The Beginning of my Journey
Faultedlines of the Earth | Drawing Faultedlines | Faultedlines makes me whole
If you could go back in time and talk to your younger self, what would you say?
I would tell myself to be kinder to myself. It's ok that I really had no direction, but lean into more of the excitement of trying new things and don't be so scared all the time. I started this journey of journaling and geology back when I had low self-esteem, indecisive, and overall hard on myself. I never thought I could follow a path where I could pursue what I wanted because there will always be someone better than me. So now I am challenging that mindset, proving my younger self that the lofty dreams I used to think were fantacy are obtainable.
Growing up, I have always made planners for myself because I was never satisfied with the ones provided from my school. I loved the personalization and the ability to fit my own needs. This love started in 2007 and has not slowed down. Despite all the creativity I felt, I was so scared to share anything I did because of the mental gymnastics I had gone through with repeatedly getting told someone else could do better. I continued in silence because I was scared. I am still scared, but working on overcoming the fear.
Where the Passion Started to Grow
In 2017, I discovered Geology and bullet journaling. At that time, I thought it would be a dream to own my own stationery shop and little did I realize that dream would happen five years later. I wanted to combine my passions: Geology, stationery and games to create products different from what you would typically get from the hard to view government sites. I graduated in 2019 and started my master's program Spring 2020 studying Active Tectonics, recent earthquakes. I did not realize what was in store for me moving forward and the realization of what I truly wanted to pursue was Science Communication until my final year. I saw the struggle with the frantic situation of Covid and in the area around San Jose, California, earthquakes have been happening more often in recent years. I wanted to share what I knew, but I did not want to go about it in a traditional sense of only giving information out. I wanted to make it relatable and make concepts seem familiar.
This started as a personal struggle of wanting a planner for my situation so I could plan out my emergency plan. Though when I looked up guides they were either: have all these items, no explanation as to why, not appealing to look back on or hard to find resources or too much time to complete. In the process, I thought I could help others if they felt the same as me, and provide aesthetic, easy to access, and most important, user friendly tools for others to use.
My Reasons for this Brand
1. Faultedlines of the Earth
My background is Earth Science and I started my Master's program in Active Tectonics. I learned how to map out faults in the earth to find where they could be still active.
I am not a licensed Professional Geologist but it is my background and this was originally going to be the IG I documented my journey.
2. Drawing Faultedlines
I love to journal which lead me to learning UI/UX to finish my Master's project. Creating layouts brought joy into my life but hand sketching everything tends to lead into not so straight lines. I want to apply user experience into what I can create moving forward. I hope to share what's worked for me in the past five years (since 2017) of bullet journaling to maybe help someone else.
3. Faultedlines makes me whole
Over the years I've learned and accepted that my faults make me whole. It's created who I am today and if I was to compare it to anything it would be the mountains. We look at them and find them amazing but they aren't without faults (literally) so why can't I say the same about myself? It's my journey and I'm ready for it!
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I hope you've gotten a chance to learn a bit about me and where my journey started with creating and building this brand. My hope for it is for the challenges that continue to shape me as a person will help shape this brand as well into a resource to help someone else.
With Love,
Sami