SAID - Something About Interior Designers designerstoday

Linda Kafka + Mike Peterson: Meet the design industry folks behind the upcoming virtual Science in Design Summit, why now is the time to bring information about the convergence of science and design to the forefront, and why architects and designers should take advantage of what science and medicine tells us- that good design improves health! Go here for more details: https://visionarydesignmarketing.com/science-in-design-summit/

Born in Haiti and presently a citizen of Kingston, NY, Maryline Damour, partner in the design-build firm Damour Drake, took on design as a second career, following ten years in corporate PR and marketing. In her quest to create an amazing and sustainable business upstate, she dug deep in her local creative community which wasn’t unified at all, and founded the Kingston Design Showhouse as a way to bring them together. On the podcast Maryline shares her journey, her experience building community, and the transferrable skills she learned from corporate crisis management. Damourdrake.com

Don Ricardo Massenburg Jr., principal at DESiGN iNKREDiBLE, aka Mr. iNKREDiBLE and “The Bedroom King,” believes in stating and praying what you want into existence. It is how he has lived his life and is growing his design business.  Also, thanks to mentors like Michel Boyd, has adopted this basic operating mode: If it doesn’t make me want to dance, I’m not doing it. From kindergarten teacher to headboard fabricator, decorator to influencer, Don Ricardo has a lot to share about his decorating start, why he still wants a career in education, his social media practices and affinity for music, and much more. http://www.designinkredible.com

When Arjav Shah, senior interior project designer, reflects back on who he was when he first moved to New York from Mumbai to get his Masters in Interior Design he sees a very different person from who he is today, crediting the opportunities through his career at Perkins&Will and his mentors with helping build confidence and self-esteem and shaping him into a leader. In the podcast, Shah talks about what it is like to be part of a traditional Indian family while dreaming of career as a fashion designer, adjusting to New York life and a new career, his growing love of workplace design, and the evolution of his own aesthetic.

When she was 41 — a high school teacher and mother of two — Julie Sawchuk was hit by a car while biking, and that accident resulted in a spinal cord injury that left her paralyzed from the chest down, and changed her life forever.  She and her husband built a new home that was fully accessible to her, and which in turn led her to a new career — helping people build better residential and commercial spaces for all. The co-author of the soon-to-be-released book, “Building Better Bathrooms,” Sawchuk thinks of accessible design as an umbrella that must include three elements: safety, independence and dignity. “It’s just not about a turning circle on the floor of a drawing [for a wheelchair] or the width of a doorway — there’s so much more to it.” On the podcast, Sawchuk talks about her journey and her mission to have people rethink home design. Go to juliesawchuk.ca to discover more.

Since she was a girl, Robin Baron felt different. She had big dreams, chased them, and dove in. Thirty years into her interiors practice, Baron is energized by the recent launch of her multi-faceted ecommerce platform, robinbarondesign.com, which allows her to utilize her relationships, share her knowledge, and exercise her creativity in different ways. In this podcast we discuss the new site as well as how she got started in the biz, her indispensable sidekick, the notion of having it all, spiritual routines, and the benefits of joining industry groups.