Hira Saeed

Hirasaeed.com

01/09/2026

…

01/04/2026

Sometimes I find myself in this funny conundrum of not being able to write about my own life. Even when I know the premise of what I want to say, it never seems to have a rhythm. Maybe it’s a lack of skill. Or maybe when you live with big feelings and big moves, trying to capture them in a 30-second reel for the engagement of an algorithm feels deeply disingenuous.

How do I put 365 days of life into a container and still show you all the ups, the downs, the deep pits of my year? How do I stay true to the algorithm gods while also staying true to the actual weight of what this year felt like? Is this a failure of skill, or is it simply that I don’t have the right container for my life yet? 
I’ll still attempt, if you’re still reading.

2025 was a year of the unknown for me. It almost felt like I was watching a reel of someone else’s life, one I was somehow playing. In my 20s, I used to beg the universe for a break, and 2025 finally brought it.

For someone who hasn’t taken a break since she was 18, I didn’t know what to do with it. Do I work out twice a day? Do I cook? Do I dress up for no reason at all? There were too many hours in a day, and no instructions on how to live inside them. 
And then there was the absence of validation. I am smart. I am capable. I have always been told how hard I work, how well I perform, how much I kick ass. But four months of no validation? No deadlines. No applause. That part was louder than I expected. 
It almost felt like I was forced to live. To breathe. To exist without knowing what I was producing. I grew up in survival mode, I know that. I know deadlines. I know how to invest 25% of my salary. I know taxes. I know how to be responsible, efficient, impressive.

What I didn’t know was how to be still without feeling like I was disappearing.

It taught me unknown. It asked me to sit with that feeling instead of outrunning it.

To let the days be quiet. To let myself exist without proof. I don’t know if I did it well, but I showed up to it honestly. 
(Continued in caption)

12/17/2025

One crazy year for me, full of new changes and waves in life and career, but I am so grateful that I ended up working alongside such an amazing PMM team at Quickbase and this week being featured among this incredibly talented group from the larger PMM community.

Thank you for including me once again this year and for all the work you all do!

12/16/2025

what an amazing year it has been! ✨✨✨✨

11/21/2025

not that i am gonna share but why 🥲

11/19/2025

coping mechanisms 101 if you work in tech 🥹🥲

Hiking | tech | outdoor

08/15/2025

🚐 camping into the 🪵 with 🌭🌶️ and us ♥️

07/10/2025

The biggest killer of authenticity is... shame of looking stupid. Let me explain.

For the longest time, I tried to be “interesting” for other people. I thought learning pop culture references was the only way to fit in America, because everyone around me got the jokes, and I didn’t. I didn’t grow up here and I didn’t share the same cultural shorthand.

My husband, who was born in the U.S. (I wasn’t), will hear a tune or phrase and say, “Oh, do you know this?” And I’ll stare at him blankly: “Nope.” When we started dating, I still remember the day he showed me the Pinky and the Brain intro on YouTube. He was surprised I’d never heard of it. But he is the type who giggles with joy when he shares stuff he is excited about.

Then one day, I stopped feeling shame around the subjects, tunes, jokes that I didn’t understand, and I started being just... myself?

I take this approach to life and being authentic very seriously. In my life, in my career, if I don’t know anything, I just say ‘No, I didn’t know that’ or ‘thank you for sharing that with me, I’ll look into it.’ What’s wrong with not knowing? And what’s wrong with admitting that as well? But yeah, I do Google and figure out things too.

Our entire lives are just a cute little package of our experiences, what I know about the world many people don’t, and vice versa. If we remove the shame around fitting in this world via molding ourselves into what the world demands you to, the deep layer under the skin is always... AUTHENTIC.

There is no other and simpler way of explaining the advice when people say ‘be authentic’ or ‘be yourself.’ I learned it and am super proud of the face that I now just... be... myself

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http://www.hirasaeed.com/

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