Episode #55 - Interview with Sarah Jelks

Join us on this episode of All-In Design, as we speak with Sarah Jelks with Nequette Architecture & Design. Listen in as we hear about Sarah's start in New Orleans, studying interior design at Auburn University, and how she found her way to her current position as design lead at Nequette. You will also learn about her propensity to wear facial hair for Halloween costumes and her skills at the Nequette pot luck. It's a fun episode and we hope you check it out! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Recorded with microphones and other fancy equipment. This is All in Design. Hello and welcome to All In Design IDA Alabama's podcast. Thank you for listening. My name's Chad Moore here with my co-host Mark Griffo. Hey everybody. And it is tax day. Yay! Yay! April 15th. That's right, right? April 15th. It is April 15th. So get your taxes in. We have a guest with us, which we tend to do. Typically.

SPEAKER_05 0:44

Yeah. You're still uh you're two weeks back from uh Universal. You're still still recovering.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

Still got Disney brain.

SPEAKER_05 0:51

Yes. You're doing great. You're doing great. Um and now all you have to do is do your taxes. So how many people are gonna listen to this on April 16th and go, shit? Whoops. I have not done my taxes yet.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Well, it's funny as we were talking about cursing and you just threw one out there, right? I did talking about cursing before we started recording.

SPEAKER_05 1:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Yeah, because our our guest was concerned that she might curse, and so now she doesn't have to worry about it. Yeah, so that that ice has been broken.

SPEAKER_05 1:16

So speaking of our guest, uh, very happy to introduce um our our second guest from Niket Architecture and Design here in Birmingham. Um our first one was Audrey Roy. Um, and she was what, like she's like two or three years out of school? Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. Um and so our guest today is you're her boss, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Well, you can say I'm her team leader.

SPEAKER_05 1:39

Team leader. Team leader. That sounds like a very 2026 way of saying boss.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

I like that better.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:46

So okay, so Audrey's team leader, Sarah Jelks, is here, and Sarah is a principal interior designer at Niket. And so we're super glad to have you, Sarah. Um the floor is yours if you want to introduce yourself to everybody.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Well, following Audrey, I do feel a bit nervous, but since I've already been given approval to curse, it helps. It helps break the ice, so I do appreciate that. And since it's the 15th and my husband used to be an accountant, he'll remember that today's the day to listen, you know?

SPEAKER_04 2:15

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Wait, he'll sorry, he used to be a tax accountant. He's still a CPA, but everyone thinks he still does taxes. So every year, this time of the year, they go, How's it going? And I go, he hasn't done taxes for like 10 years, but he's great, you know.

SPEAKER_05 2:31

So remember my answer from last year.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he'll he'll remember this date, so that's always good. Um, okay, so how did I get here at this table right now? Um, long kind of way looking to where I am now is I was one of those really obnoxious people who knew I wanted to do this for a long time. I know sometimes people say that and they're like, oh, okay, like real cool. Um but when I'm thought when I read your answer. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean we'll do we do a lot of interviews. So whenever people are like, I've always wanted to do this, I'm like, did you though? You know, but I was one of those obnoxious people. I used to take graph paper, I would draw floor plans on them all the time. Um, not good. That's fine. Um You gotta start somewhere.

SPEAKER_05 3:22

I assume you're better.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

You're a team lead now, so you may have to ask Lewis, but yeah, I think I'm better now. I hope so. And I also would tear apart our whole house and make like Barbie houses.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

So like how old are we talking?

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Oh, like seven or eight. Okay. Yeah, so like the dining room table. He's 17. Yeah, he's 17. Hey, no shame. You can still do Barbie then. Um, but my mom would be like, Oh, I need to serve dinner, and our whole dining room table is just this whole floor plan I've made with like Legos or like random accessories I found in the house. And that's just I did it all the time. My parents just kind of let me be like whatever. And I was always the one that was like tinkering stuff in the house or like, hey, what if we did this? And we moved a lot. Um, my parents, I don't like the term nomad because I feel like people use it like so freely now.

SPEAKER_05 4:15

You're living in a van. Yeah, we weren't living in a van.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

My parents can't sit still if their life depends on them. So they're always like, let's move here, let's move down the street. And they've owned like multiple businesses. So I mean, I've lived born in New Orleans, moved to Houston, moved back to New Orleans, lived to Pensacola, lived in Perdito. So everything, my environment was always changing. So in each new environment, I was always envisioning how do I make it better.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

You had a new project.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Yeah, like and how to make it better. And did they ever happen? No. But in my head, the wheels were always spinning on how I could design this better for our family.

SPEAKER_03 4:54

That ended up to the second part of my life where we could it have been that you you messed it up and they decided that it was time to move. We've got to get out of Houston because you've ruined the house.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Everything I do makes it better. Back to New Orleans. No, I was a visionary, okay? Um but the second part of the story was my grandfather, my whole life, you're gonna go to Auburn, you're gonna marry a nice Alabama boy, and he's gonna have a gun rack in the back of his truck. And I was like, no, no, and hell no. And ended up going to Auburn. My husband graduated from Alabama, but there is no gun rack in the back of our truck. So I got that one, but went to Auburn Frontier Design School, didn't get in the first time. Um, I think I was maybe one of the last two people on the list of people they were willing to accept. And so I was like bottom of the totem pole and two kids dropped out. No one else above me wanted the spot, and they called me. I had just left campus and they had called because I was getting another major in hospitality.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

And they called me and said, Hey, two people dropped out. If you come to studio right now, the spot's yours, but you have to take both fall and spring semester at the same time.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

And you've got 10 minutes. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

And I turned around, I parked the car, and I just went and walked in the room. And that's kind of sort of how my whole career has always been. You know, I graduated during the recession, so you took whatever job you could get. Worked for a lot of designers, a lot of part-time jobs, because I did have a student was a student loan I needed to pay off, and worked at Banana Republic and was just teetering everywhere. And I was about to give up. And we shared an office with another designer, and the girl who worked for her said, Hey, Tracery's hiring, like you should interview. So then I got that. And at the time, Tracery and Dung and Nikette, they were all kind of together, like they were all partners together a little bit. And Lewis Nikette just needed someone to help with paint colors, and I was like, I'll do it. I'll do it. And like, okay, we'll just stop by the studio and come say hey. Went to the studio, said hey, and that's sort of the rest of it.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

So you've been there how long now?

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Oh my gosh. So they don't count my contract year. Oh, we do that here.

SPEAKER_05 7:16

And I'm the I'm not the AHR person, I'm the marketing person, and I always count the contract year.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Yeah, if they hear this, they will not be surprised that I'm still complaining about this. But 14 years, if you include contracts.

