Ramya Mahalingam is a UX architect with Cardinal Solutions and co-founder and creative director of Charlotte Storytellers. Mahalingam, who earned her Mechanical Engineering degree from Brown University, has days that consist of both the technical and the creative endeavors. From working with clients, to organizing quarterly shows and even recording a weekly podcast, Mahalingam’s days are never boring and she is always on the go.
Editor’s Note: Don’t know Charlotte Storytellers? You should. Here in their words:
Charlotte Storytellers was founded with a simple proposition in mind – to give a voice to amateur and experienced storytellers in Charlotte, North Carolina. After a year and a half of operation, Charlotte Storytellers has formed the following mission:
Provide a safe space to share, workshop and perform personal stories to in order to foster empathy in the local community. This mission is embodied by the following operating principles:
1. Creating a whimsical, unconventional, and caring environment for storytelling; and
2. Workshopping personal narratives to find the “so what”: why a story is relevant to a much larger audience than the storytellers themselves.
Here is what her typical day looks like:
8:00 a.m. … Confession: I’m really not a morning person. I’m usually up by 8 on a weekday and around 10 or 11 on a weekend day. It really depends on what’s happening that day. I use this app called Pillow that tells me how well I sleep and wakes me up when it thinks I’m at the end of a sleep cycle. I hear the tune every day and still can’t remember what it sounds like (see above, not a morning person). Even with this app, I hit the snooze button a shameful 2 or 3 times. 8:00 a.m. is the latest time I can wake up and still proclaim myself a functioning adult.
8:01 a.m. … I check my phone right after I’m up. I get my news from a daily newsletter I receive via email and I check Twitter over the course of the day to see what’s going on. Let’s be honest, I check my phone sort of all the time — I look at my email every time I get a notification
8:05 a.m. … My breakfast consists of an excessive amount of coffee and maybe a piece of fruit, but definitely coffee.
8:15 a.m. … Time to get ready. I usually think about what I’m going to wear for the day while I’m brushing my teeth. Once those babies are clean, I’ll get dressed. My morning beauty routine is essentially “I woke up like this!” If I’m going to be in front of people I’ll try to look nice, maybe a lil eyeliner, a lil lipstick. If not, I might try a little less hard and pile my hair on top of my head and tie it with a strong elastic hair tie.
8:30 a.m. … I work in uptown on the 5th floor of the building formerly known as Packard Place. I bike to the office if it’s a nice day and I’m not late for something. Some mornings I have a coffee meeting, but I always stop for coffee before heading in to work. Not Just Coffee is located in my building, and I usually get a coffee there. On the weekends I might use my AeroPress, or I may campout at Central Coffee.
9:00 a.m. … Time to work! I work as a UX architect with Cardinal Solutions, which means I define what digital products need to do by observing people and figuring out what their needs are and how we can best solve those needs. My mornings at work vary depending on the projects I’m working on and what stage they’re in. The best mornings are the ones spent in front of a whiteboard figuring out how stuff is going to work in whatever product/project we’re working on.
12:30 p.m. … Lunchtime! I typically order a salad or a sandwich from one of the restaurants around my office. After lunch, it’s back to the office to work. My afternoons depend on what is going on at the office or with customers. Some of my best afternoons have been spent taking prototypes of apps out to customers and doing user research to make a better product.
6/6:30 p.m. … Time to wrap things up for the day. Sometimes I’ll leave the office around 4 and do the last couple of hours from home.
If I have time, I try to go to classes at Noda Yoga or Okra, and sometimes I go to a hip-hop dance class in the basement of a church taught by Lem Houston. It sounds really weird but it’s actually super fun.
7:30 p.m. … My evenings during the week are pretty action-packed. I’m the co-founder and creative director of a group called the Charlotte Storytellers and we meet on Monday nights! Those are my favorite two hours of every week. I did the Plaza Midwood Tuesday Night Ride (PMTNR) a couple of weeks ago and loved it! I might try to make that a regular Tuesday activity. My friends and I usually play board games on Wednesday nights. On Thursdays, I typically record the Storytellers podcast. I didn’t realize how action packed my week tends to be until I started listing out my days for this profile… ha!
As you can see, it doesn’t happen often, but if I have a night in, I love to make a homemade dinner, read a good book, listen to some music and maybe engage in some deep life chats on the phone or in my cozy living room with friends. I’ve been trying to cook more for myself lately. I’m a vegetarian, so there’s always a good amount of produce involved in my meals. I also love a good bowl of vegetarian tofu pho from Pho Hoa on a cold day. Oh, and wine.
If it works out, I like to take a nighttime walk with my one of my roommates and process each other’s day’s happenings.
If I decide to go out during the week, you would most likely find me at Twenty-Two, Common Market, Free Range Brewery or Snug Harbor. On the weekends, you’ll most likely find me at Growlers PourHouse, Midwood Country Club, an event at Goodyear Arts, or a Charlotte Storyteller showcase (all are welcome!). If all else fails, I’m probably ordering bottle service at Bubble.
I love what I do, but I do cherish my weekends. To me, weekends are for lazy mornings, good coffee, good books, long walks and bike rides, delicious banh mi, Charlotte Storytellers showcase rehearsal, nerding out on UX goodies, and late nights with friends.
12:30/1:00 a.m. … Lights out! If I’m in a writing mood, I do my best, most lucid writing at 2:30 a.m., but most nights I try to be in bed by 1 a.m. I’ll usually shower right before I go to bed, brush my teeth, listen to some super chill music like Tycho, and read a few pages of something before hitting the hay.
