Behind The White Coat - Real Talk For Physician Spouses
Being married to medicine comes with challenges—long hours, relocations, and feeling like you’re navigating it all alone. That’s where this podcast comes in.
I’m sharing the things I wish someone had told me—how to survive medical training, juggle parenting, manage finances, and actually build a life you love. We’ll cover everything from making friends in a new city to understanding insurance, finding childcare, and staying connected as a couple.
Some episodes will be just me, sharing real stories and lessons learned. Other times, I’ll bring on expert guests—financial advisors, physician spouses, and those who’ve been through it all—to offer practical advice.
Most of all, this is a place for community. A space where you can feel understood, supported, and even laugh along the way. Because being married to medicine doesn’t mean doing it alone.
So grab a coffee (or wine!), and let’s talk about the real side of life Behind The White Coat.
Behind The White Coat - Real Talk For Physician Spouses
#18| The Art of Intentional Living While Married to Medicine
Bradie Fisher shares her journey as an interior designer married to a radiologist, balancing her boutique design business with family life while navigating the challenges of medical training.
• Grew up with her husband in the same small private school, transitioning from friendship to romance after graduation
• Married at 22 before her husband started medical school, moving from Houston to Dallas and finally to Franklin, Tennessee
• Built her interior design business intentionally small to prioritize family and maintain work-life balance
• Describes her design philosophy as "balanced, collected, and slightly unexpected"
• Creates authentic spaces by incorporating elements from various styles rather than adhering to one specific aesthetic
• Takes a limited number of projects to maintain quality relationships with clients
• Offers both full-service local design and virtual design options
• Recommends budget-friendly tips: choose larger, less expensive pieces over small, costly ones
• Suggests exploring "Buy Nothing" Facebook groups for free furniture and decor
• Advises not losing yourself in the medical journey: "You matter too"
Follow Bradie on Instagram @bradiefisherinteriors or email her at bradie@bradiefisherinteriors.com to learn more about her services.
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Behind the White Coat. I am excited to have you here and really excited to introduce my guest to you today. Her name is Brady Fisher and she runs her own interior design business, which is based here in Franklin, tennessee and for those of you that are not familiar with the middle Tennessee area, it's about 30 miles south of Nashville and her husband, steven is a radiologist and they basically got married right out of college and then, during his training, we're all over in Texas Dallas, houston, back to Dallas and then, once finished with training, it brought them here to Tennessee for private practice.
Speaker 1:And fast forward, that has now been seven years. They've got two kiddos and I'm just excited for her to be here because I feel like we've got a whole lot of things to unpack and discuss and I've got some questions for you. So, brady, thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 2:Sure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I was really excited I say this every time that I have guests on, but thank goodness for social media. That's how Brady and I met and then kind of digging a little bit deeper in preparation for our call. We have a lot of similarities. You know, both of us being from Texas, and I feel like once a Texan, always a Texan, even though you move away. It brings a lot of people together when they instantly find out that you are from Texas, and then your husband and you grew up together, just like us, and so I just thought it was really cool radiology, radiology. And so I didn't know that until I started digging a little bit deeper in preparation to our call. So thank you again for joining us, and I'm going to turn the mic over to you just to give us a little insight into your story, your background, your journey, and tell us a little bit about your family.
Speaker 2:Sure. So we got married right in between college and medical school. So we, like you said, we grew up together. We went to the same little tiny K through 12 little private school. We both started there in pre-K and then graduated together and we were buddies, really good friends, all through high school. We didn't start dating until, basically, graduation and then we went to several colleges. We stayed together. We didn't break up but we did not go to the same college and then dated all through college. So dated for four years and then, immediately after college, we got married at 22. So little tiny babies. And immediately three weeks later started med school. So that was when we moved to Houston.
Speaker 2:He went to medical school at UT Houston. So we were there for four years and then we knew we wanted to go back to Dallas because that's where all of our family was. We knew we wanted to start a family and so we did residency in Dallas. So, with him being a radiologist, it was five years of residency and then one year of fellowship. That was when we had both of our kids.
Speaker 2:Our first son was born at the very end of his intern year and then our daughter was born three years later, and then he, whenever it's time to look for private practice, there just wasn't great options in Texas, I'm sure you know it's dominated. Dallas is dominated by, at least now or seven years ago there's one group that dominates all of radiology and so they have a monopoly, and so he interviewed with that group and they offered him a job. But it just wasn't a great job and so that's what brought us to. He had grown up going to Tennessee. Both of his sisters had eventually moved to Nashville for various reasons unrelated, and his parents are from East Tennessee and so he was a little bit familiar with Tennessee. So this job opened up in Nashville and then just kind of all the doors opened and so here we are.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. I didn't realize. So are his sisters still here?
Speaker 2:So she went to college also in East Tennessee near Chattanooga and met her husband there. She went to college also in East Tennessee near Chattanooga and met her husband there. So she moved to Tennessee for college and then never moved back. So she lives in Clarksville, so an hour and 15 minutes away. And then his other youngest, the youngest sister she again randomly just ended up moving here because she got an internship her last year of college and then they offered her a job so she stayed on and that's what brought her here. So now, slowly but surely, our family our parents have his parents have now moved here full time. My parents have a house here, they have a second home here, so my parents live here part time. Because we basically told our family okay guys we're never leaving.
Speaker 2:We love Tennessee. We're never moving back to Texas, so yeah, Same, same so so yeah, Same.
Speaker 1:So you know, my husband and I grew up in Texas. His family still lives in Texas, but my parents, my brother and his family, they all moved here, you know years ago.
