How To Get Press, Build Partnerships, and Grow Through Design Friendships

What happens when you combine vulnerability, genuine connection, and a shared mission?


For Whitney Atkinson, Lori Johnson, Rhobin DelaCruz, and Nikki Watson — better known as the Designer Besties — the answer is business growth, national press, and a nonprofit that’s transforming teacher lounges across the country.

In this episode, you’ll hear how they went from meeting at an industry event to building a powerhouse friendship that’s opened doors they never imagined — from High Point Market panels to magazine features. They share exactly how they support one another in pricing, client challenges, and new ideas, and the practical ways they’ve leveraged community to grow their visibility and impact.

Whether you’re looking for strategies to get press, ideas for partnering with other designers, or inspiration to find your own “design besties,” this conversation is a masterclass in turning collaboration into a competitive advantage.

episode highlights

  1. Why vulnerability is the key to finding your people in interior design

  2. How the Designer Besties landed TV and magazine features without a publicist

  3. Press opportunities most designers overlook — and how to find them

  4. Turning a friendship into a purpose-driven nonprofit

  5. The power of networking beyond your geographic area

  6. Why design collaboration beats competition every time

Episode Resources

Read the Full Transcript ⬇️

00;00;00;00 – 00;00;24;02
Rhobin DelaCruz
What I know I always bring to whatever situation is complete honesty. I’m willing to share my information. I’m willing to tell my story. I’m willing to connect with people, and I’m willing to help other people. I realize that I always find a friend in a situation who has similar mentalities, and it just kind of evolved and goes from there.

00;00;24;10 – 00;00;28;21
Rhobin DelaCruz
But you can’t find your people without being vulnerable.

00;00;28;24 – 00;01;00;25
Rebecca Hay
All right. I’m Rebecca Hay, and I’ve built a successful interior design business by trial and error, podcasts, online courses and so many freaking books. Over the last decade, I’ve grown from an insecure student to having false starts to careers. And now I’m finally in the place where I want to be. Throughout my journey, it’s been pretty obvious that I’m passionate about business and helping other entrepreneurs do the same.

00;01;00;28 – 00;01;25;06
Rebecca Hay
Each week, I’ll share tangible takeaways from my own experience and the experiences of other badass women to help you build your confidence and change your business. Hey hey hey, it’s Rebecca, and you’re listening to Resilient by Design. Today I have an incredible podcast for you. I’m interviewing four designers who are known in the industry as the designer besties.

00;01;25;11 – 00;01;50;11
Rebecca Hay
If you aren’t already following them on Instagram, you definitely should. It’s Whitney Atkinson, Lori Johnson, Robyn dela Cruz and Nikki Watson. Two of these designers have already been on the podcast. I had Whitney here to talk about trademarking her product line. She has a company called Wags, which is Weighted Area Rugs. I had Rhobin DelaCruz onto the podcast to talk about the power of a rebrand and how he completely up leveled his business when he rebranded.

00;01;50;14 – 00;02;11;27
Rebecca Hay
And I got to meet Lori and Nikki for the first time today. They’re going to share specifically what their areas of expertise are, but this conversation is not to be missed. You need to listen to this conversation. They are a testament to the power of finding your people showing up in the rooms, and you just never know what opportunities are coming your way.

00;02;12;02 – 00;02;30;06
Rebecca Hay
At the end of the episode, Nikki very generously shared some very tangible wisdom on how to get published. Actionable steps, a link to a website that you can go to to get featured in. Press so you’re not going to want to miss this conversation. They’re up to some incredible things. We will be a high point where they will be at High Point.

00;02;30;06 – 00;02;48;26
Rebecca Hay
I’ll be at High Point where I’ll be hanging out at a high point. So please come and find all of us to say hi. They share when they’re doing an event at the market, as well as what they have taken this friendship to be. It’s not just fluff. They are taking the power of community and really giving back.

00;02;48;26 – 00;03;09;03
Rebecca Hay
And they’ve built an incredible organization that they have just launched, and I can’t wait for you to learn more about it in today’s episode. This is one for the books. You’re going to be very inspired by my conversation with Whitney, Laurie, Robyn, and Nikki, the design besties. Enjoy. All right, this is insane. I’m so excited to have designer besties here.

00;03;09;03 – 00;03;24;19
Rebecca Hay
You’ve no idea to my listeners how much you’ve been trying to make this work. We had to record debate a few times. People were sick, I was sick, I don’t even know what happened. But we are here today. It’s a minor miracle and I’m so freaking excited. Welcome. Thank you, thank you.

00;03;24;21 – 00;03;25;08
Whitney Atkinson
We’re excited.

00;03;25;08 – 00;03;26;26
Nikki Watson
Thank you for having us.

00;03;26;28 – 00;03;40;14
Rebecca Hay
You know, I’m really excited to chat with all of you today. Two of you have already been on the podcast. Robert was on the podcast. It was episode 238 and you talked about your big rebrand, and I believe that I was your first podcast.

00;03;40;17 – 00;03;41;23
Rhobin DelaCruz
That is correct.

00;03;41;27 – 00;03;56;28
Rebecca Hay
And then Whitney was on episode 253. This is for anyone listening. You’re going to want to go back and listen to those episodes are so good. And Whitney talks about trademarking her product line, and we can talk about all these things today, but I just want to put that out there. So anyone listening after today, go back and listen to those two episodes.

00;03;56;28 – 00;04;08;07
Rebecca Hay
They’re really good. All right. Designer besties. Who are you? What people are like, what are you talking about? What is this thing? You’re taking over the industry by storm. So tell me, what is the designer besties?

00;04;08;13 – 00;04;30;18
Whitney Atkinson
All right, let me start. Let me start. So, hi, I’m Whitney Atkinson. I’m the founder and inventor of weighted rugs. And then Robyn is a designer out of New York. Nicki is stager from Dallas, and Laurie is an artist from Dallas. We met at the Vacation Rental Design Summit a year ago, and we just had this bond that we created, so I message them.

00;04;30;18 – 00;04;48;23
Whitney Atkinson
One day I was going to Atlanta is the Haven Conference. I said, hey, guys, do you want to go with me? Kind of like brand ambassadors and go learn something new. And immediately I was like, yes, yes, yes. While we were there at the conference, everybody kept calling us like, hey, there’s the besties, the besties, and everybody wanted to be our friend.

00;04;48;23 – 00;05;06;18
Whitney Atkinson
And it was just like they were. We were all fluttering around and, you know, creating connections. We kind of went back to the hotel, remember, like, guys, we’re the make the design besties and what can we like? We can do something with this. Little did we know where we would be in a year and how it is kind of organically all come together.

