How I Get It Done: A Day In The Life of Aria Sa'id
Just An Average Day of Your Favorite Freelancer.
Hello Lush Life Friends!
We’re back. That’s all. I’ve seen your notes and messages (thank you).
Take a peek into an average day in my life as a Freelance Strategist/Fundraiser/Consultant and as a Style Advisor for BAACAL.
*Affiliate Links: I want to be transparent about how I earn a living. My curated edits feature affiliate links, which allow me to retain a commission for creating and promoting my content, and items I love, sort of like a referral fee. Should you decide to purchase, the brand is responsible with sending me a small commission for plug and promotion. This of course, is at no additional cost to the consumer.
6:15am: I wake up. Yay! My alarm clock on my phone is classical music. (I use the “seedling” alarm sound on my iphone for a soft awakening).
Every Morning, without fail, I make my bed. If you know me personally, you know I’m incredibly neurotic about these sorts of things- which is why my house is always pristine. More on that another day.
6:30am: 2 shots of espresso. I’m dressed for the gym. Espresso gets me going and honestly making the switch so many years ago to an at home espresso machine means I rarely go to coffee shops- unless i’m traveling. I find I need that dose before working out.
6:45am: I work out at my home gym or Equinox.
Some days I work with my trainer (three times a week) and other days I’m solo.
When I work out with my trainer: We do a lot of pilates-inspired stretching, and warm ups that focus on my coordination and balance and of course, strength training. dumbbell and kettlebell workouts, and focus on mobility, flexibility and my core.
We also do a lot of TRX exercises. I respond best to total body workouts- workouts that target multiple areas at the same time.
We also do all my trainings in circuit. 20-30 reps depending on the weight, 4-5 cycles.
For when I’m flying solo: I utilize split resistance training so I can track my improvements- because my trainer switches things up constantly which allows me more variety when working out.
Right now I’ve been focused on core tightening and sculpting my thighs- so it’s a lot of resistance bands, squats, planks, lunges, sit ups and crunches with kettlebells. I alternate between 3-4 workout regiments from my previous sessions with my trainer so I’m never bored.
I always do about 45 minutes to an hour of warm ups and strength training, followed by cardio. I’m known to overdo it on cardio but I find I really love cardio because I don’t have to actively think.
I just turn on my music and I’m holding my own personal concert.
During October/November and I had a client suddenly cancel my contract due to them running out of grant funding- and fell into a bit of a depression. I gained 16 pounds back- so Esteban and I have been a little more aggressive in my approach to strength training lately. To be clear- gaining weight back doesn’t bother me- but now I can’t zip up most of my clothes and I’m not buying a whole new wardrobe. LOL.
Since doing this regiment at the time of writing this, I am nearly back to where I am most comfortable.
I always do 1-3 miles of high intensity cardio- I love a really high incline so every 5 minutes I shift the incline more and more- I start at 5 and spend the 45 minutes working my way up to 15, and then start my cool down.
9am: I am usually back home by 9am. I shower- I have a walk in shower and a giant soaking bathtub but I’ve only ever used the soaking tub twice- once when i had covid, and the other when i was so sore I couldn’t move from working out (this is why I do A LOT of pre-strength training stretching). Such a shame. Tsk tsk.
9:30/9:45: I am getting ready. I do confess I love long showers after a workout. I am getting ready for the day- which differs if I have meetings in Houston and errands or if i’m just working from home.
today is a work from home day, so I focus on skincare.
10am: I have my vitamins and protein shake. I wish I was the girl that used a blender for everything but I’m not.
At the beginning of my fitness journey I bought a beautiful blender and sadly rarely use it.
10:30am: I read articles from Vogue, Harvard Business Review, browse around Inside Philanthropy here and there or read what I actually love reading- be it a book I’m reading or substack articles I bookmarked for later.
In between, I eyeball my calendar and check emails and review my to do lists- I have a journal of to do lists and i have my notes app on my iphone- I am someone who lives with to do lists. i also have post it’s around the office that often need to be addressed- like “GIVE 1099s TO ACCOUNTANT” or “Follow Up with So and So on Linkedin” etc.
12:00pm: Most of my clients are on the West Coast or the East Coast.
I have standing meetings with my East Coast Clients from 12-2pm CST, where we do overviews of their fundraising strategic plan and i advise them on soliciting major donors or a grant application they are submitting.
It’s also a chance for me to get a sense of what’s happening in their world and in their work- and supporting them in that.