SPEAKER_03 7:29

Okay, so 13.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

13 full time. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks for rubbing that in. Um but I always and the thing is, is there was no team leader. There was none of that. And I kind of felt like where I am now as the principal was just opportunities would show up and I'd be like, sure, I'll do it. And that's why I have responsibilities now. Yada, yada yada, yada yada.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

Now I have responsibilities. Because I kept saying yes. Yes. So what kind of projects do you guys typically work on?

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Oh wow. So we don't I like to tell people we don't do banks, we don't do schools, you know, we don't do like federal work either, but multifamily, mixed use, we do custom residential. Custom residential, we do smaller amounts of it, you know, little bits of specialty projects here and there. Uh town centers, clubhouses. We did the Zuma Fitness Center at Alice Beach. So we consider that as a little bit of like our specialty genre of these really unique opportunities for us to do maybe one particular poignant building in a community.

SPEAKER_05 8:37

But don't you do large-scale town planning? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Um, I'm not good enough to do that, but yeah. Oh we won't talk about that.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Yeah, we'll get that those guests at another time. Maybe in year 14.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Y'all got the wrong person from a cat, but we actually do that very well. I just don't want to take credit for it. Okay. So yeah. Well, you know, maybe one of the things we do the best.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

We won't, we won't, we won't talk about that, you know. Yeah. So what what is your what do you think is more in your wheelhouse?

SPEAKER_02 9:07

I do I do a lot of our custom residential and I do our multifamily work as well. Our team is unique in that we are on all the teams. So we have two architecture teams, we have an interiors team. And the architecture teams are split up really more based on client type. And I will say the work that we do where one's more prompt, like maybe you're doing a lot more multifamily one year, or you're doing a little bit more of these specialty projects, you know, one year. Like we're doing a really cool, like high-end custom condo project in Franklin right now. A lot of it is market driven. So I would say that what I do is typically based on sort of what's that project type of work that is really sort of what's the word, not driving the market, but is sort of more prevalent at the moment. So there's years where I'll have two to three custom residences at one time, and then there's years where I'm drawing clubhouses and helping draw units. And I think it's very valuable to be able, especially for our team, to toggle sometimes two very different worlds when it comes to pricing and what's really you can pull off from the custom approach, being able to take that in a way that you can make it more approachable and more attainable for more people in the multifamily. You know, there's skills and traits and talents to that that we then use to build up those projects. And then there's tricks we learned in the other projects that we use on custom residential. And the way that we balance both of those off each other and how doing both actually helps us be better at both.

SPEAKER_05 10:45

How big is your team?

SPEAKER_02 10:47

My team is just Audrey. Yeah, she could do it all. Um, there's four of us in total. So we have Rebecca Joyner, who's also a Sanford alum, and then we have Tiffany Shaw as well. Tiffany predominantly runs our trove Road Trove, which is our furniture division.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

Oh, okay, cool. What's what's kind of the typical process working with a client? So how do you guys start that?

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Let's go. Well, I'll go from custom residential and then I'll talk like multifamily. You know, with custom residential, much more back and forth with a client. It's way more hand-on, it's way more relate personal relationship than that.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

Where do those jobs how do you do they approach you from or referrals or how how do you find those?

SPEAKER_02 11:30

A lot of times they approach us. Um a lot of them are people who know Lewis or know someone who knows Lewis. And those are, I I mean, I love all the work, you know. I love those because those are people who they're making decisions because they're that's their home. You know, like they're living in it, they're experiencing it. So you get a much more personal relationship with them. You get to learn about them. Some of I mean, I've worked with some really fabulous people and getting to learn about them and their family and what makes them exciting is really fun. And those start off a lot of times, and someone reaches out to Lewis and we, you know, bring them in. What is it you're looking for? What do you want? You know, why us? How can we help you achieve what it is that you want? We firmly believe that we are not we're not authors, we're co-authors in everything that we do. So it doesn't have to be my thumbprint or the Nakette thumbprint where everyone's like, oh, that's Nakette, everything about that's Nikette. It's meant to be a co-authorship of when someone sees that home, oh, that's such and such is home. I can tell that's their home, you know, like that that makes me think of them. But the same is also true on our multifamily. We do not believe that we are meant to author all of that. This is meant to be a reflection of the developers that we're working with, the end users that are gonna live there in the community at which it's within, you know. And if we're not serving all three of those people, we're not doing our job, right? So, you know, I think you had asked me how does that process start? Yeah, the process starts to me in determining what is the North Star. You know, most of these relationships come to us because we've either worked with them a lot in the past or they know Lewis in some way. And the process starts by everyone agreeing what's the North Star. What is it we're trying to achieve? What's the story? So that we all agree that through the whole process from beginning to end, we always maintained that story.

SPEAKER_05 13:34

Right. Do you ever have how how easy is it to stay on track with that North Star?

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Oh my gosh. Some projects, it's super easy. You know, you have some projects that it's so easy that you're sort of waiting for the shoe to drop. Like you can't believe that it's going as well, that it's well. Some of them's harder, and a lot of that is because of the market. You know, the pandemic was hard. You couldn't get access on stuff that you needed. Lead times really pushed you to have to make sacrifices on what you wanted because you couldn't get what you wanted. Pricing. I mean, I've stopped even trying to guess what things cost anymore.

SPEAKER_03 14:14

Yeah, you mentioned like that was one of the big challenges now.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Yeah, there's there's products that I consider tricks back in the day. Like, oh, I know that tile, like I know that marble, we can get it for like eight dollars a square foot. It's 20 now.

SPEAKER_05 14:26

Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah, you know, and even then I catch myself like we're now even we're trying to address it. Like you, you know, this is what we think the number is, and then inevitably we still get surprised on something else. So that part is the challenge to all. To me, that's the part that really pushes what the North Star is, because at the end of the day, most people have a budget.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

You know, everyone has a number that they feel comfortable with and what they don't. And for our developers, there's a number that works for them or it doesn't.

SPEAKER_05 14:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

And that's the reality of it.

SPEAKER_05 14:56

Right. Not to not to backtrack a bit, but to to dovetail off what you've been talking about. But going back to Auburn and even when you were younger, and you you said you knew you're that obnoxious kid that knew you knew what you wanted to do. I am still obnoxious. Sorry, I should have said that. Yeah, I should have introduced you that way. This is the obnoxious Sarah Jelks. I know who I am. That's fine. I love I love that statement. That's one of my favorite statements. I know who I am. Um, did you know that then that you wanted to do residential multifamily?

SPEAKER_02 15:25

Like, no. I first was gonna be a lighting designer, and fun fact is I hate doing electrical drawings. I know how to do them. Let me preface this. I know how to do it. Yeah, no, like I am good at them, but like when it's when I have to draw the electrical drawings, I'm just like uh Audrey, come here.