00;05;06;26 – 00;05;30;13
Rebecca Hay
I love it, it’s such a testament to the power of partnership and community and not doing it alone. And I know that’s a lot of your ethos, and this is something that I’ve been talking about for years, is we shouldn’t have to do business alone. We all, as entrepreneurs says we’re passionate, we’re creative, but then we end up kind of sometimes feeling like we’re in this silo on this island, trying to figure it all out when we really don’t have to be.

00;05;30;13 – 00;05;40;22
Rebecca Hay
There’s other incredible people there to support us along the way. And I love that you’ve almost like formalized this into this group. Maybe we’ll take turns just introducing yourselves. So, Whitney, why don’t you start?

00;05;40;25 – 00;06;01;12
Whitney Atkinson
Hi, I’m Whitney. I’m. I’m a designer down in Corpus Christi, Texas, and I was really tired of my outdoor rugs blowing away with the wind or curling up on the edges. So I created a solution for myself, and it worked. So we launched Rugs in August of 2023, and then we launched Willow’s Weighted Outdoor Pillows in October of 2023.

00;06;01;15 – 00;06;13;28
Whitney Atkinson
It’s been a ride for sure. A learning experience, launching a new brand and a new product that nobody’s ever seen before. But it’s been exciting doing with these three because these three are my biggest cheerleaders.

00;06;14;03 – 00;06;29;05
Rebecca Hay
I love it, and guys, as I mentioned before, Whitney does share her whole journey to developing the products and really how you got the trademark. It’s a really insightful episode, so go listen to that with Whitney. Head to episode two. 53 is a really good one. All right, who’s next?

00;06;29;08 – 00;06;51;29
Lori Johnson
Hey, guys, I’m Lorie Johnson. I’m an artist out of Dallas, Texas. I’ve been doing art for a very long time. I grew up in a very artistic home, so it’s kind of, like, embedded in me, if you will. You know, I works the regular kind of like sales type of roles. You know, I didn’t really realize I could actually make a living, doing art.

00;06;52;00 – 00;07;21;02
Lori Johnson
And when we moved to Dallas, I had an opportunity with a television show. At the time, it was on HGTV. I think now it’s Magnolia Network, but it’s Bargain Mansions, and I was able to, like, dip my foot into print work and getting my art into stores. And so from there, it just kind of took off. Well, I met Nikki, she was doing a commercial shoot, and I guess the production team came in and said, hey, we you can’t use any of this art.

00;07;21;02 – 00;07;42;10
Lori Johnson
It’s copyrighted. You know, we need original work. So next thing I know, I was so thrilled to get a random phone call from Nikki, the universe connected us. I’m not even kidding. Rolled. I mean, I went in my studio, I rolled up everything that I had going on in there and just give me the address I’m heading. I’m going to make whatever you need to get this, you know, commercial done for you.

00;07;42;10 – 00;08;06;17
Lori Johnson
So it was really fun. That was years ago. And since then our adventures have just been one after the other with television shows, lip show. So it’s just been a whirlwind and it’s been a great, great time. So, here I am. And of course I get all the support necessary from my design besties every single day, and it’s just been a real trip.

00;08;06;19 – 00;08;11;09
Rebecca Hay
Awesome, I love that. So, Nikki, why don’t you go now? You’re in Dallas too, so tell me a little bit about you.

00;08;11;15 – 00;08;35;11
Nikki Watson
Yeah. So I’m Nikki Watson. I’m the owner of the largest volume based staging company in the nation. We have over 300 houses staged at one time. We do six vacant properties a day, five days a week. It’s a lot of craziness happening on my end. I met Lori, like she said on a commercial shooting. And then we did a season of zombie House flipping on A&E together.

00;08;35;14 – 00;08;49;05
Nikki Watson
She did all the art for for all the episodes and, we, we just started getting gaining a friendship. I asked her to come to the vacation rental design summit with me, and that’s where we met Robin and with me.

00;08;49;07 – 00;08;58;29
Rebecca Hay
Oh, my goodness me, woman. I had no idea you had such a big organization across the country. So you have stagers that are part of your company in different states?

00;08;59;01 – 00;09;12;06
Nikki Watson
No, no, no. So we’re all only in North Texas, but our volume is larger than most other companies here in the country. We only do North Texas. But we have over 300 houses in our area staged at one time.

00;09;12;13 – 00;09;15;27
Rebecca Hay
Holy smokes, that is amazing. Wow, Texas is booming.

00;09;16;01 – 00;09;29;24
Nikki Watson
And oh, it’s a great market to be in. And and there’s other stagers here that are doing great. Like we all share. Like I share my movers. I share everything that I have with people in our market because there’s that much business here.

00;09;29;27 – 00;09;33;11
Rebecca Hay
Wow. Fascinating. Amazing. All right, Robin, you’re next.

00;09;33;11 – 00;10;05;15
Rhobin DelaCruz
I’m Robin, owner of Robin Dela Cruz Designs. I’ve been in the industry for 18 years. I focus on residential, commercial, and vacation rental design. Three years ago, I became honest with myself and said, hey, I am not where other designers are and I think there needs to be change. So I ended up signing up for business coaching rebrand did a year ago I went to my first summit which was Vrd and that’s where I met the girls and everything just changed from there.

00;10;05;18 – 00;10;09;16
Rebecca Hay
Yes, when you come on my podcast, had you rebranded or you were about to rebrand?

00;10;09;16 – 00;10;16;15
Rhobin DelaCruz
To rebrand, just launch. It literally just launched and you messaged me right after the like, oh, this has got gotta be cool.

00;10;16;17 – 00;10;30;09
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, I feel like it was one of those situations where the universe was just like, it had your back, right? You were like, I’m going all in. I’m putting it out to the universe. The universe was like, here’s an opportunity. Boom, boom, boom. And like, I didn’t know you were doing that. I was just like, hey, I feel like you’d be cool for the podcast.

00;10;30;12 – 00;10;32;09
Rebecca Hay
And you’re like, oh my gosh.

00;10;32;12 – 00;10;39;04
Rhobin DelaCruz
It was literally the jump off of everything in the universe. You just keeps keep giving. So thank you very much for that job. Awesome.

00;10;39;06 – 00;10;57;23
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. And that was episode 238. So guys go back and listen them. They’re pretty close together. Your episodes obviously Robin that introduced me to Whitney and now all of you. So tell me a little bit about what life was like for you before you formed this alliance. Like, how has your life changed?

00;10;57;26 – 00;11;16;19
Lori Johnson
Oh, you know what? I’m just going to jump in, guys, because I feel like being an artist in studio. Like what you said, Rebecca, at how we naturally, as business owners, you know, I don’t know, we think somehow we’re going to be able to do it alone or something. And that is not it’s very isolating. So from a social aspect, great.