Sometimes it’s infrastructure issues within the organization- there’s never enough staff for a thing or there’s interpersonal dynamics impacting teams. And sometimes there’s no issues in house that are alarm worthy but environmental- like whatever is happening in their world and how it’s impacting them in their own lives and how they might show up in spite of that.
2:00pm: Lunch- which is breakfast for most people. Today is Crispy Salmon and a savory cottage cheese bowl with mixed vegetables.
I like to add pumpkin seeds and sun dried tomato’s and olive oil to the cottage cheese- and seasoning and “everything but the bagel seasoning” to make it more bearable.
I really would like a 2 piece fried chicken and a pepper from Frenchy’s in Third Ward but I remind myself of my goals.
2:30pm: Next on the docket, I am providing coaching to a lovely Executive Director.
I started coaching year before last by accident and now some of my clients engage me for coaching. I wasn’t sure I was qualified but thank goodness I have 10 years of nonprofit leadership in my toolbox- a lot of it feels like being the wisened owl and supporting someone like my client who is surviving her first year as an Executive Director.
This month we’ve been tackling “identity politics”- and how some of the staff from more marginalized communities have a tendency to abstain from work assignments or don’t fulfill them, citing identity as a justification.
Having run sex worker led programs and trans led organizations, I know this all too well.
“Based on everything that has transpired with this person the past 8 months, I’m just going to state the obvious: you need to terminate employment” - I say, matter of fact. I know this experience too well, unfortunately.
“I know but how do you know. Like I know, but” - she says.
She’s been sorting this out for months.
“Look I know we never want to be the villain. We never want to be an agent of trauma in someone’s life- and sadly they’ll probably remember it for the rest of their lives.
It’s awful. But your organization isn’t there to subsidize their lives- even in social justice, everything is transactional, we can’t dance around that. I’m paying thousands of dollars a year in exchange for a can do attitude and essential job functions being met. In exchange you get a paycheck and benefits and PTO and retirement plans.
At the end of the day… i don’t care if we say things like ‘let’s hold space’ - it is very much a job. and they are going to villainize you- trust me. but who gets fired and tells everybody the whole timelines? nobody. they’re going to tell everyone they are an innocent lamb that’s being singled out - and you have to accept that. and with social media it’s worst because you cannot say anything remotely related to their employment per California law. But- you have an organization to run with competing priorities and very limited resources. And the work isn’t being done so now you’re doing it in addition to your job. And it’s impacting staff morale. It’s time”. - I say.
This is sadly bringing up so much for me.
“I know. You’re Right” - my client says.
3:30pm: My 2:30 finishes up early in spite of a deeper than expected heart to heart. The conversation we had on the complicated realities of leading peer led organizations brings up so much for me- the good- like things I miss (i used to have an entire team of queer and trans people from all different backgrounds, walks of life and sensibilities and I miss that camaraderie a lot); but it also brings up deep sadness, with how much I hated my previous role.
A bit of a dance break and a snack.
My guilty pleasure these days are jalapeño cashews mixed with unsalted walnuts and macadamia nuts. because i follow ketogenic low glycemic diet i can’t eat high doses of carbs - so i have to get my energy from fats.
when i have my client meetings, i always have jazz playing- in this case it’s Miles Davis’ final studio album.
4:30pm: I’m switching gears and feeling excited.
It’s my design meeting with Cynthia Vincent and the BAACAL team where we overview the pending collection for the next season and discus production, marketing, etc.
I basically get to cosplay as Andre Leon Talley and discuss with Cynthia what I think will sell out versus what will need to be pushed to get past wavering consumer confidence.
It’s a culmination of insights and data points- from what’s trending on socials that will be easier to scale to say millennial or gen z, and what we’re seeing our boomers and gen x clientele gravitating towards. A lot of it is data informed but most of it is intuitive- and thankfully most times we’re right and sometimes we’re wrong.
Being a small, atelier focused brand producing everything in house, today’s meeting is a lot of back and forth between her and i on fabrics.
“i think it should be silk, honestly”- i say, squinting at the zoomed in screen share of the sketches and fabric swatches.
“the issue we’re constantly running into is keeping things more accessibly priced especially with tariffs. Remember silks are running around $50-70 a yard right now, plus import fees”, Cynthia says. She’s focusing on more finely milled cottons from family owned mills this season as they tend to allow the price structure to be more accessible- and the fabrication is lovely in a way that feels opulent but incredibly wearable for most of our clients.
Next we move on to PR and relationships i’ve been managing.
