Meet Armi Mehrsa | Electrical Engineer & Content Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Armi Mehrsa and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Armi, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I’ll start off with a sentence I recently heard at a women’s engineering conference that really struck a cord with me: “There is no work life balance, but rather a work life blend”. I think this pandemic really brought to light how important self care, mental health, and prioritization is and how much it affects our ability to perform at and be our best. When we say work life balance, it puts us under the impression that we need to truly balance the two on a scale. It’s hard to always give your all to ALL aspects of your life, hence the blend. My “balance” has been quite the rollercoaster in the past 2 years. I used to say yes to everything: every plan, every dinner, every hangout. In the past year, I’ve learned how to say no. How to decline certain plans and not feel bad, knowing I need to rest and just some alone time to recharge. I do get overwhelmed at times when I feel like I am focusing too much on work or too much on social events/friends and not other aspects of my life. The best strategy I’ve adopted for myself (and it really takes time to find the best one for YOU) is to plan out my week on Sunday nights. Plan out my weekend plans in advance. Write down every single thing in my calendar. That way I can take a glance at the overall week and month and assess how I’m spending my time and who I’m spending it with. Then I adjust accordingly to make enough time for work, family, friends, hobbies, and me time. Of course, I do fall off track because it just feels impossible sometimes to have everything together (workouts and healthy meals are definitely the ones that get pushed to the back). Just like everything else in life, my work life “balance” is always a work in progress!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
To start off, I’m a full time electrical engineer with a deep rooted passion for beauty and fashion. Growing up, I always wanted to be a fashion designer with my own namesake brand and I’d like to think that one day I could make that happen! I share authentic beauty, fashion, and lifestyle content on social media platforms on my free time. I’d say I’m most proud of getting myself to where I am now, being one of two women engineers on our entire team. I actually only went to high school for the first year and then went straight to college to earn my bachelors in engineering and then my master’s. Let me tell you, that was a ROUGH road. You learn a hell of a lot being in college so young and it really forces you to grow up FAST. Any time I felt like giving up, my parents and friends were there to remind me of my goals and the end of the road reward that I was working so hard for. Some lessons I learned along the way: always be kind to whoever you come in contact with, be the bigger person, listen more than you talk, be honest, don’t be afraid to ask for help, and always, always, listen to your gut feelings and be unapologetically you.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Ooooo this is right up my alley! I’d say first off, walks on the South Beach beach-walk with a coffee in hand are a must. Take a break from the beach for some delicious lunch from Pura Vida or My Ceviche. Wynwood is a fantastic place to spend a day. Walk around and admire all the art quite literally around you and grab a pastry or some bread from Zak the Baker. If you’re looking for some inspiration and lux photo opportunities, definitely check out the design district. Mandolin Aegan Bistro is my absolute favorite restaurant in Miami so definitely go there and order the fried Saganaki, fries with yogurt sauce, and kefta meatballs. If you’re looking for peace while also doing an activity, Oleta State park has kayaking trails that go from the rivers surrounded by mangrove trees right into the inter-coastal so you get the best of both worlds!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I wouldn’t have half as much of the strength and energy to push through and keep going if it wasn’t for my amazing best friends. They’ve always supported me through every high and low and pushed me to follow my passions wholeheartedly. And of course my mom, for always hyping me up when I need it the most.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeofarmi/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/armaghan-mehrsa/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZq6pl2OEwJIoluFJ32pEcA

Other: Tiktok: @lifeofarmi