00;11;16;19 – 00;11;36;19
Lori Johnson
But the best part about all of this, no matter what, if you want to trademark something or you know, whatever the topic, you got your best days so you can reach out and it’s like you have a plethora of information and a lot of laughs along the way, you figure it all out. So that part for me has been just the best.

00;11;36;25 – 00;11;39;00
Lori Johnson
I’m so, so grateful for that.

00;11;39;02 – 00;12;16;25
Rhobin DelaCruz
For me, I knew that I was on my way, positioning myself as an interior designer, that we want it to be based wanting and also a leader within the industry. And that was the mission on my mind with the rebrand and entering. What market was going to be like? Unbeknownst to me, I was going to meet these friends that became my design besties, and we all had similar missions, and it’s so much easier to get out there and put the work together with people by your side that are rocking with you and they’re the best people to have in the room when you’re not in the room.

00;12;16;28 – 00;12;18;24
Whitney Atkinson
Exactly. Amen to that. Yeah, I.

00;12;18;28 – 00;12;38;16
Rebecca Hay
Love that they’re the best people to have in the room when you’re not in the room, you’re not yet in the rooms where you want to be, but you have this room of people supporting you, reminding you how amazing you are. Because, like, let’s be honest, we can be pretty hard on ourselves as business owners. Oh, absolutely. It’s like you got your little cheerleading squad.

00;12;38;22 – 00;12;55;17
Whitney Atkinson
Absolutely. There’s been days where I’ve just I’ve been sewing all day and, you know, trying to juggle every aspect of the business. And I’m like, okay, guys, I need a pep talk. I need some encouragement. And all three of them were there like, bro, you got this, you got this. That’s the most amazing part about all of this.

00;12;55;20 – 00;13;10;11
Rhobin DelaCruz
Mean there’s this weird thing because we’re all so different within the industry and we have completely different connections, but we lean into each other because someone’s going to know someone that can get the answer or help us with what the need is.

00;13;10;13 – 00;13;32;17
Lori Johnson
Right. And our perspectives are really different. We obviously are have different aspects of the business that we, you know, are here for. But I think our perspective on, you know, how we were just everything. So I’ve grown as a person tremendously. And my art has also flourished because of this as well. Like I have a whole different set of layers.

00;13;32;17 – 00;13;34;22
Lori Johnson
Thanks guys.

00;13;34;25 – 00;13;49;17
Whitney Atkinson
I totally agree with that because we’re all we all come from different homes, we all come from different backgrounds. And so this has opened my eyes to different perspectives and different cultures and just so many different things where I wouldn’t have had if I didn’t have these three.

00;13;49;19 – 00;14;12;23
Nikki Watson
I can say that I think that just like Rob and I was kind of in a transition to where I was looking for support in my business because there’s nobody I can’t talk to another stager that’s doing the volume that I’m doing. The person that I was looking for was not even out there. So what I was looking for was somebody that would mentor me in another way.

00;14;12;23 – 00;14;27;01
Nikki Watson
I was looking for a partner or somebody that I could bounce ideas off of, but I didn’t know where to find that person. But then when we joined this group, I was like, this is exactly what I needed, and this is what I was looking for. And I didn’t even know where to look.

00;14;27;03 – 00;14;49;12
Rebecca Hay
I love this, it’s so interesting. You know, as you probably know, I have courses for designers. And and I always say to my team, they’re signing up for my courses because they want to learn the thing, but what they don’t realize are going to get that’s actually going to be the most profound is the community. Yes. If you’re anything like me, this has been me and my experience growing my business is like tunnel focus, grow, grow, grow.

00;14;49;12 – 00;15;05;15
Rebecca Hay
What can I do? Serve clients? I got to hire, got to manage the people under like all the hats. And I’m not thinking, oh, I’ve got I don’t have time to socialize with other designers. I have time to talk to other designers. I just want to get the information and go, because I’m a driven person. But then you get the information.

00;15;05;15 – 00;15;32;00
Rebecca Hay
But when you can be exposed to people who are like minded, they’re not you. They’re not necessarily like you. They don’t necessarily look like you. Perfect example is you guys don’t even live in the same geographic location. But there is so much power. Or when you are able to be in a community, whether it’s a small one like yours or a larger one, and bounce ideas, you know, spitball, see how other people are doing things, throw an idea out.

00;15;32;01 – 00;15;38;07
Lori Johnson
We like to say that we’re like the United Nations or Rebecca, like we’re like the Benetton ad.

00;15;38;10 – 00;15;40;13
Whitney Atkinson
That came from Nicky Wharton. Nicky.

00;15;40;15 – 00;15;43;08
Lori Johnson
Yes, I’m Nicky, I gotta give you credit for that one.

00;15;43;08 – 00;15;45;01
Nikki Watson
Nominations, everybody.

00;15;45;06 – 00;16;04;19
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, yeah. Oh my God, I love that. So I’m curious to hear from you behind the scenes when you’re talking, do you talk about such specific things as like how to price a project or what to do in a client situation, or should I hire? Or is it more just like, you got this girl?

00;16;04;22 – 00;16;25;06
Nikki Watson
No. It’s everything. Like we are involved in every aspect of each other’s businesses, which is wild just to think about. Last year this group didn’t even exist. And today these are the first people that I talk to in the morning. The last people I talk to at night. It is really crazy, the connection that we made.

00;16;25;09 – 00;16;41;04
Whitney Atkinson
And I bounce pricing questions off of them. If you know, Robin has hey, what do you think about this or this? I mean, we’re always bouncing questions and giving ideas to each other, things that I didn’t even think of. And one of these will be like, hey, why don’t you do this? Or, you know, or this.

00;16;41;06 – 00;16;42;22
Rebecca Hay
It’s like a built in focus group.

00;16;42;25 – 00;16;53;25
Lori Johnson
I think the best thing was, you know, we learned so much about each other when we did our first project together, because that could have been like, real terrible.

00;16;53;27 – 00;16;56;15
Nikki Watson
We couldn’t do it. Yeah.

00;16;56;17 – 00;17;21;10
Lori Johnson
And it was so amazing. I just couldn’t believe I have never felt more respected within my industry as I did. And I hope that you all felt the same way with the design, with, I mean, just furniture delivery and bringing in the, you know, work and getting the right side just for all of it. It was so cohesive and wonderful and I just can’t say enough about it.

00;17;21;12 – 00;17;35;13
Rhobin DelaCruz
But is talking about is our very first project, which we did last October. It was a teacher’s lounge that we gifted to a title one school to show our appreciation for the teachers and that that was the project.

00;17;35;15 – 00;17;39;12
Rebecca Hay
Amazing. So you’re giving back as a group?

