Vanessa Rojas – from Valencia, Venezuela – was in year five (the final year) of her dentistry program in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing her to suspend the completion of her degree.

Fast forward two years and a few months later…she is now a graphic designer and working remotely for the company that won our inaugural conscious culture award earlier this year, Sketch & Etch.

“I love the culture at Sketch & Etch.” 
“I enjoyed my training as a dentist, but my passion is in graphic design.”

Vanessa is crushing it. And with some guidance from Vanessa, surely you can, too…

But first, let’s rewind back a bit to Vanessa’s transition from dentistry to the world of graphic design.

When Vanessa was forced to press pause on finishing her dentistry training, she did so with only eight months left in her five year program. She enjoyed dentistry, but there was a lot of stress with patients that she didn’t really care for.

She had always loved graphic design, but had only thought of it as a hobby, managing the Instagram account for her parents’ paint shop, and helping her brother-in-law out with his car paint business on this front.

After much toil on the job-search front, she managed to secure a remote job working for a Puerto Rican recruitment agency. Whereas she certainly learned a lot during her time there, she started to feel at some point that her “path there was over.” She didn’t really feel valued, and she was ready for a change. 

This was around when she noticed Growmotely promoting jobs on Facebook. “Then I found Lee.” (Lee Van Staden is the Head of our Account Management Team, and renowned the world over for matchmaking professionals with companies they love.) Vanessa applied for the Graphic Designer role at Sketch & Etch in March, but because of internal reasons, the company put their search on hold for a number of weeks. Given the time lapse, Vanessa was not counting on securing the role. In June however, Lee contacted Vanessa to pick up where things had left off. “When I received Lee’s email, I was so happy.”

Vanessa has now worked for Sketch & Etch for about a month, and she is very happy there. She felt welcome from day one; she gets to work in a globally-distributed team; and she is learning every day…on all fronts!

When asked what sort of advice she would give to someone who is looking for a role via Growmotely’s platform, she said – first and foremost – “Never give up. Everything is possible in this life. You have to go after it.” Looking for jobs wasn’t easy for her, but she didn’t let the difficulty deter her.

When asked what sort of advice she would give to professionals who are just starting out on their remote work journey, Vanessa offered three simple, but punchy, suggestions:

1. Get dressed! Working in your pajamas can be fun, but Vanessa has found that – for her – showering in the morning, getting dressed and eating breakfast sets her up for a great day of work.
2. Get rid of distractions. Vanessa abides by the mantra, “My phone steals my time.” Therefore, she always puts her phone in a different room from the one she is working in.
3. Organize your desk. Create a nice and tidy workspace. It will make for a better workday.

Simple, but powerful. (Personally, I am intrigued by her first piece of advice, and might give it a try next week…!) 🙃

Here at Growmotely, we love welcoming new people into our burgeoning international community…a community that is tended to by our beloved mexicana, Adriana Mendoza.

For us, the Future of Work is decidedly international. It’s a place where you learn something new about the world and yourself – via both the exceptional and the mundane – every single day through interacting with your colleagues. It’s a place where you obtain an education that is difficult to find in in-person working environments.

We would love for you to join us – and Vanessa Rojas – in pioneering this beautiful, global, and joyful way of working.

Written by: Vanessa Kettner (Growmotely’s Creative Writer and your Remote Work Cupid)
Dedicated to: Vanessa Rojas --> Thank you for the brilliant chat!


P.S. If you’re in love with what we’re creating in the world, and are keen to invest in our efforts, click here to learn more about our Republic Crowdfunding Campaign. ✨ 

…and for anyone who is dreaming now of visiting Venezuela, here it is en español:

P.D. Si estás enamorado de lo que estamos creando en el mundo, y te interesa invertir en nuestros esfuerzos, haz clic aquí para saber más sobre nuestra Campaña de Crowdfunding con Republic. ✨