SPEAKER_05 15:47

Yeah, yeah, great.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

She's gonna hear this and be like, why don't now I don't know why I get all these electrical drawings. No, um, I was gonna be an electrical designer. I was gonna be a retail like lighting designer. And um thankfully I never got the opportunity to pursue that. Like it just, you know, it and when I graduated with really with the recession, you took what you could get. You know, beggars really could not be choosers. At least I was not in a financially a position where beggars could be choosers, you know. I had to do what I had to do to pay my bills. And again, that's kind of why I always say that like God opened a door and he's like, you can either walk through this or you cannot. It's up to you. And I he opened the doors to get to me where I am now. I also thought that I would own I'd be 30, I'd own my own residential firm. And within like two weeks of working at Nakette, or dung in Nikette then, but Nakette now, I realized it's a lot more fun to work with people.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

You know, and I have enough humility in myself to know that like, look, I I'm good at what I do, obviously. But my work is amazing when I have other people's ideas involved in it.

SPEAKER_03 17:04

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

You know, like my the way that my team, we all feed each other and come up with what we come with. It's not because one person is the sole star. Yeah. It's because we all share the responsibility in making something great. And very quickly, I was like, I have no desire to do this on my own. Yeah, but I want to do this with other people.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

Yeah, that was something that you had in one of your responses. It was talking about your design philosophy. You said the best designs are typically collaborative. We are all capable of good design, but a great design involves the layering and storyboarding of multiple ideas and people. I thought that was great.

SPEAKER_05 17:38

Yeah, and you know that's like a principle quote right there. Yeah, I know, right. Uh the obnoxious Sarah Jelks.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

I should have put it through um chat GPT. It probably would have sounded better.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

That was pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 17:49

I thought that was good as well. I mean, you you could have had maybe an AI voice say it better than I said it. No, you got a good voice. You did really good.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

Right, it sounded really eloquent and it sounded important. Okay. It did. Good. And I appreciated that. Thank you. But I did want to add too the part I'm not highlighting is we have, like, in my opinion, some of the best architects in the Southeast, if not like the US. Like, we've got such insane talent in our office, and we approach interiors in our office is like it's not the part that you think of after you've built the structure. Interiors needs to be involved in the beginning. So when you see an end product, it's because multiple people have brought their trade and their specialty in, and yeah, you're looking at it as a whole.

SPEAKER_05 18:39

I would just want to add one caveat in that fantastic architects except for Michael Mann, who is pretty subpolar. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 18:48

So yeah, I'm surprised he works there.

SPEAKER_05 18:51

I I am too. You can't win them all. Yeah, no. I'm surprised they have to be.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

But he it's a good he's a good seat filler.

SPEAKER_05 18:57

He's a good seat, and he's funny.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

He is funny, yeah. So there's that. He used to bring drinks to the potluck too. He brings ice no, he brings good ice to the potlucks.

SPEAKER_05 19:06

He is very particular about his ice, and there is the story from decades ago. There was a uh uh Rauschenberg, the artist documentary, and it was like his life, and there he was being interviewed, and he would go out of his way. He would like, it was like a Wendy's or something, and he would go, he would like pass a Wendy's to go to the one six miles away because they had the ice that he wanted, and that's Michael. Michael would go out of his way to like get the special ice that he wants. So he doesn't do the he doesn't bring the drinks to your polypsy.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

No, but he brings the good people were drinking, people probably drinking too much.

SPEAKER_05 19:44

He was making some pretty good mint juleps or something from what I heard.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

He is making some good ones. No, but he does bring the good eyes, so you know shit architect, but brings the eyes.

SPEAKER_04 19:57

I can't wait to text him after his mega, by the way, on the IBA podcast. You're the one who started.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

I feel the need to vouch for the fact he actually is a very amazing architect, but he has a very good sense of humor. Mark's a lot of people. That's why you can get away with this job.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

Friends for a long time.

SPEAKER_05 20:12

We've known each other for a very long time. I was in his wedding, he was in my wedding.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

And then apparently you had a falling out.

SPEAKER_05 20:20

I learned he was a shit architect. I was like, I cannot be friends with people who are not good at what they do. I'm sorry. I'm gonna get in so much trouble. You take your good ice and get out of here. No, I can only do this because he's not on the show, because he is the funniest person that I know, and I I hate to admit that.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

No, he has he has a really good sense of humor.

SPEAKER_05 20:41

And he's got a like rapier wit in terms of his comebacks.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Um the joke is that he's actually a phenomenal architect, so Yeah, he we we may or keep your opinion.

SPEAKER_05 20:54

We we may or may not have solicited his opinions on our own home recently. Which thankfully we are actually very good friends, and he he did give some opinions on our our home.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

You got more stuff you're doing?

SPEAKER_05 21:11

Yeah, I'll show you after the show. I got a picture on my phone, man. Michael's gonna make us look like a million bucks. What are you working on now? Not that the outside.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

The outside, okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

Well, I'll drive past and see it so I can also determine.

SPEAKER_05 21:23

We just gotta figure out a way to pay for it. So, you know. Minor details. Minor details. Minor details.

unknown 21:30

All right.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Well, now that we've torn down Michael, what else should we talk about?

SPEAKER_05 21:33

So I gotta so I have a question because you you the the residential and multifamily, do you do a lot of travel? Because you guys do projects all over.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

You know, I used to do more than I do now. Um, it ebbs and flows with where the project is in the process and what the project is. So some of our multifamily work that we do, I mean, these are companies that either they have their own construction company that works for them that they've been working. With us for a long time. So like they un we understand each other and that we can give them a set of drawings and they know when to ask us what they need to ask us. So those we the architects go to them a lot. Umtier designers, we usually go to those f for the punch. Um but I don't do as much now post-pandemic, but pre-pandemic. I mean when we did Zuma, I was down there every two weeks.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

And which was funny because people were like, oh my god, go to the beach. Yeah, and I was like, I'm going to work. You know, like I mean, it's still like if you're gonna go down there, yeah, that's first world problems, right? Like that's where I'm going to work. Um but a lot of it depends on the project. The more custom stuff, you way more involved, but a lot of that we do in town.

SPEAKER_05 22:48

So when you did travel, did you have a favorite place that you went? Or was it Alice Beach?

SPEAKER_02 22:57

I'm trying to think. I've been to a lot of places in Texas. I've been to Baton Rouge, which I'm from Louisiana, so that wasn't anything.

SPEAKER_03 23:05

Wasn't special? Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Yeah, I mean I'm from Louisiana, so I was like, yeah, it's Baton Rouge. Yeah. Um that's awful. There's nothing wrong with Baton Rouge.