00;17;39;14 – 00;17;40;08
Rhobin DelaCruz
Absolutely.

00;17;40;08 – 00;18;01;27
Nikki Watson
So, we were thinking about doing a project together already. We were like, oh, what can we do. We want to showcase our, our group. We didn’t know what the design best is. We had just gotten our name and we wanted to figure out how we can work together. So we were thinking about a project and they asked if they could do my back patio, and I was like, back patio.

00;18;01;27 – 00;18;23;28
Nikki Watson
That doesn’t sound fulfilling. So, to a member of a, school that I don’t even know this lady, she just reached out to me. But she’d seen that. I do a lot of giving back in our community. She said, hey, do you have any free furniture you can donate to this school in Plano? I’m on the PTA and we’re trying to do something nice for our teachers.

00;18;24;00 – 00;18;41;22
Nikki Watson
And I asked her to send pictures and I said, just send me pictures. Let me see what you need. And immediately I thought, this is our project, and I send it to to them in our group text every hour, every day packs. And I said, you guys, let’s get together and do this school as our first project together.

00;18;41;22 – 00;19;05;18
Nikki Watson
And everybody immediately said yes. And that’s how this project started. Robin did all of the design, pre-planned everything, and we went in on a Saturday, finished it in one day, and the teachers came back and the reactions were it was something that I will never forget, never, ever, ever. So that’s why we formed our a nonprofit to do this around the country.

00;19;05;24 – 00;19;18;01
Rebecca Hay
Oh my gosh, I just got goosebumps. Yeah. That’s amazing. Also, I’m already picturing your TV show like it’s already happened. I don’t know if that’s something you want, but not everybody wants that. But I see it for you.

00;19;18;03 – 00;19;20;09
Lori Johnson
Thanks for ruckus it.

00;19;20;11 – 00;19;36;23
Rebecca Hay
Oh my goodness. Well, can we just talk about I want to get into this what you’re doing. But before that, for the designers who are listening so that they can because they’re a lot of designers listening, don’t have this group, right? They don’t have designer besties. They might have 1 or 2. And I have my, my, my OG designer bestie.

00;19;36;25 – 00;19;57;08
Rebecca Hay
Just shout out to Jessica Kelly Design here in Toronto. She was my first designer friend. And then our group kind of grew and we sort of had a WhatsApp chat for many years. We still have it, but it was so powerful for me. But it didn’t happen overnight, like the way yours did too. Let’s talk about the designers who are listening, who are like, I don’t know, aren’t other designers like, I feel like they’re my competition?

00;19;57;08 – 00;20;16;00
Rebecca Hay
I don’t know how much I want to share with them. Can we talk about that? It sounds like within your group, you’re all unique enough in what you do, that you’re not really stepping on each other’s toes. I mean, you’re obviously all creative and you have ideas and what have you, but what would you say to the designers who are listening today who are like, I love this idea, but I don’t know.

00;20;16;00 – 00;20;19;15
Rebecca Hay
I don’t feel like I could find the people that are right for me.

00;20;19;18 – 00;20;55;08
Rhobin DelaCruz
So I am huge on networking and always placing myself in uncomfortable situations to grow and become better. What I know I always bring to whatever situation is just complete honesty. I’m willing to share my information. I’m willing to tell my story. I’m willing to connect with people, and I’m willing to help other people help them evolve. Leading with that, I realize that I always find a friend in a situation who has similar mentalities, and it just kind of evolved and goes from there.

00;20;55;16 – 00;21;01;25
Rhobin DelaCruz
But you can’t find your people without being vulnerable. Oh, yes.

00;21;01;25 – 00;21;03;29
Lori Johnson
Wow, Robin, break it down for us.

00;21;03;29 – 00;21;22;06
Rhobin DelaCruz
That’s good. And and when you’re able to share your failures, people can relate. Everyone wants to celebrate your successes. But it’s the failures and how you overcome them. And being able to share that where people are going to be like, oh, I did that.

00;21;22;08 – 00;21;24;12
Whitney Atkinson
Right. They can relate. Exactly.

00;21;24;14 – 00;21;32;22
Rhobin DelaCruz
That’s one of the way that I lead my networking. When I go out and meet people, I’m just honest.

00;21;32;24 – 00;21;38;08
Rebecca Hay
So the message is like, stop pretending to be perfect because it actually doesn’t serve you. Yes.

00;21;38;08 – 00;21;39;19
Rhobin DelaCruz
Yeah.

00;21;39;21 – 00;21;41;15
Whitney Atkinson
Stanley nailed it.

00;21;41;17 – 00;21;44;05
Nikki Watson
Man. Do not do any pretending.

00;21;44;08 – 00;22;17;12
Lori Johnson
You know what he really does, like, push us to put yourself out there like he’s. I would say the group’s extreme extrovert, but I mean that in the most amazing way. Like, I guess having your design besties really provides this kind of ultra layer of confidence that you can do anything. And if you if you don’t think you can figure it out, like, well, there’s three other brains here so we can figure it out.

00;22;17;14 – 00;22;17;27
Nikki Watson
Yeah.

00;22;18;04 – 00;22;23;07
Lori Johnson
So thank you for providing all of us with that little push. Robin, I appreciate you.

00;22;23;07 – 00;22;33;04
Whitney Atkinson
And he is the one who, after we got back from Vrd, he is the one who created our group text. And that is how we all stayed. So good job, Robin.

00;22;33;11 – 00;22;38;18
Rhobin DelaCruz
And it takes one design bestie to team up with and let that group evolve.

00;22;38;25 – 00;22;54;05
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, I love that, I love that. Let’s talk about this, this organization. Like are you for hire? Could somebody hire the four of you and be like, I want the design besties to do my condo. Is that an option or we’re not doing that? Absolutely.

00;22;54;07 – 00;22;55;16
Rhobin DelaCruz
That is definitely an option.

00;22;55;18 – 00;22;56;15
Whitney Atkinson
We never say no.

00;22;56;15 – 00;23;25;04
Rhobin DelaCruz
What we realize is that is that there is this level of fulfillment that we had doing the first school, and we realized that we had something and we’re talking to other people and networking. They were very encouraging about this. And what we were able to do is create a nonprofit to design Bessie’s nonprofit. And our mission is to again find schools across the nation and give them give them a space to recharge.

00;23;25;09 – 00;23;52;27
Rhobin DelaCruz
We have currently partnered with HP and High Point by Design and the First lady of High Point, Raven Jefferson, and we’re in the process of gifting one of the high schools all of their, complete a makeover. We turned that concept of the first school into a social media, contest. We have four schools trying to get votes, and in a couple of weeks, we’re going to be announcing who the winner is at the gala.

