Daily grind: Shakira Usman

One of two faces behind the designer duo Saira Shakira, Shakira Usman takes us through her day. From monitoring production to finding street-style inspiration on Instagram, to having a fun night out with friends — this designer’s day is exciting, productive, and a lot like yours!

6am

The alarm buzzes…and I constantly hit the snooze button till 6:30am.

7am

I forcibly drag my body out of bed and quickly rush to get my girls ready for school.

8am

It takes me about an hour to come back home after dropping the girls off at school.

9am

This is my time for some good old caffeine. A big, happy mug of coffee to start my day!

10am

I laze around in my pyjamas, relaxing before all the craziness that is yet to begin.

11am

I quickly get ready for the long day ahead and leave for the studio.

12noon

Finally, I reach the studio. It takes me about 45 minutes to an hour to reach work everyday so I jot down little to-do lists en route to work to save on ‘wasted time.’



1pm

I spend the first hour organising work for the day and sometimes, even week. This means pulling out all the notes I made in the car and outlining them from most important to least important for that day, and so on for that week. In this business it is essential to be organised and have a daily/weekly routine in place otherwise it is easy to lose yourself in all the work that piles up.

2pm

The more stressful part of the day starts! I go to the back of the studio where the work is being done to get updates on pieces that have started. Naturally, most things are far behind schedule so I start yelling at workers about production plans and to get the pieces done (this seems to be what goes on for most of the day). It is essential to monitor the work daily as the workers are lazy unless they know you’re on top of it. If you aren’t then the work will never get done and we will never meet our deadlines.

3pm

After an exhausting start to the workday we are normally stuck with back-to-back appointments where we deal with clients and make sure we satisfy them to the fullest.

4pm

Naturally one looses the sense of time when they’re so busy. We too often realise that we haven’t had lunch yet! Instead of a proper meal, we often have to make do with crisps and juice for lunch whilst continuing to cater to more clients.

5pm

This is the time where I make all the rounds to make sure the new collection pieces are in order and looking good on the addah. I sit in front of addahs with a sketch of what we had in mind at the beginning and make sure all is in order, if not this is the time I change a few things around. It’s essential to have a clear vision of what we want to display and make sure that is what the workers are producing.



6pm

By this time the day is close to coming to an end so I get updates on all the work that has been done today, and I make sure no one was sleeping on their job! The last thing I do before leaving the studio is yell some more about delays in the production plan and give a timeline to the workers for when I want the pieces to be complete (knowing it won’t be, but we can hope can’t we?) It’s finally time to head home!

7pm

Unlike the car ride to work where I have my pen and pad in hand I use my commute time back home to be zen. I listen to music and enjoy the one-hour ride back home.

8pm

I spend some quality time with the girls before their bedtime. They have dinner, show me the work that was done in school, I help them with their homework and then tuck them into bed.

9pm

I wish I could be one to ‘turn off’ after work but sadly that is not me! This is the time when I start thinking of new pieces for collections. I sketch out a few rough drafts and start Whatsapp-ing Saira about them and the next day’s plan of action. We should be sick of each other by this time as I feel I speak to Saira more than my own family at times!

10pm

I start getting ready, and head out for dinner by 10:30pm.

11pm

I have a fun dinner with friends and de-stress from my hectic day at work.

12am

As soon as I get home, I start getting ready for bed.

1am

I guess this has just become a habit, but I always spend some time on my phone before bed. I browse through fun street-style images on Instagram and get updates on my friends and family’s lives from Facebook. Needless to say time passes by quite quickly doing this, and before I know it, I’ve spent an hour in front of the screen!

2am

Passed out…