SPEAKER_05 23:14

It's a we we we regularly drag Baton Rouge on.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

Oh, you know, Colorado Springs was pretty awesome. So Lewis was up there too. Like we were both up there. He was doing, I think, a punch, and then I was up there installing the clubhouse furniture. And is it Gardens of the Gods that's in Colorado? So we had like a small window, and we're like, let's just drive it. So we just drove it. And to have a project in those areas where it's just naturally like insane, right? Gorgeous. And you can go on a 30-minute field trip and have like your mind blown by what nature can create. Like Baton Rouge. That's pretty battery. Like Bat and Rouge. Yeah, definitely like Baton Rouge. Like rouge.

SPEAKER_03 23:54

Red stick. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:57

Is there a particular client that's memorable stands out that was just a great client to work work with that you can talk about?

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Um, I have a very special place in my heart for a few of our custom ones. I mean, I can say their name. Jennifer Kramer, she lives in Homewood, loved working with them. Um, we've worked with a lot of our developers. Um, one of them loved loved his wife. She was amazing. A lot of them usually are when I was pregnant. You know, like I and that's maybe why I remember them so much. Um, another Homewood, Abbey Man. I hope these people they may not listen to those. I'm sure they do. Oh, yeah, they do. They're like, oh my god, I got name dropped. Yeah, I'm sure they do. Um my gosh, there's Marie Marino. There is Leslie Woodworth. I mean, my custom residential ones, the those clients themselves really stuck with me because, like I said, custom resident is so personal. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

Well, you're saying their names, that maybe it sounds like they're friends, these are friends of yours. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

I mean, these and these are their family homes. So like you're a part of that. But I mean, I love a lot of our developers too. You know, there's certain ones with some of the companies with that I've worked with them for forever. So, like, I'll run into them. And how are your kids doing? How are your grandkids doing? You know, those rela relationships mean a lot to me as well. Where, like, no, I'm not designing their home, but we've really problem solved and gone through the sort of highs and lows of the market and the highs and lows of what those big projects are. You know what I mean? So I don't want to name drop them, you like who they are.

SPEAKER_05 25:30

Um for fear of excluding people that no, I mean, there is like, I mean, as there's always a few. There are these people that we don't like to work with, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

There's always a few that you're like, if we didn't work with them again, it would be okay. But no.

SPEAKER_05 25:43

Those are by the way, those are the people that listen to the show. So they're gonna figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Yeah. But we do. We have some lasting developer relationships that I've known a lot of people on those teams for a long time. And you know, a really great example is is two years ago, my daughter got very sick, she got diagnosed with cancer, and they were reaching out, messaging me. She's fine now, let me preface, but that meant a lot to me. That like you just know me based on the work that I do for you. But the fact that you send a text message to say, Yeah, hey, hey, you heard, I'm just thinking of you, and when I see them, how's she doing? Oh, she's doing great, you know. So that that's to me the power of what working in this industry is is those relationships that really go beyond the buildings you create.

SPEAKER_03 26:33

Who did you run into with the Homewood Witches Ride?

SPEAKER_02 26:36

Oh, that's Jennifer Kramer. Okay. She didn't go this year, and I was so mad because every year that's where we run into her, and her group always has one of the best costumes.

SPEAKER_05 26:46

So it's pretty self-explanatory for the people who don't know what the Homewood Witch's Ride is.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

Oh, yes. What is the Homewood Witch's Ride? It's the O'Neill O'Neill Cancer Fun. And it is, oh my gosh, I'm gonna forget her name.

SPEAKER_05 27:01

Who um I actually don't know what it is, so you're you know, it's fine. Yeah. Oh, I feel so bad. And Chad doesn't live in Homewood. We didn't care. I feel so bad.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

This is why y'all, I'm so bad at names. I can see her face.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

She did actually before before we start to talk about how she's bad. She is with her.

SPEAKER_02 27:15

I can see her face and she's so lovely. She's a rep. She's so lovely. Is it is it Janie? Janie May. Okay, I don't want to say the wrong name, but she's so lovely and she's so wonderful, and she did it in memory of her mom. So I feel even worse that I'm forgetting her name right now.

SPEAKER_04 27:29

Yeah, it's pretty terrible. Yeah, no, it isn't.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

She's about to do she's doing a luncheon lord for us too at her office.

SPEAKER_04 27:36

What did she rap?

SPEAKER_02 27:38

I don't remember the name of anything.

SPEAKER_04 27:41

We can we can help.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

I just if you're listening to this, it's not personal. I don't remember anyone's names. I think it I think it is Janie, is her name. Um, but needless to say, she is a very lovely, wonderful person, and I feel like an asshole that I can't remember her name like that. And I kind of deserve it. Um but she started it in memory of her mom, so it's usually the weekend right before Halloween. It's just a bunch of women started out in Homewood. It's dramatically grown. There's a theme. You dress up as a theme and you ride a bike on a route and you throw candy at children. Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

I did not know that that's how that started. Not two children, but at them.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

At the children, yeah. This year, our group, it was like a rock band theme this year, and we were the grateful dad, and I was Jerry Garcia. Sweet. So there's usually a goal every year that I'm in some sort of facial hair to pull off the costume.

SPEAKER_05 28:38

You know, we so have a lot of wigs. To jump ahead a little bit, you know, when we do the graphic for this, I ask for people's headshots. So if you want to send a headshot with you with facial hair, oh my god, I should do it.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

That would be I think I looked better with it, to be honest, but no, my closet now has a random collection of like polyester fake beards from like all these witches' rides of me being like the token man in the ride.

SPEAKER_03 29:04

So what what have been some of the other themes?

SPEAKER_02 29:07

We did Greek gods the year before. Well, they were Greek goddesses. I decided to go with Zeus. Okay. So I was Zeus that year. But my bike He's got a good beard. No, he has a great beard.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Um, my bike broke like right at the start of it. So that was really unfortunate. And then, oh my god, the year before. I can't remember the year before. We were um one year it rained, and we were Troop Beverly Hills, so I wasn't a man that time. But the shorts I bought probably were could have been men's shorts.

SPEAKER_05 29:39

So very like very specific. Yeah. Um, so so I did I did some Googling because because you know, we have the the power, and you are correct. Uh it is uh Janie Mayer. Yes, with with Inner Space. Yes. Um so shout out to the Inner Space folks. Um is her her inspired by her her mother, uh Paula Stringfellow Ford, who is Janie's mom. So you were correct, and you were you were right on the names.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

So I can't remember names. So you're not a you're not an asshole. It's fine.

SPEAKER_05 30:12

Saved. You're safe.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

But the moral of the story is she's created something pretty awesome in memory of her mom.