We’re announcing some key new partnerships I’ve been working Cynthia and Diana on, new launches that support the brands’ sustainability ethos and expanding brand discovery.
In this moment, I’m thankful that this is my reality.
Stressing out over fabric selections and sales is a far different experience than planning your former beloved assistant’s funeral, or dealing with op-ed’s in the press bashing you for a move you made or a thing you said or what have you.
We move on to reviewing the fit samples- with the ongoing ICE raids, a lot of our fabric cutters have been sadly deported - many of whom have been in the garment worker industry for 30+ years, colleagues Cynthia has known since her days starting brands like VINCE.
I don’t live in Los Angeles, so I am not directly impacted but I can see the hurt in Cynthia’s eyes- and it’s a gut punch because she herself leads a small brand and there’s always a pressure to produce, produce, produce.
Most customers only come back around when something new has released- so there’s an ongoing pressure to keep releasing new, which means the team has been tasked with finding new fabric cutters and garment workers to work with in the studio- actively, while wondering how people you’ve worked alongside for 20-30 years are faring and where they might be.
I try to add levity to our meeting by bringing up the drama happening in the plus size fashion space- in this instance, Samyra has gone viral for calling out fast fashion brands for discontinuing size inclusion offerings. Apparently Cardi B made fatphobic comments on the creators videos which have since gone viral.
“Wait, I think I know who you’re talking about!! Oh no! Should we send her a PR box”, Cynthia asks whilst pinning needles into a working dress sample on a dress form.
“I’ve already reached out 4 times through her directly and her team but from her team’s response I think a lot of her content strategy is more click bait focused. Not in a bad way, just in a way that you’re able to scale your content to more views and engagement with controversy than you are with PR. Naturally I don’t think she’d feature a smaller brand without a giant payment so she’s looking to fast fashion brands to sustain her work”, I say.
A reality we contend with is when you’re a small brand without a marketing budget, it’s incredibly difficult to retain content creators who are full time or have enough of a reach to bolster a sense of brand discovery.
During my time with BAACAL, I’ve pivoted us to micro creators who are talented and emerging and we’ve built a beautiful community in doing so. It feels a bit more authentic and BAACAL’s clients have responded well but it does mean we’re limited in reach at certain times.
Cynthia sighs, and starts folding the fabric of the hem of the dress, with a needle in her teeth as she is multi tasking during our meeting.
“How do you feel about knife pleats”, she asks, scribbling numbers into her note pads.
I love seeing an artist at work in her studio.
LOVE.
6:30pm: My last meeting of the day!
My client is based back home in San Francisco, and is a major donor who I advise on where to prioritize giving their family’s money to.
Today’s meeting is reviewing organizations led by and for people living with disabilities- and we’ve been doing our due diligence to find specific causes that are working towards empowerment and community building in ways that feel transformative in some way.
After a month of stakeholder interviews and meeting with leaders in this genre of social change making, the family is ecstatic to review the proposed organizations for funding.
While I can’t say more due to confidentiality - what I can say is I adore working with this donor in particular because they are actively involved in social justice themselves.
They just get it- and often when they don’t know, they ask “hey aria, what would you say are the biggest hurdles for small organizations right now”.
“I would say multi year support was a challenge when I was leading TAJA’s Coalition. The smaller your annual budget, the more and more difficult it is to find more stable funding. You’re literally always chasing rapid response grant here, small one time grants for $1k there and while they add up- it’s an oxymoron- it’s more work and more bandwidth but you don’t yet have the staffing power or the resources to hire a consultant like me or a grant writer”. I say.
The family agrees, and votes to provide each grantee a 3 year, multi year grant award.
These are the moments that feel special. I’ve worked with donors who aren’t connected- they mean well, and they donate, but they have no ideas how systems work in the nonprofit space.
This donor and their family spent months of their own time researching leaders and organizations, and hiring folks from community to explain where the gaps are.
I just happen to be around being a former executive director so I bring that lense to our work but nights like these make me smile.
It’s exactly the work I’ve worked so hard over all these years- with all the projects I’ve built, to do this in much more transformative ways.
8:15pm: Finally dinner! It’s super simple since I can’t cook- I buy these really bougie pre made meals from Central Market (basically Houston’s version of Erewhon but it’s right by my house). Having grilled hanger steak and roasted broccoli and cauliflower.
I turn on Emily in Paris, committed to finishing my marathon before the season finale goes live.