00;23;53;00 – 00;24;22;09
Rhobin DelaCruz
And from that, we’ve been able to curate other furniture brands to help sponsor this. That is the next level of, our school concept. But the big picture is, I think, habitat for humanity. We want to create chapters across the nation, and we want to find like minded designers who want to give back. Sign up for this, for the design besties and start doing this across the country.

00;24;22;11 – 00;24;26;22
Rebecca Hay
I love it. That way you can reach more people, more regions.

00;24;26;22 – 00;24;27;21
Rhobin DelaCruz
That.

00;24;27;24 – 00;24;46;00
Rebecca Hay
Local designers can say, my school needs this. How can we get on board with you and your system so that we can get the sponsors? Because let’s be honest, nothing’s free. And so how do you do this and how is it viable? Because you guys are giving your time. But, you know, ultimately someone has to pay for the rug.

00;24;46;00 – 00;24;59;07
Rebecca Hay
Someone has to pay for the furniture or someone to pay for the light. Someone has to pay for the paint, someone has to pay for the labor. And so having partners on board, having that network, I imagine I can see this really, really taking off.

00;24;59;11 – 00;25;21;17
Lori Johnson
Well, think community because every single school I think of how many schools that are here, just even where I live. Okay, you have this community of people, you know, within that community, you have people that see the need to give back to these teachers that do so much. I mean, there’s a lot of programs for the kids. Thank God we’re grateful for that.

00;25;21;17 – 00;25;42;01
Lori Johnson
But at the end of the day, if you do the work conditions of these teachers, I mean, they’re exhausted and they barely have a refrigerator that works to keep their lunch cold or a microwave. So their response alone was so heartfelt and remarkable that I just knew we should be doing this.

00;25;42;04 – 00;25;47;24
Rebecca Hay
You know, what I think is so remarkable is that you were like, let’s do a project together or whatever. It’ll be.

00;25;47;26 – 00;25;49;13
Lori Johnson
Done.

00;25;49;16 – 00;26;08;26
Rebecca Hay
Right? And then Nikki’s like, yeah, definitely not doing my patio or whatever like that. Not that fine. Like she would benefit but otherwise, you know, and so then she gets this project, she’s like, hey, this could be cool. I just think the universe is an amazing place. It’s like little crumbs, bread crumbs leading you, and you don’t know where it’s taking you.

00;26;08;26 – 00;26;21;13
Rebecca Hay
But if you don’t take the risk to Robin’s point, if you don’t put yourself out there, you don’t know what opportunities are waiting for you. Yeah, look what you’re doing now. Like, it’s freaking amazing. Yeah. Thank you.

00;26;21;15 – 00;26;26;09
Rhobin DelaCruz
Thousand percent. It’s a happy accident that the universe is placing in front of us.

00;26;26;11 – 00;26;48;05
Rebecca Hay
It’s about recognizing, though, the opportunities when they do come. Yes. Showing up, getting in the group text, being open to share, saying sure, I’ll partner with you on something that’s going to not make me any money, I imagine. Right? Right, right. One of you could have easily have said, yeah, I’m too busy, I can’t do it. But you guys have fun or well, somebody could have said, oh my God, this group text is like exploding on my phone.

00;26;48;05 – 00;26;49;20
Rebecca Hay
Like I can’t get any work done that.

00;26;49;22 – 00;27;02;23
Nikki Watson
Oh, absolutely. No, you’re right. That could totally happen. Yes. Oh yeah. I’ve blocked my cousins for that. Yeah. This is unproductive. I gotta let y’all go.

00;27;02;25 – 00;27;18;27
Whitney Atkinson
Oh, funny. Sometimes I look at my phone, I’m like, I missed 40 messages. And it’s just all for each is back and forth. Oh my goodness. Yeah, but you’re absolutely right. We could have been like, we’re too busy. We can’t do this. But it’s just putting yourself out there and a door opens. You got to walk through it.

00;27;18;27 – 00;27;19;28
Whitney Atkinson
You got to take chances.

00;27;20;01 – 00;27;21;21
Nikki Watson
That’s true too.

00;27;21;24 – 00;27;27;15
Rebecca Hay
I love it, I love it, I love it. Are you going to be at High Point Market?

00;27;27;17 – 00;27;29;10
Rhobin DelaCruz
We,

00;27;29;12 – 00;27;37;04
Rebecca Hay
You know, tell me about what you’ve got up your sleeve for High Point. Woo. If you can share, I don’t know. Are you just going to be walking around? You’re going to have.

00;27;37;11 – 00;27;38;12
Nikki Watson
To try your best.

00;27;38;19 – 00;27;40;08
Rhobin DelaCruz
Work.

00;27;40;10 – 00;27;46;10
Whitney Atkinson
So we will be, hosting a panel Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at Cat’s Rugs.

00;27;46;13 – 00;27;49;14
Rebecca Hay
Awesome. And your rugs will be there, I assume.

00;27;49;16 – 00;27;50;20
Whitney Atkinson
I will have lugs there.

00;27;50;20 – 00;28;01;27
Rebecca Hay
Yes, yes. Okay, good. Okay. Sorry. I want to hear the topics. And then I also want you to share, because I saw something on Instagram the other day that you posted. You’re not just selling the bugs.

00;28;02;00 – 00;28;02;25
Whitney Atkinson
No we’re not.

00;28;02;26 – 00;28;03;15
Rebecca Hay
We saw.

00;28;03;15 – 00;28;20;00
Whitney Atkinson
That. Oh, yes. So we just launched our accessory kit. So now you can rug out any rug. So. So you have a favorite rug that’s out there and your rug edges curling or it’s blowing away. You can use our weighted accessory panels and just purchase the kit.

00;28;20;03 – 00;28;32;17
Rebecca Hay
I love I saw that and I was like, this is so freaking brilliant. Also, from your standpoint, because you’re not having to like, come up with all these unique designs and rugs and take rugs. It’s like, here’s the product, walk it out yourself.

00;28;32;18 – 00;28;36;28
Lori Johnson
You guys are cool. I was waiting for you to say that, Rebecca.

00;28;37;01 – 00;28;38;11
Nikki Watson
I didn’t realize it.

00;28;38;13 – 00;28;38;27
Whitney Atkinson
Yes.

00;28;39;04 – 00;28;42;06
Rebecca Hay
Oh, you’re saying okay, what are the topics for our high point?

00;28;42;08 – 00;28;57;01
Whitney Atkinson
Okay, so we’re doing purpose driven design. The impactful designer creating beauty with a mission, purpose driven design, merging creativity and community. And how designers can change the world. So we are merging all of that into one panel.

00;28;57;06 – 00;28;58;09
Rebecca Hay
Holy. That’s a lot.

