Clara Parada, a Brazilian now based in Manchester, UK, found her calling as a freelance User Researcher, Learning Designer, and Facilitator under the name Purple Bonsai. But this fulfilling career wasn’t something she planned from the start. Her journey began when she chose to pursue a Master’s in Digital Management at Hyper Island — a decision that would shape her career in ways she hadn’t imagined.
format_quoteI joined Hyper Island in 2016 because Digital Management seemed like the perfect course for a generalist like I was at the time. Little did I know, it would eventually help me specialize!
When Clara began her studies, she had already tried her hand at various roles — video making, marketing, event coordination, and website design. She wasn’t yet ready to commit to a single path. Hyper Island offered her the flexibility to explore her interests.
“I wasn’t ready to commit to one specific craft. I wanted a degree that would let me explore all of my different passions,” she says. “Hyper Island was the perfect place for that.”
Clara’s first impression of Hyper Island was immediately positive, drawn to the people and the community it fostered. “My first impression was that it was full of open-minded, creative, and intelligent people. The sense of community in my cohort was instant,” she recalls.
But it wasn’t just the people that made a lasting impact. Clara also found that Hyper Island’s focus wasn’t solely on hard skills, but on personal development, which was a game changer for her.
format_quoteI really feel like Hyper’s values continue to live on in all of us,” she says. “Although Hyper Island taught me valuable hard skills, it was the development of people and team culture skills that truly took off during the course. Learning to navigate different situations with kindness and using non-violent communication to get to the heart of most challenges has been incredibly valuable to me.
For Clara, the program taught her how to reflect on experiences, a practice that helped her grow both personally and professionally. “Hyper taught me how to reflect on experiences, which has helped me become more self-aware,” she says.
A defining feature of Hyper Island’s program is its “learn by doing” approach, and Clara’s experience was no exception. The hands-on learning style helped her take theoretical knowledge and apply it in real-world contexts, a key benefit of the program.
format_quoteThe theory was fantastic, and the assignments encouraged deep self-study, but the real value was in ‘learning by doing.’ We didn’t just talk about concepts; we implemented them right away. This approach allowed me to internalize everything much quicker than if I had learned it through theory alone.
Her most memorable learning experience came during the Startup Module, which provided the opportunity to apply everything they had learned in a collaborative setting.
“I remember our final module, the Startup Module, where we used everything we had learned to build the best team culture we could,” Clara shares. “We faced challenges, but we resolved them together, and it remains one of the best pitches I’ve ever been a part of.”
Looking back on her time at Hyper Island, Clara reflects on how the experience changed her career trajectory and personal life.
format_quoteHyper Island gave me a new home, a new life in a different country. It helped me build a completely new network from scratch and gave me not one, but three professions that I absolutely love. Being a freelancer is crucial for my well-being, and Hyper Island gave me the skills and confidence to make that possible. In many ways, it’s given me the most in life, second only to my family and friends.
Freelancing was something Clara hadn’t initially planned for, but the experience at Hyper Island helped her realize that it was the right fit for her. “The skills I gained — problem-solving, collaboration, adaptability — are key to being a freelancer,” she says. “I feel like Hyper Island set me up for this path.”
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