SPEAKER_05 30:18

Yeah. I had no idea that that's what it was for. Because it's a big deal.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

Yeah, yeah. It's a big deal. And this year, uh this year I rode in um honor of my daughter. So that was a pretty cool experience.

SPEAKER_03 30:31

That's cool. So, uh, what advice if my daughter is going to Auburn? She's planning on becoming an interior designer. What advice do you have for individuals aspiring to become interior designers? You had a list of five things you didn't have to do. I got it.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Pass it over. I don't want to miss anything. I think my first one is like you do you.

SPEAKER_05 30:52

I, you know, Sarah, I gotta say, I love that you just asked for the paper because as many times as we've done this show where we've asked a question and then the people just panic because they know they answered the question and they don't remember it, but they haven't brought anything and then they just kind of flub through it.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

Yet Mark and I both have them. Yeah, and we don't have to.

SPEAKER_05 31:11

I'm also this is also as I'm getting around.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

I've already messed up the one podcast question. I botched that. I couldn't remember Jamie's name for a second. So, like, I can't fail again.

SPEAKER_05 31:20

Yeah, well, I just appreciate that you were like both of you are sitting there with the answers. Give me a copy. Give me a copy. But uh and all that too.

SPEAKER_03 31:28

At no point did we ever dawn on either of us that we're like, oh, here, here you go.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Yeah, manword darks. You're just letting them feel who's the asshole now. Yeah, we're we're both assholes.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

We're the terrible hosts.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

I feel no guilt about any other part of this now. Um all right, so my advice, the first one is just do you. You know, if you're not true to yourself, you're never gonna be authentic. Now, that's not to say that everything you design needs to be a reflection of yourself.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

Right.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

But stay true to who you are. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_03 31:57

I've I've seen reps do that, where I see them in a presentation. Like I've gone into a design firm and seen a rep and know them personally and great personality, really funny, and then see them in a presentation and it's just very corporate. Here's the thing, and here's the thing, and it's like, where's your personality? Where's the you know?

SPEAKER_02 32:15

And that's a good point too, because I mean I think sometimes there's a pressure as a designer, uh for me as a team leader, as a principal, like I'm always representing the firm.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:25

You know, like I'm always representing them, and sometimes there's a pressure that comes with that. And I've always been very grateful that you know, Lewis Nikad and all the other leaders are like, but you still have to be yourself, you know. So now I try to make sure to not curse his mind. Right, right. Um, but you're still professional. Yeah, but you know, I'm very fortunate in that Lewis has always been just do you, be you. You are where you are because of that. And right that to me is just always and that's what I tell my kids. You gotta be you. Yeah, you know, yeah, doesn't mean you don't grow, but ultimately you have to be who you are.

SPEAKER_05 32:59

It's gonna ultimately be better for those relationships that you've been talking about, but also too, not being you is exhausting.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

Oh my god, it'll drain you.

SPEAKER_05 33:07

Right, you know, like just to be that like trying to be something different is exhausting.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

So very powerful stuff we've got going on.

SPEAKER_05 33:15

Have you had experience with that, Mark? We're really good at this. I have been faking it for about 10 years. I am actually very stoic. Yeah. Happy tenure in a podcast. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not very gregarious and I don't like to talk to people.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

So you pretty you really now I'm on a podcast. Way to stretch. Yep. Um, you know, the second one had there's a huge fine line between humility and confidence. You know, you don't want to be too humble and that you don't put yourself out there and put your ideas out there, but if you're too confident, you're not willing to listen to anyone else's idea. So it's that balance of knowing what you know and what you don't know, and respecting where it's the time for you to talk and the time for you to listen. You know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

Not like that.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Um I also have oh, treat your reps, all your construction workers, all your contractors with respect. Now that's not to say that there have not been times where I've had to sort of, you know, be I we call it respect and growth in our office where you have to have tough conversations, but it can all be done in a respectful way. But these are the people who help you get to where you are. Your ideas mean nothing without these people. Right.

SPEAKER_03 34:30

And if there's a if there's a problem and you need a favor, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

And it's just treat them with respect and appreciate them. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 34:39

You know, they're doing a job too.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

Yeah, and like you said, inevitably something's gonna happen, whether it's your fault or someone else's, where like you're gonna need that person's help. And in vice versa, there's gonna be, hey Sarah, could if we did this, is that okay with you? Sure. You know, let's work on it together. So you build better relationships when you go that way. You know, I feel like it's a lot harder to be an asshole than it is to be a nice person.

SPEAKER_05 35:04

So I've always told reps to also buy um, depending on the firm and and such, but to buy lunch for uh the receptionist or whoever's booking your that's a very whoever's booking the coffee. Because it sometimes it's the somebody oftentimes it's somebody in the design studio that you're working with.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

But sometimes there's you're actually getting the stuff done too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:25

Yeah. Sometimes there's a gatekeeper, whether it's a receptionist or an admin person or just whoever that that's that got fell on their responsibility. It's gonna cost you either an extra six bucks or an extra sixteen bucks to be like, what coffee do you want, or what lunch do you want?

SPEAKER_02 35:39

To all the reps of visiting a cat, bring Libby something.

SPEAKER_05 35:42

See, there you go. There you go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

I'd be in a ditch if I didn't have Libby.

SPEAKER_05 35:46

And then and then and then and this is just speaking from personal experience when I was a rep, right? So now Libby will the Libby's of the world will appreciate that. And the gate, the gatekeeper's like, oh, come on in. They'll they'll they'll be more accommodating if if there's if there's a if there's any friction and kind of trying to schedule or if it's really busy or whatever, you know, that may and maybe that work more accommodation is just giving you a little bit more information. Hey, they're slammed this week, but next week would be better, something like that, as opposed to nope, yeah, full stop. And now you're on your own.

SPEAKER_02 36:20

That's a good point because that makes me think too, you know, a lot of reps email, but like we have a lot of our stuff either just goes into a junk folder and we don't know it, or like for me, I'm getting like over a hundred emails today. So like some of those are like harder to get to. And you know, for reps knowing who's the person that can make sure that that information gets to them because sometimes it doesn't get to us, you know. Like I've had a rep be like, I've emailed you seven times, and I'm like, Oh my god, like I didn't know, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:51

And then you feel like get the hint. Yeah, that was intentional.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Janie's coming in next week, but you can't get you can't get anything in the cat. No, I'm always like, Oh, I could crawl in a hole and die right now. I'm so sorry. Um let's see, I only have two more. Um, the next one, oh, we all make mistakes. I'm a firm we're human beings. You're gonna I've messed up stuff on projects before either due to a lack of knowledge or I can't believe I did that. Like I knew better. And it happens. It happens to all of us. And I have a model and I tell my team this all the time. It's not about the mistake, it's what you do after. You know, are you gonna address it? Are you gonna problem solve a solution? Are you gonna pick yourself back up? You know, like that's really what it is. And that's applicable not just to work, it's applicable to life. You know, we're all gonna say something that we shouldn't have said. So what are you gonna do about it? You're gonna acknowledge it and apologize and move forward, or are you gonna decide to die on that hill?