00;28;58;12 – 00;29;02;25
Whitney Atkinson
Very interesting. But with four of us, we can cover a lot of topics, you know?

00;29;02;25 – 00;29;11;14
Rebecca Hay
Amazing. Oh, my God, that’s going to be so good. So what are you going to do to spread the word, other than obviously being on this podcast about this incredible initiative?

00;29;11;15 – 00;29;28;26
Rhobin DelaCruz
There’s, a number of articles that are going to be coming out soon and we just keep talking and talking and talking. The good thing about the four of us is we do great as a team, but we do wonderful as well, separately and just cheerleading the mission on.

00;29;28;28 – 00;29;49;06
Nikki Watson
We’ve done a couple news news episodes. We did one at High Point and at Spring Market, and I’m sure that will be back in the fall after our project in High Point, is completed. So we will do a school there. And then we were just in Memphis, on the news, two new stations in Memphis. So trying to get the word out.

00;29;49;06 – 00;29;57;07
Nikki Watson
We’re doing a lot of press. We just did an article for a magazine. So we’re starting to, get those opportunities to spread the word.

00;29;57;10 – 00;30;15;27
Rebecca Hay
Okay, let’s talk about that. There’s a lot of designers here who are like, how are you getting all this press? Did you hire a publicist? Like, I like to get press. How do you get these opportunities? What have you been doing? What are some tactical things that designers could do to leverage their skills to get noticed?

00;30;16;00 – 00;30;38;19
Lori Johnson
Well, I think when you involve yourself with the community and you partner with the mayors and the the leaders of the community to really make a difference, that just kind of paves the way you know, but I’ll let the other besties share other things. But I feel like that that’s been really wonderful to have such great support from the communities and from the schools.

00;30;38;21 – 00;30;48;03
Lori Johnson
The students, but also their families too. They all are really interested and like, you know, supporting the project. So pretty cool.

00;30;48;05 – 00;31;09;08
Rhobin DelaCruz
I’m going to give an example of the power of networking, because you really never know who you’re talking to or what you bring on out of a conversation. The girls and I, we literally are outside Shell Place and we ask someone to take a picture of us. And those people ended up being reps from and more. And then we just started chopping up and telling you what we’re doing.

00;31;09;08 – 00;31;17;14
Rhobin DelaCruz
And from there they reached out to us and asked if we wanted to do an interview. So you never really know.

00;31;17;17 – 00;31;27;17
Lori Johnson
And they were just walking by, mind you, they were just passing by like you want to take a picture? We’re like, we just realized we don’t have any pictures anyway. And then we met them. That was so wild.

00;31;27;20 – 00;31;43;24
Whitney Atkinson
Yeah, exactly. And every time that we tell somebody it’s crazy with us for we tell somebody something, something opens up and then something else opens up, or they know somebody and they know somebody. It’s just it kind of just trickles like that. And like I said, you open those doors and you just have to walk through them.

00;31;43;26 – 00;32;19;21
Nikki Watson
And for press, I think that a lot of designers are missing opportunities. If they are doing something different in their business. There’s always gaps in news. News channels want stories, they want to feature something different. They don’t want to always talk about, you know, the murder around the corner or, you know, bad things that are happening. So I think that if they’re actually pitching the news desk, I’m over here doing a, service project or I’m partnering with another designer to do something cool.

00;32;19;23 – 00;32;29;28
Nikki Watson
If they’re doing that often, they’re going to be able to get on the news and have press. They’re just probably not looking for those opportunities.

00;32;30;00 – 00;32;52;25
Rebecca Hay
Interesting. That’s a really excellent point. We don’t think that we assume that news outlets, whether it be magazines, television, online, a podcast, we assume that everyone is inundated. They don’t have time for us. We’re not important enough. But actually they’re like, oh God, can someone find me a good story like I need? Can we get some new, fresh content?

00;32;52;25 – 00;33;12;19
Rebecca Hay
Like what? Let’s get some new designers in here. Like we’ve been talking about Nikki Watson for years. Let’s find some fresh blood. Right. So you’re right. We forget that as designers that we have a lot of value. And there’s people out there who are just looking for anything, and you know that you open up a magazine sometimes and you’re like, how did this get featured in here?

00;33;12;22 – 00;33;16;23
Rebecca Hay
This is not even that good. You know what I’m talking about, right?

00;33;16;25 – 00;33;30;04
Whitney Atkinson
Yeah. And now you can write your you can write your own press releases. Emails are out there. And I go through and I search for emails. The editors who do I send these to? So I mean, those resources are out there. You can do that.

00;33;30;06 – 00;33;46;23
Rebecca Hay
Oh my God, that’s a great idea. Can’t press release. Let’s just take a moment here. What could a designer I mean I know you’ve a product line, but like what could a designer because you could use ChatGPT now to create a really great press release, but like, what would you make a press release about help us understand this?

00;33;46;23 – 00;34;03;25
Whitney Atkinson
I mean, yes, for me, it’s a product based press release. You know, I’m releasing this or you know, they haven’t seen this before. But as a designer, I mean, if you are maybe featuring a certain brand new, they want to see that they like those bigger names. So latch on to that bigger name and release it that way.

00;34;03;25 – 00;34;04;22
Rebecca Hay
Very cool.

00;34;04;25 – 00;34;05;25
Whitney Atkinson
What would you do, Robin?

00;34;06;02 – 00;34;08;00
Rhobin DelaCruz
I have not done a press release.

00;34;08;02 – 00;34;10;14
Rebecca Hay
That’s why he has you with me on.

00;34;10;14 – 00;34;15;10
Lori Johnson
This is actually true because we talk about each other probably more than anything else.

00;34;15;12 – 00;34;34;04
Nikki Watson
I know that that’s what Robin said. Having people in the room, having them in the room when you’re not in there is the best thing, because they’re talking about you and you’re not even there. It’s like having a sales team that are going out selling your product. There’s a website, that I tell a lot of people, Sage’s and, designers about.

00;34;34;04 – 00;35;00;08
Nikki Watson
It’s called help a reporter out hero on help a reporter out. Every single day they release writers are looking for collaborators and it could be in design. It could be in lifestyle, it could be medical. But there’s always an article that they’re looking for in design or lifestyle. They’re asking, hey, what’s the best refrigerator to use while designers know this?

00;35;00;10 – 00;35;21;16
Nikki Watson
So you can sign up to get the emails every day and just look at what they’re needing and you can contribute to that article, then you’re published. I think that that’s something that people don’t think about. Hey, I just had my name published in this article on in the Daily Mail. Well, that’s a huge publication. You’re missing those opportunities.

00;35;21;19 – 00;35;35;06
Nikki Watson
And these things are just free. They’re free. You just write your your comment and it’s published in the magazine. So I think there’s a lot of press opportunities that designers are not looking at, that we’re just overlooking.

