The Power of Scent - How it impacts our lives in amazing ways! My interview with Founder of UK-based Floral Street Fragrances - Michelle Feeney

It was quite a week last week in the studio. We released two great episodes of the show.

I was excited to have my interview with London-based Michelle Feeney - founder, CEO and creative mind behind Floral Street Fragrances (personal fragrances and home scents). It was a perfect conversation with someone following their passion for work and life!

Michelle Feeney - Founder of Floral Street

As you know, as a creative person that wears many hats - I like talking to other creative people that are living a life that they love and ones that are open to sharing their story and their journey.

Michelle was wonderful and honest about her career and following her intuition about what her journey has been all about. I found it inspiring and motivating personally. Since it’s release - you guys have responded in a big way as well! Very exciting.

I loved that her product line is all about being eco-friendly and sustainably-produced. What an inspiration! It was uplifting to talk to someone that is doing their part to make a difference in our world. My hat goes off to her and Floral Street!

Home is so personal to each of us. All our senses are affected when we come home or visit a place that we connect with. The power of scent is such a big part of that! I wanted to talk to someone that knows all about the power of scent and how it can affect us in a very powerful, deep, nostalgic way. A certain scent can instantly transport us back in time to a favorite place, a time or to a person. The power of scent is so unique to each of us and yet it’s so powerful as a tool to uplift us, motivate us, calm us or just bring us to a happy place for a moment.

Check out my interview with Michelle Feeney here:

THE PODCAST INTERVIEW (AUDIO ONLY)

THE VIDEO INTERVIEW

Check out Floral Street Fragrances here:

FLORAL STREET

A heart-felt thank you to Michelle for taking the time out of her busy schedule to chat with us!

These are the kind of interviews I love doing on this show!

More to come!

Empowering Parents - My interview with Dr. Nancy O'Hara about how to make home environments better for our children and teens

I was very excited to produce the interview on the show with Dr. Nancy O’Hara - a top Pediatrician here in the US that lectures all over the world about the topics of Anxiety, Autism, ADHD, PANDAS, PANS and get her insight on how chaos in the home environment impacts our children and teens.

Since I am all about talking about how important our home environments are in our lives - I wanted to do a show all about how to empower parents to help make their lives and the lives of their children better in today’s world whether or not they are dealing with some of the issues that we discuss in this episode.

I am a firm believer in our environments making an impact on us - in ways we see and ways we do not see. I recently did an episode of the show that was all about NeuroDesign and it was all about how changing your home environment around impacts your brain! You guys loved that episode. The science and research shows that change is good and that it does make a positive impact on your brain.

This new episode with Dr. Nancy O’Hara is taking that idea of NeuroScience and NeuroDesign and focusing it in on kids and teens.

THE SHOW PODCAST *AUDIO ONLY

THE VIDEO INTERVIEW OF THIS EPISODE

Check out the episode wherever you get your podcasts - be sure to subscribe!

You can also check out the video version of the interview as well. That’s a new feature - so be sure to subscribe there as well - all about building the audience in an organic way!

Thank you to Dr. O’Hara for being my guest!

DR. NANCY OHARA’S WEBSITE FOR HER BOOK, MEMBERSHIP, LECTURES, PRODUCTS, ETC…

Getting Organzied - All about Lists

As many of you know, I love making lists and staying organized. That is something that I take pride in when I do a client project or makeover project. It’s all about remembering the details.

This morning was one of those mornings where I realized I needed to create a new list for the various things that I have going on. This can cover client project lists, production details for the show list, family schedule list, house to-do list, etc. I find that doing the lists gets it all out of mind and helps me feel productive and focused.

I love Post-its and Sharpies as I have said many times on the show. I like them because I can stick them up and when the item is accomplished - I can throw them away.

I am also a typed up list guy. I like the list because it can help me see what needs to be done and also what is already done. I highlight the ones that are checked off but I can see what was done.

Today, I decided to do the list for the next week. I find that I do not like using my calander on my phone or computer because I like the “hands on” approach to my lists. Sort of the old-fashioned way of doing things.

How do you organize? What’s your go-to method for staying on top of things?

You can check out an episode of The Driven by Design Studio that featured the Executive Producer of the hit Hulu Series ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING and she talked at length about how she stays on top of her production schedule and tricks that she has learned! I love that kind of stuff.

Back to the lists now…

Have a great day!

NYC recent renovation project

This is a recent project I designed for a client commercial office space in NYC.

As you can see from the before space, its drop ceiling, cubicle workstations and overall dated vibe were less than appealing as a workplace.

The goal was to give the client an open concept, creative work environment with an industrial vibe that could be inspiring, uplifting and creatively motivating.

The end result was all that and more.

One of your favorite Guests from my show...

I have long been a fan of this all around creative person Miss Mustard Seed aka Marian Parsons.

She does it all - she’s a blogger, designer, photographer, author, DIY expert, artist, wife and mom!

She is one of those people that motivates other creative people and homeowners because she leads by example.

Marian Parsons

When I started my show - I knew I wanted her on as a guest.

As I’ve said, I like when I can talk to people that are doing work that they love. She is one of those people! I wanted to know more about what inspires and motivates her. As someone that wears many creaitve hats - I also wanted to know how she simply stays focused and produces all that she does.

Fans of her work know that what she produces is inspiring and beautiful. She takes us along for the creative journey in all that shes does and we feel that we are motivated to be creative like her!

I hope that you will take listen to the full creative conversation on the show link: THE DRIVEN BY DESIGN STUDIO. Check out the sneak peak audio above.

Also be sure to visit her website and order her beautiful book FEELS LIKE HOME!

Interview with Actress and Director Melanie Mayron

I was thrilled to interview actress and director Melanie Mayron on The Driven by Design Studio.

I love talking to creative people doing something they love and are passionate about their careers.

For me, I think we can all learn from people that are doing something they love because that is inspiring and that is what I am trying to integrate into my show. As a creative person, I like to hear what motivates and inspires other creative people. Everyone has a different way of working and method that keeps them focused and motivated. I love learning from others like that because can help us follow our own dreams.

I am all about changing our environments to make our lives better - well what do we do once the stage is set to pursue our creative endeavors - we need examples and role models that can help motivate and inspire us!

This apparently resonates with many of you out there too because this was one of the top shows from 2023 that I did.

Melanie Mayron

Melanie is best known for her work on the hit show THIRTYSOMETHING. She continues to act - in fact she was Off Broadway when we sat down for our interview. However, in recent years, she has also become a highly-successful television and film director.

I loved talking to Melanie because we were able to talk about her creative work and the ups and downs of a creative career. At the same time, we talked about our shared love of film and the old days of Hollywood. We also got to chat about her most-recent work directing the series JULIA about Julia Child in France. Lastly, we talked about her family-owned skin care line that she started with her dad.

Of course, I also got to ask her about her favorite film homes - which I love always love to hear about.

Did you know that there is a campaign to bring the show Thirtysomething back to television again!? I hope that happens - we need some great drama shows on television!

In the end, a great conversation with a creative person that is doing it all - actor, director, business owner, mom and someone that shares my love of design and renovation!

Check out the interview from THE DRIVEN BY DESIGN STUDIO to listen in.

Also, check out Melanie’s company: MAYRONS GOODS & SUPPLIES