SPEAKER_00 37:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

You know? All right, last one, celebrate the people around you. Which we already alluded to that to like the Libby's. It's I can't do what I do without everyone in my office. Every single person helps me succeed every day, and like without my husband and my family, you know, like my success is because of the people who helped lift me up. And I think it's very important in life because life can be hard, you know. I mean, that's just the reality of life to celebrate everyone for who they are and what they bring every day, or sometimes just to celebrate them for being there.

SPEAKER_05 38:24

You know, I think we should dedicate this episode to Libby. Yeah, I love that. That was it.

SPEAKER_03 38:30

There was there was that was the dedication. Certainly not Michael Man. Certainly not Michael Mann. No.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Her last name's Malcolm. Libby Malcolm. Libby Malcolm. Yeah. I didn't get that.

SPEAKER_05 38:42

To not know names, you have name-dropped a lot of people. To be fair, we did ask questions about names. Yeah. So taking all the questions back, yeah, we gotta put you back on track. Yeah, I don't know. That's his role, is I just kind of glance at these and then you know, but he's kind of he's he's he's in charge, he's more professional than I am. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:02

Okay, you want to ask something then? Like, so go ahead, go ahead. Um yeah, kind of follow-up to that was specific skills or qualities that you believe are crucial for success.

SPEAKER_02 39:13

Um, you know, it's saying humble, hungry, smart. Yeah. You know, there's a humility in knowing what you know and what you don't know. Um there, and there's a guy in my office, Nick Hester. Um he's really good at saying this part. So I really hope I don't butcher this because he's definitely not gonna let me live it down. But there's a humility component of it, you know. Then there is the hungry. Are you always wanting to learn something new? You know, and that's sort of the fun part of what we do because we do so much different work is as soon as I think I'm comfortable on something, I have a new project that's maybe a different style than what I know I'm good at. And I'm like, okay shit, we're gonna learn something new this time, you know. But it's that hungry of wanting to know more, to learn more, to maybe just always be better and to grow and to you know, always be striving to be this is I guess the best version of yourself is the way to say it. And then there's the smart, and smart's not about book smart. SMART's your ability to read people and read the room. I think that is such an important thing that they don't teach you in school. And if you can't read your clients and what they're thinking, it's game over. Yeah. And I I have learned that the hard way before, you know, where I misread what a client wanted, you know.

SPEAKER_05 40:36

So how how do you how would they go about teaching that? Do you think it can be taught or is it something that's more innate?

SPEAKER_03 40:46

I mean, I think part of it is getting off screens to a degree. Yeah. But I think that that's the the downside for my kids coming up is that they've kind of constantly got screens, and so and a lot of the communication they're having with their friends is still screen to screen. It's not person to person. And I think they're losing part of that interpersonal communication. And so you're missing those social cues that you should be picking up. Um, so I think it's it's putting screens down to actually having conversations is part of it.

SPEAKER_02 41:15

This is gonna be a maybe an unpopular opinion, but popular to people who work with it. When we first got Microsoft Teams, I hated it because I am more of a I want to get up and go to that person's desk and talk to them. And you know, what I learned on the flip side is not everyone is like me. So not everybody wants that. They don't want to be bothered 800 times.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

Whereas like But you're obnoxious. So I am obnoxious. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:41

That was a good that was a good circle back. I really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_05 41:44

I respected it.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:45

So have you grown to like teams now?

SPEAKER_02 41:48

Um, I appreciate teams in that if someone does have like a quick, just a quick little something, it's on there. And when it allows more people to work from home. So I think there's value in that. But yeah, I do think that that person to person, the human connection has been lost very much in let's just all communicate through a keypad.

SPEAKER_05 42:12

Yeah. I was on my I was actually on my screen during part of this conversation because I was looking for a meme that I recently sent to someone where it says a hundred and ten-year-old Turkish grandmother shares her secret to a long life. I never once used Microsoft Teams.

SPEAKER_02 42:28

I saw that. I really expected that one to run more like wildfire and it didn't.

SPEAKER_05 42:33

No, I I think m it think maybe you and me and two other people think it's funny because I I'm not the biggest fan of Teams for several reasons.

SPEAKER_02 42:41

There's a lot of value in it. But I am, you know, like we have the option in our office to work from home one day a week. I prefer to be in the office because like I prefer more of that human communication, and if we're gonna problem solve, we're both sitting at the table together. But I do respect the fact that not everyone works that way either, and that's half the battle is respecting how other people work.

SPEAKER_05 43:04

I can get on board with the file saving and sharing and keeping things you know project-based and things like that. One of my issues with this is could go any number of ways, but specific with Microsoft Teams, just because I don't like to use it, is one of the issues is that there's 900 ways to communicate with people. Yes, and I don't need another way. And so Teams is like introduced chat and like all this stuff, and you know, and I don't you know I had one of our people in our accounting department like a month ago that was like, Did you not see my message? And I was like, What message?

SPEAKER_03 43:40

From where?

SPEAKER_05 43:40

And it's because he sent me a chat through Teams. I don't even turn Teams on. Yeah, and so no, I didn't. But back to like there's being nine hundred ways to communicate, this same person also sends me emails on the regular on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_02 43:55

You have to pick a line, right?

SPEAKER_03 43:56

So yeah, and you you do you learn how people feel respond like there's certain like there's certain sales managers of mine that I know if I call I that's the way to get in touch with them. Or yeah it or they never answer their phone they never respond to the voicemail texting is their way or it's email you kind of learn through time like what's their preferred channel.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

Oh can I can I name drop again? Absolutely if you can remember the name so um I'm gonna lean in close to the mic. So we like to make fun of Chad Martin and our office because he never looks at teams.

SPEAKER_05 44:27

So he's uh he's he and I should start a club yeah he's an email guy but I was like this is the perfect opportunity for me to because he'll he has to listen to this so yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah are y'all gonna have a listening party oh my god no no no it's just gonna come out on tax day and people are gonna whisper about how often do you do your um your your your company get togethers where Michael's not allowed to bring drinks anymore he just brings his cool ice um we just did one you're talking about our potlucks yeah yeah how often do y'all do that we just did one in March our next one is the 4th of July one oh so like quarterly then okay well kind of like it's more heavy and uh more heavy on the end of the year because you have more holidays to celebrate oh I got you yeah so okay so it's holiday based not necessarily just so they have two for the first six months and then like eight yeah yeah I like that that's the way you're gonna go out on the year.