00;35;35;09 – 00;35;53;12
Rebecca Hay
Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. Someone has actually shared that in one of my communities. I’d forgotten about that. Oh that’s brilliant. It is brilliant because all it takes is you just get a little bit and it builds your confidence. Right? You’re like, oh, they mentioned my name. Like they just quoted Rebecca. Hey of Rebecca. Hey Designs in Toronto, Canada said that blue is the new white.

00;35;53;13 – 00;36;11;18
Rebecca Hay
Yes. Then you can use that logo on your website guys. That’s all it takes. So if you’re listening here and you’re like, how do I get those logos? You don’t need to be on the cover of Architectural Digest. Yes. They quote you in an article, boom, you got their logo. This is like I’m telling you. Yeah, I love it.

00;36;11;21 – 00;36;29;24
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. You’re right. I want to do a rapid fire nugget of wisdom. So I’m going to give you a minute to kind of like contemplate what that will be. Do not talk to each other. Do not text each other. We’ll see if everyone comes up with the same one. So I did work in television. So not as extensively as probably Niki has done.

00;36;29;24 – 00;36;50;15
Rebecca Hay
And Lori. But what I did learn was when you’re working in television, it’s fast paced. It’s, you know, budgets, it’s all the things we know. But the art was always a bit of it was contentious because I would try to bring in these companies that could supply the art, but then it was like I had to be really specific about what I picked, because I couldn’t just do something from home stands because we didn’t have the license.

00;36;50;20 – 00;37;06;01
Rebecca Hay
So then they would have to if we didn’t catch it, then they would have to blur it out in post-production. And they don’t like to do that. And it actually was a bit of a thorn in my side, to be honest. I love original art, but to have to get a release from the artist every single time was a freaking I’m sorry.

00;37;06;01 – 00;37;08;27
Rebecca Hay
You’re you’re in a time constraint. You don’t have time to do that.

00;37;08;27 – 00;37;30;07
Lori Johnson
Well, and that’s the beauty of just partnering directly with an artist, because I think the most gorgeous thing about all of this is the fact that Nike has a very strong brand, and after you work with someone repeatedly, and same with my designers that I provide artwork for, for their clients, you know, on a commission special basis, because everything that you all do is to scale.

00;37;30;07 – 00;37;54;16
Lori Johnson
So like I study you guys fully to figure out, like, okay, what am I what what are your needs? You know, but for Nike in particular, you know, the design squad has a branded look after working years and experience doing it. The artwork kind of creates itself most of the time. I mean, there are some times where I make something and it’s like, well, Lori, like, I’m not going to give you a thumbs up on that.

00;37;54;16 – 00;38;14;24
Lori Johnson
Like you need to rework that and that. Actually, that just happened yesterday. She didn’t say it, but it’s okay. I did it and it ended up to be really good. But you know, you just have to work through these problems. But once you figure out and you have the thing that you’re really painting for, you haven’t. And an intention based on that specific brand.

00;38;14;28 – 00;38;34;20
Lori Johnson
So it makes it easier. So back to your point. As far as like partnering with an artist to solve that particular problem, that’s actually an opportunity really for artists that are out there that are trying to figure out like wait, how do we do this differently? Because artists tend to what I’ve noticed is they kind of run with other artists.

00;38;34;20 – 00;38;46;23
Lori Johnson
They almost advertise to each other. I’m like, well, what are we doing? Why don’t you go to places that actually need really great work? You can make intentional artwork based on that.

00;38;46;26 – 00;39;04;17
Rebecca Hay
I actually like this conversation. It’s almost. It could be. It’s it could be a whole podcast topic in and of itself. I think especially designers who are starting out really struggle with art because either they don’t have any experience with it or their client is like has a really particular sense or taste, and then the designer is like, oh, I’m not going to go there.

00;39;04;23 – 00;39;09;15
Rebecca Hay
But I can tell you when you do start to look for art for your client, it can be really challenging.

00;39;09;15 – 00;39;34;26
Lori Johnson
That’s a great thing if you involve yourself as an interior designer with and partner with with an artist like myself, that kind of takes the guesswork out of it, because we can kind of consult that client to figure out. Yes, obviously, based on your vision as an interior designer, because you guys have a certain kind of look and the art really does like set the tone, but we work together to kind of solve that.

00;39;34;28 – 00;39;57;07
Lori Johnson
And the best part is, is when you have an interior designer that gets that, that wants you to kind of partner with their client to make it all work. The client helps build the work. They provide the information that you need to just kind of plug it in and the art seriously paints itself. It’s the craziest thing. So it’s really been fun.

00;39;57;10 – 00;40;10;06
Whitney Atkinson
I think Lori’s to talk about the school project artwork, though, having an artist a part of our project, and then she paints it on the cafeteria floor was amazing to watch that. Lori, you need to talk about that.

00;40;10;09 – 00;40;25;25
Lori Johnson
Up until that point, I’m like, okay, where am I doing this? Okay, we’re going to do this in the cafeteria floor. But the best part was I was able to kind of like, you know, we had a lot of really great volunteers that were there to help. Right? We I don’t know how many people were there. Do you remember ten, 20 people.

00;40;26;00 – 00;40;45;13
Lori Johnson
So I went around, I’m like, hey, guys, I’m building this piece of work and I want all of you to think of the things that you want to bring into this space. So whether it be like soulless, you know, whatever it is that you want that teach, you know, relaxation, whatever you want that room to be able to provide for them.

00;40;45;15 – 00;41;09;18
Lori Johnson
I wanted to provide that intention on the piece of work. I gave everyone their their China pens, and I said, okay, go around. I want you to scribe the words of what you want this painting to be for those teachers, because it’s going to create itself. And they really helped build the piece. So I mean, yes, I was there, but they they did a lot of the work.

00;41;09;25 – 00;41;28;28
Lori Johnson
So it was really cool. So then after the piece was finished, okay, this is where it gets really crazy. We go in and it’s always like, I kind of know if a piece is finished. It kind of like gets to the point where it kind of names itself. And this particular piece, there is this weird, like kind of tree trunk thing that ended up kind of appearing.

00;41;29;00 – 00;41;48;21
Lori Johnson
And I swears because we had some great song on about, you know, Jesus and Trees and all things I don’t know. And this tree trunk appeared so we get it in there. And I thought, man, I just don’t have a name. Like usually it kind of like it comes to me. Well, we get in there and then Nikki, you had a conversation with that school principal.

00;41;48;24 – 00;41;51;14
Lori Johnson
Can you remind us of how that went down?