As Emily in Paris plays and my attention wanes, I download instagram again on my phone (I regularly delete the app off of my phone and download it every other day and then delete it again. rinse. repeat. I hate - detest- mindless scrolling. I am after all a control freak).
And as always, at a certain point, I believe I had forgotten something on my task list.
I check my email one last time- reviewing tomorrow’s calendar:
a client I meet with once every 2 weeks has me in a 2 hour planning meeting- we’re planning a dinner party in San Francisco for their major donors.. and then I have
a meeting with a new size inclusive pop up store in New York to discuss event planning and PR for New York Fashion Week and how we can advance their sales goals,
followed by in-person dinner with one of my sheroes (also a client) who runs a grassroots organization here in Houston to check in on the public policy issues she’s navigating at the state capitol.
with a docket full of to do lists, and annoying emails about self employment insurance premiums and an accountant to respond to with certain items, i’ve decided to call it a night.
10:30pm: I take my daily estrogen pills and anti-anxiety medications which help me go to sleep.
since the pandemic i haven’t been able to sleep without them.
i will literally stare at the ceiling until 6am. it’s also partly because of a ketogenic diet- you get all this energy from no where which is why so many people struggle to keep it going.
My phone rings- it’s Giselle with our daily check in on facetime.
I say hiiii to Cathy (the puppy) and we banter about our days- she’s planning a giant showcase of black trans artists for her theater company and there’s been drama with the host theater.
we kiki while i mute emily in paris with subtitles so i don’t lose the plot.
11:30pm: I start dozing off on the couch, which is my sign to retire to my chambers.
Nite Nite!
Hiiiii, it’s nice to meet you (if you’re new around here):
About Me, according to me: introverts and homebodies will probably enjoy it here. style is life. intj, double scorpio, aquarius moon.
About Me according to my publicist:
Aria Sa’id is an award winning multi-hyphenate: Stylist, Creative Director, Writer, and globally recognized strategist at the intersection of fashion, body positivity, philanthropy, and social change.
Based in Houston, Texas by way of San Francisco, she is sought after as a donor advisor and fundraising + strategic communications consultant, having raised over $25M for LGBTQ+ causes and co-founded and led The Transgender District, the first legally recognized cultural district of its kind in the world.
Her work has been featured in Forbes, Vogue, CNN, Harper’s Bazaar, OUT, Refinery29, Good Morning America, and more.
In fashion and luxury e-commerce, she has served as a Brand Ambassador for multi national brands including Sephora, Airbnb, BAACAL, Uber, Alaska Airlines, The Ordinary Skincare, Levi’s, Eloquii, Torrid, Universal Standard, Ilia Beauty, Youth To The People, Tindr, and more.
As a stylist & image consultant, She has styled public figures, tech moguls, world leaders, and campaigns with an eye toward inclusive, transformative image-making. Her work has appeared at New York Fashion Week, Marie Claire Mag, Vogue.Com and Discovery Channel.
Ms. Sa’id began her work in public service with Habitat for Humanity and a summer internship at The White House, interning directly under President Bush’s Chief of Protocol Becky Pitts inspired her to commit her formative career to advocating for change. With nearly two decades of experience spanning political strategy, nonprofit executive leadership, government affairs, public policy, and philanthropy, Aria has since championed and co-wrote over 10 legislative policies advancing protections for transgender people, incarcerated communities, and those experiencing homelessness.
Among her innumerable achievements, she notably founded, led and scaled three nonprofits to multi-million dollar operations, created national initiatives like the first Entrepreneurship Accelerator for Trans people, and created and led the country’s largest Guaranteed Income pilot for trans communities. Ms. Sa’id also created the world’s first large scale trans music festival - headlining transgender musicians and performers/songwriters and composers and created a multi-year residency for trans people in the classical music genre.
Today, Aria leads Aria Sa’id & Associates, supporting organizations in strategy, organizational development, strategic communications, fundraising, and event production.
She is a former Committee Chair for the Board of the Women’s Foundation of California, is a Rosenberg Foundation Leading Edge Fellowship and Columbia University/Auburn Seminary Fellowship alum, and has been honored by leaders including Vice President Kamala Harris, Governor Gavin Newsom, HM King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, King Tupou VI of TONGA, the California Legislature, and numerous elected officials across the United States for her trailblazing contributions.
She is the youngest Black trans woman to receive resolutions from the Governor and California Legislature for her groundbreaking advocacy for transgender economic empowerment.
For Bookings/Inquiries: Please contact Grace at mgmt@ariasaid.com