SPEAKER_02 45:21

There's nothing to do the first quarter of the year. Like it's it's the worst. The worst I hate January but it's fine. Tomorrow's April 1st or wait no it's the 15th. Yes it is sorry I broke y'all's illusion way to go this is I I actually just listened to Welcome to show business yeah that's funny because I just listened to a podcast um it has Tignataro on it and they're yeah so they're filming like two weeks out and they're like Tig happy birthday and she kept getting kind of like yeah it's my birthday and I know if I won or didn't win that Oscar and I'm now recovering from my eye surgery. And she was like not anywhere near those dates. So sorry guys. Yeah it's okay I broke the illusion it's fine it's fine.

SPEAKER_05 46:10

So no one actually listens to the show that's actually the joke.

SPEAKER_03 46:13

Right. We haven't been recording. It's just this is something we like to do just hanging out.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

All those still Kimberly all those names I dropped were for nothing.

SPEAKER_03 46:25

Well I'm gonna switch us to rapid fire.

SPEAKER_05 46:28

It's a little earlier a little earlier I have one thing I want to chime in though and this I always do this though with with with chat because yeah and I'll be like no wait I'm gonna do something real quick. I do have want to go to one of your questions.

SPEAKER_02 46:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 46:41

And it's the do you have a favorite color pattern or material that you often incorporate into your designs and I'm not gonna give you the paper because I'm curious if you know what you wrote because it was wildly specific. It's very specific.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

Do you I have a favorite color or pattern?

SPEAKER_05 46:58

Yes or material. And I can help you by saying that you gave a color oh Benjamin Moore White Dove.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

Yes Dove Wing A Coving there's white dove and there's Dove Wing and that's the thing about names I can't I can't remember but yeah that's my favorite interior um wall paint color.

SPEAKER_05 47:22

So it's a white it's a white paint?

SPEAKER_02 47:24

Yeah it's like a little dirty white okay did you have that in your house I did yeah I did uh China white the first time I did my house and then I did that color. It's like in a lot of the custom houses I've done not because I'm not creative and I don't try other things it's just inevitably I just like this white no inevitably because the lighting in houses are all different and it's always like the one color that works works in different lighting. We did have I did have one house where there's this weird thing that that color only worked from a very specific Benjamin Moore store in Birmingham say that say that again okay so they wanted to do that color. I thought I was following and then I was like hold on how she says most people feel that way when I talk um that particular color so we had the sample I had bought the sample from the Benjamin Moore in Homewood. Okay we did the sample sample looked great they bought paint from other Benjamin Moore stores and then one of them they had like Sharon Williams trying to make it it was like green like never worked we couldn't figure it out we had to buy it from that particular store in Homewood.

SPEAKER_05 48:39

But that's but that's wrong not you're not wrong. That's wrong for them like isn't it it's all math like it's all you know the the the formula getting Benjamin more in trouble they all just make it up yeah but yeah I was thinking you were gonna say that it was the lighting in that particular store that made something look different.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

No no no it was like the paint itself we had to buy it from that store.

SPEAKER_05 49:01

Interesting do the other stores know this yes they do now because they all listen yeah they all listen I'm gonna have like a a target on my back now okay okay so yeah so I just wanted to know yeah Benjamin Moore Dove Wing our house has I think Greek Villa that is a good one and we've had a person in our house that has been that's looked at the walls and gone Greek Villa was it Michael Mann it wasn't but I'll name drop it was Cale Smith oh yeah the new city manager for Homewood all right lots of name dropping lots of name we know lots of people yeah yeah we don't know anybody the biggest joke is I don't all right so we're gonna jump to rapid fire questions and we're doing this a little bit early because I've got an appointment here in 13 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

Okay all right so do you want to go this is all about Chad's Chad's time um yeah uh this is just gonna be very random I feel stressed again what's the most unnecessary purchase that you've made recently it's probably it's never close related obviously obviously no because you need those clothes just like my wife needs those clothes um I don't know I feel like everything I buy is necessary um next rapid fire that one was a bust well I was like is it food related because like I'm always trying new recipes and then I'll make something and I'm like that was a waste of$13 at Whole Foods for like one particular like season.

SPEAKER_05 50:36

Right yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so yeah so my wife buys the like the you know the the little the little tiny things of parsley or rosemary that cost like eight dollars at Publix and then we use like not any of it or we forget about it and then it just rots. Right.

SPEAKER_02 50:52

You asked at the wrong time because I've been trying to not buy things you know because like I have I have taxes to pay for um so I've been trying to not buy things today's the day today's the day to pay your taxes. Yes well my husband is a CPA obviously we've already done it this one was uh inspired by the witch ride.

SPEAKER_03 51:13

Okay. Uh what's your favorite Halloween costume that you've ever had worn yourself or that you've done as a family or one of your family members has worn can I go with one we've done in our office. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 51:24

So we do a Halloween um costume we do those two.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:28

Um we do a costume contest every year and we did Home Alone we've done it twice Home Alone one and Home Alone 2 and um me and Emily Rivers we were Harry and Marv both times. Oh nice and one of them I was like about 38 weeks pregnant and you just it's I still looked like Joe Pesci you know well and you you know we've already talked about your collection of uh facial hair costume stuff. Well he doesn't have facial hair oh that's right he doesn't yeah dang I did have a bald cap though oh perfect yeah you could also send that lack of hair lack of hair yeah I'm not intimidated by hair and costumes um I appreciate that um what's what one material what is this this question stupid um it's like it's like it didn't come out right uh what's your this never works but we try anyway move like just it's one life or design like you're like I know this is the time it'll finally work this is more applicable to my personal life but my four year old is my son and we are in the colorful things come out of our mouth phase of life and we keep threatening him with hot sauce and we do it he loves it yeah he doesn't love it but we're not getting anywhere like we were at the zoo recently and he's like charging down the path and he goes diarrhea and he's just like running into the crowd and this mom just like laughs and I just I go I'm sorry it's all the time and her son was older and she goes yeah us too and then I was like okay so it doesn't end. Yeah no this is who he is yeah so that's probably it I'm trying to make him into a good answer. Way'd he goes I do remember my unnecessary purchase now I bought two pairs of the same shoes one size that fits and one didn't fit and I can't return the other ones now. So I have two pairs of the same shoes.

SPEAKER_05 53:41

You should sell them on Poshmark sorry Gus that's my husband sell them on Poshmark but that takes effort it does but you actually I'm I'm surprised at the things that my wife has sold.