00;41;51;18 – 00;42;16;21
Nikki Watson
The principal said there was a book that she really loved and it was called The Learning Tree. I had to almost leave the room because my mom was in that movie, The Learning Tree, in the 1950s. And when when Lori said she was like, that’s it. And she started writing it and I take a picture, I was like, this is so perfect because the learning tree means a lot to me.

00;42;16;21 – 00;42;22;29
Nikki Watson
And it was just the perfect thing. It was the principal’s favorite book. It was really, really good.

00;42;23;00 – 00;42;34;28
Lori Johnson
And Nikki’s mother is extremely special. I would just throw that out there. You got a really special mom. So I’m of course, I was just like, oh my gosh, this is perfect. So yeah, it was called The Learning Tree based on that. Isn’t that crazy?

00;42;35;00 – 00;42;40;02
Whitney Atkinson
But it all happened organically. Like none of this was planned out. It just happens. It’s crazy.

00;42;40;07 – 00;43;11;09
Rebecca Hay
All of this has been amazing. It’s really a life lesson in not trying to force things. There’s a place for strategy in business, right? And I do believe it’s important to have strategies so you can execute what you want to do. But I don’t think as human beings, especially as entrepreneurs, we give ourselves enough space to listen to our intuition, listen to the opportunities, the ideas that are being presented to us.

00;43;11;09 – 00;43;33;14
Rebecca Hay
If we could just take the space that the four of you have done, and when an idea comes forward, you don’t question it. You don’t overthink it. The fact that Lori was like, I don’t have a name. The conversation happened. Lori could have been like, oh, I don’t know, the learning tree. Does that sound too childish? I don’t know, like, we could overthink everything instead of just accepting the the message for what it is.

00;43;33;19 – 00;43;52;00
Rebecca Hay
Yes. And without being a little too woowoo here, obviously I’m a little woo woo. Yeah, I just, I do believe that we could do more of that. And I think we as individuals and this is for everyone listening today we’ll find more success in life if we can slow down and listen.

00;43;52;03 – 00;44;13;23
Lori Johnson
And open your heart to what everything’s trying to tell you, because you’ll be able to create. And with design work that is an art, and you have to open your heart, just like I would when I’m, you know, creating a piece for Nikki or whoever else. If you don’t open your heart to what it’s supposed to be, you know, you can’t get shut down creatively.

00;44;13;23 – 00;44;16;00
Lori Johnson
So I totally resonate with what you’re saying.

00;44;16;05 – 00;44;38;08
Rebecca Hay
If we’re so focused on doing, doing, going, going, we’re missing the opportunities. Yeah. And you guys are a testament to being open to opportunities and just seeing where it takes you. And I cannot wait to follow the rest of your journey. It’s already been so exciting to watch. From the moment I met Robin on the podcast and everything thereafter, I cannot wait.

00;44;38;08 – 00;44;45;14
Rebecca Hay
Before we wrap today though, I do need to hear your nuggets of wisdom. So we’re going to do rapid fire round. First nugget is Whitney go.

00;44;45;18 – 00;44;48;05
Whitney Atkinson
You don’t have to have it all figured out. Take chances.

00;44;48;07 – 00;44;49;17
Rebecca Hay
Nice Robin.

00;44;49;19 – 00;44;53;13
Rhobin DelaCruz
Make mistakes and surround yourself with people that are smarter than you.

00;44;53;17 – 00;44;55;13
Rebecca Hay
Oh, good. Nikki.

00;44;55;16 – 00;45;01;07
Nikki Watson
If you get give if you learn, teach. Oh.

00;45;01;13 – 00;45;03;09
Rebecca Hay
Oh I have like goosebumps.

00;45;03;15 – 00;45;17;01
Lori Johnson
Lori open your heart to every experience that you have. Lose the judgment. Take all that away. It is amazing what you’re going to be able to create when you open your heart to the experiences that surround you.

00;45;17;03 – 00;45;33;00
Rebecca Hay
Thank you guys. That was amazing. They were all so unique and so powerful. I can’t wait to listen to this episode again so I can absorb it all myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We’re going to share inside the show notes where everyone can find and follow you all, but you do have a Instagram. I’m right for all of you.

00;45;33;02 – 00;45;36;28
Rhobin DelaCruz
Underscore design besties. That’s where you’ll find this.

00;45;37;00 – 00;45;42;03
Rebecca Hay
That underscore design besties on Instagram. And do you have an account or a website?

00;45;42;03 – 00;45;44;15
Lori Johnson
It’s the Design besties.org.

00;45;44;18 – 00;45;47;04
Rebecca Hay
Fantastic. Thank you so much.

00;45;47;04 – 00;45;51;12
Lori Johnson
Thank you thank you Rebecca.

00;45;51;14 – 00;46;09;25
Rebecca Hay
Guys that was epic. How cool was that interview? It’s funny. You know, after we stopped recording, they asked me if I do a lot of group interviews and I realized I haven’t done that many of them, and I was a little nervous. I’m not going to lie, going into this, I thought, oh my gosh, I need to like interview and moderate four different people on this podcast.

00;46;09;25 – 00;46;32;23
Rebecca Hay
Like, how are we going to do it? And you guys made it easy. It was awesome. I would love to know from those listening what in that conversation resonated. We covered a lot of ground, like we covered a lot of topics. I do love what they’re doing, but the biggest takeaway for me, which I already shared in the episode, but the biggest takeaway for me is really the power of surrendering.

00;46;33;00 – 00;46;58;17
Rebecca Hay
Like letting go a little bit, slowing down, paying attention to the opportunities that come your way. As Lori said, like, open your heart and it might sound a little cheesy and a little woowoo, but they are living proof that opportunities are out there waiting for us that we can’t even envision or imagine. I know for me, especially, this is a great reminder because there’s so much I sit down, I’m like, okay, what’s my vision for the future?

00;46;58;17 – 00;47;20;11
Rebecca Hay
Where do I see myself? What are my goals? And sometimes it feels a little forced, like, I don’t know, like there’s certain things that I know for sure I want, but then there’s other areas I’m thinking I don’t really know, like it hasn’t revealed itself to me. And I think that’s okay. And I think that that was the message for me today is to just take a deep breath and just be show up.

00;47;20;11 – 00;47;39;23
Rebecca Hay
As Robyn says, network. Put yourself in those opportunities, be in that elevator, smile. Talk to people. When you ask someone to take your photo, you just never know who is going to be. I hope that episode was really impactful for you as much as it was for me. Please give every single one of them a follow on Instagram.

00;47;39;23 – 00;48;01;19
Rebecca Hay
I’ve included the links to everybody’s Instagram, including the designer besties one in the show notes. So just hop on over there to take a look. You can always find that on my website as well. Rebecca.com/podcast I hope you enjoyed this episode. I’ll see you soon.

August 14, 2025

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