SPEAKER_02 53:54

Okay I'll try that give it a go that was like uh yeah yeah what are you binge watching right now oh the pit I can't watch that show why not it's too real too intense it's so good my wife loves it because it's because it's real um what is uh British Bake Off great British baking show but Prue's leaving so I don't know how I'm gonna feel going forward and I promise my I don't watch a lot of shows not because I don't like shows it's just time time yeah like you only have so much time and it's sleeper have shows you watch right and or pay attention to children. Yeah well I gotta somehow get my son to stop saying potty words. Um and I promised my husband that when the pet season two is over we're gonna watch the Rice Righteous Gemstones.

SPEAKER_05 54:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 54:47

Everyone said it's really good.

SPEAKER_05 54:50

I I've seen a few I'm not the biggest Dana McBride fan about me but yeah I've not seen it fun fact name job I ran into him at Disney World. Did you? Oh yeah on a ride?

SPEAKER_02 55:01

No we do know everybody we do yeah he was with his family at like the Liberty Park area getting like you know hot dog right and um he uses those Listerine like strips how close were you to him close enough to know that um but my thought wasn't that's Danny McBride my thought was Danny McBride uses Listerine strips strips.

SPEAKER_05 55:26

Yeah yeah we learn something new every day yeah fun fact um he's he's listening to this too he does he's actually a good buddy of ours yeah yeah so um he also thinks Michael's a terrible architect what's your most irrational pet peeve outside of design people who are late and it's irrational because now that I have three children I'm late to a lot of things. I think if those people don't have pet children then you can still be peeved at them.

SPEAKER_02 55:59

Yeah my um my parents are they will be late to their own funeral and they're just they don't time is it's it's that doesn't apply to them. So I just grew up with like I would lie to them what time they needed to be at places so they'd show up on time. So like I've always had a pet peeve with people who were really late and I'm late all the damn time.

SPEAKER_03 56:24

My mom is chronically late. And she's just busy like she just doesn't process time the same way. Yeah maybe that's it they're not processing time and she she will be oh I'll I'll do that and you're like no because then we'll be late. Yeah and so I would do the same thing. I would be like oh I've got to be at this thing you know and I'd give her 20 minutes earlier and my parents will not be listening to this podcast. You win$10 million. What do you do with it?

SPEAKER_02 56:50

Oh so this is easy I'm gonna put my sum into my retirement then I'm going to take all the people I love to Disney World on a vacation and so we're gonna stay great we're gonna stay like nice hotel like everything. We're going all out and then I'm just gonna donate the rest. Okay nice yeah my husband and I have a theory that like you know people win the lottery and then there's always like some sort of tragedy that occurs with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 57:18

Yeah so we're firm believers take what you need give the rest away nice well just remember me and Chad when that happens so I love Disney. I'll forget y'all's names after this I don't even remember being on the show. I did this thing one time and then it was I remember that I won't remember your names um what's your move when you hit a creative block?

SPEAKER_02 57:41

Like what do I do? The stairs in our office. So I started doing that oh maybe two years ago it's more brutal in the summer because there's no air conditioning in there. But we're on the fourth floor so I'll just go up and down the stairs for 30 40 minutes and basically I don't think about what I'm doing. Like I just your heart rate's probably sucks. Yeah that's all you're doing it does like especially in the summer you're like can't I have a better hobby um and what's your hobby I walk up and down the that was actually my next question what is your hobby? Yeah it's not that um mine is cooking so I really do cook a lot I'm not saying that like I'm a Bobby Flay or anything another name drop anything like super special or an Audrey Roy. Or an Audrey Roy. Hashtag sourdough yeah but um I have won I've won a couple potlucks in the office but um I grew up I'm from New York say I was slightly disappointed when you said pot potlucks in the office. When you said I won I won I was thinking maybe a little higher a major award yeah to me that is school that matters yeah um I was this during while everybody was drunk off Michael Mann's drinks or after no this is when they were eating ice yeah I did a king cake for the 4th of July last year that won um no I grew up in New Orleans so food is sort of how you show your love for people and your appreciation for them and for me being able to cook for my family I love baking and like sharing it with neighbors I'll bring stuff into work and it's an outlet for me to be creative where I can it's like if slow stakes if you mess up you know like oh and you can tinker it again like okay let me try it again this way so I love it.

SPEAKER_05 59:36

I probably spend way too much on Kerry gold and guitar or guitar however you say the chocolate chip guitar it's a chocolate chip so and yet you came in here empty handed.

SPEAKER_02 59:52

Sorry it's Tuesday I don't have time to do that on a Monday next time I had kids with a cross last night um is this my last one it is you always keep you always keep score um what are you trying to get better at right now I would say remembering people's names yeah remembering people's names um professionally better at transferring the knowledge that's in my head you know sharing what I know with people uh successes and mistakes you know and being able to share how I got to where I was because I think that we're all missing the point if we're not lifting up people behind us.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:33

You know dang write that one down again too is another another nugget.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:37

Yeah thanks my question's kind of similar it's um on a scale of one to ten how would you score the letter G?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:45

Okay so my maiden name is Sarah Green. Okay so I'm very partial. So a 10? Yeah okay I love a G.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:52

Alright awesome all right so we usually finish and I we'd have to I've got to wrap this up because there's a conference room it's getting louder next door where I'm just gonna keep them under control. I'm supposed to run a meeting in the room next door and they're getting rowdy it's like it's like it's like unsupervised children in there but we um finish the podcast with a custom song oh what genre would you like the song to be can it be like like TI esque like rap?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:22

Rap? Yep I'm going back to my cut my college club days I love a good hip hop maybe 36 mafia esque you know yeah so you were a Blue Room person or was it Skybar when you were there?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:35

Skybar when you were there yeah I'm a little bit older than you so it was it was blue room for me.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:39

Yeah great awesome well thank you so much for coming on this is fun yeah we're I'll try to remember y'all's names thanks and we'll end with that yeah it's good to nice to have you on Janie I'll end design turn it up right now Mark staff who we got uh let's break it down Sarah in the building yeah you know the name she don't remember yours but she runs the game principle designer yes she led that crew neck at architecture bringing big ideas through from a young age to exactly a lane I she bought some project putting respect on the name plan first mindset yes she did the deep what they want before a line hit the cheek elaborate the heavy that's the coach deep beat great design don't have to nick it's if that beat your name drop quick like I was with uh you know that guy wait what's this F it off the combo alive anyway we got to get the story you drive yeah principle don't the little lab like first this for the label like first of the uh design yeah we bring in the uh on the drones just design me so we're gonna say you know the uh when you put it uh the outside of heat to stop saying for the free this free came with the this is the whole design by the day but a free switch called we have this go to all this face on the face no care must be gonna see if you got to see the first yeah let it go if you don't see it in the state got the first day if you must see the master