Speaker 1:And it's been nice having them here. And well, it's such a small world Like I said, parallelism and I love that you guys grew up just friends, didn't date until college. Same with my husband and I. I think secretly during those early years we would like each other but we wouldn't want to interfere with our friendship or if they were dating somebody. And then we went to different colleges and one night went out and had one too many drinks and after that, we have been together since yeah, as so often, the story goes well.
Speaker 2:it's funny we never had any like romantic interest ever, ever period Like and like we. We went through like when we were in high school, like we dated other people and we were really legitimately very, very good friends and people would say, like are y'all? Do y'all have anything.
Speaker 2:And we'd both be like no God no, he's like my brother, she's like my sister, you know, like we were really good friends. And then he got the wild idea of like, huh, maybe there's something, maybe there's something more maybe and when we had both broken up with.
Speaker 2:You know, we had both been dating other people for a while. And so when we both were unattached, he, as you do in high school, he approached my friends, my best friends, and we're like do you they really? He was like do you think Brady would, you know, be interested in there? And we and so of course, they showed, they told me, and I was like absolutely not. What is he thinking, what? What is he thinking he's going to ruin this whole thing? We're such good friends he's going to ruin it and so yeah, but it.
Speaker 1:But I mean once, yeah, anyway. So that's a, that's a whole other. When you separate, you realize how much you miss them, Because you grew up your whole life and that was the thing that was like, oh, I miss them.
Speaker 2:Totally. And what I realized I was like, oh no, I actually really do. I like you Obviously, like I like you as a person, like you know, I really like, I have respect for you, I know that you're a good person. Like you's not like I'm worried about, like ooh, is this the real, am I?
Speaker 1:dating the real person.
Speaker 2:So in a lot of ways it was like it was very seamless, but it just.
Speaker 1:It was a kind of an awkward transition at first, you know so, but yeah, Well, so tell me a little bit about your interior design business, what the scope of your business looks like. Typical clients are they all local? Just give us a little breakdown of what your business looks like.
Speaker 2:So I've had my business for about four years now and officially declared myself as a business for four years and it's kind of started as it's a hobby, turned side hustle, turned. Oh, I've got a business and so it's been something that has been a passion my whole life. My background is a graphic designer. That's my training. That's when I had a nine to five. I was a graphic designer. Their business differently, and what works for me is I am very intentionally small.
Speaker 2:I'm kind of I've started, kind of my marketing term, I guess, if you will, is calling myself a boutique design studio. I take on a very, very limited number of projects at a time, one to two usually, just because you know I've got kids my son that's about to be 12, he's about to start middle school, and then I have a daughter who is almost nine and she's going into third grade. So it's like my kids, my family, we love to travel. I want to be able to have bandwidth for all of that and my business is secondary to all of that. And I have learned that that is what works for me and my personality and just what I'm looking for in terms of like a work-life balance, and also I pour my whole heart and soul into my projects and so I want to be able to have the bandwidth to do that and that means fewer projects at a time. So I do primarily residential, although I did just do a commercial, not renov, renovating not a build, but just a medical office furnishings. So, yeah, I do primarily full service, which means that I procure the furniture. So I go to High Point Market, which is the wholesale furniture market, every April and every October. So I go there every, you know, twice a year and so I have, you know, a handful of vendors, trade vendors, that are my resources for furnishings.
Speaker 2:I do also offer a virtual like I prefer to be local only because it's so personal to me. I just I take it very, very seriously and I take that relationship really really, really seriously and I'm always so honored when somebody invites me into their home, because it's an intimate thing to invite somebody into your space and to like kind of like you know people are always apologizing for how it looks and you know they're kind of a little, they're very insecure and I'm, and I just I have so much like I have respect and compassion and empathy for that and so I just I never, ever, ever take it for granted that I'm being invited to somebody's home and so because it is such a personal thing for me again, that's why I limit it is so I can keep that relationship authentic and I can keep the bandwidth for it and that's why I like to be in person. So in answer to your question about like, is it local or virtual, you know my bread and butter, my jam, is for sure the full service. However I do, I have done remote virtual. I can totally do that and that would just be involved, kind of like a design, kind of a DIY plan. Like I would get measurements and photos of the space and I would make like a space plan, product links for furnishings and then hand over a design plan for the client to implement on their own.
Speaker 2:Definitely offer that it's just not what brings me the most joy, but it is for sure an option that I can offer. And then sometimes I just do construction only. So if people are renovating their kitchen or if they're renovating, I've got a project where they're renovating all four bathrooms in their house and it's just construction, finished selections, and there's no furnishings there. So I kind of do a little bit of everything, yeah, and I like the boutique side of things where it's very custom.
Speaker 1:I'm sure your clients appreciate it as well that you aren't to be pulled in so many different directions, but that your attention to them and detail, but that you know your attention to them and detail. So, as far as a project, it doesn't matter if it's like a renovation or a design, where it's just with furniture and paint. But if somebody calls you and they're like, hey, I'm so tired of this 1990s kitchen but I don't know what to do, do I change the floor plan? Do I tear everything up? Do you help them with that type of scope? Or do they come to you after that where they already have their idea of what that's going to look like? But maybe they come to you with, like you said, the selections, the finishes, color ideas.
Speaker 2:So it can be either way. So sometimes they have already been talking to a contractor. Or like if they want to do a full blown, like if they're going to gut the whole kitchen and rebuild it from the ground up and cabinets are going to move and plumbing is going to move. That is often, you know, it's a very collaborative process with their GC and with also the cabinet manufacturer. Yeah, and I've been, I've been involved every step of the way, from the very beginning and also at the not at the end, but just they've already finalized. You know, maybe or maybe things aren't moving, or they finalized where things are and they just need help picking the, you know, the cabinet colors and door style and hardware and countertops and backsplash. So, yeah, for sure, either way, and I wouldn't say there's one more common than the other, it just yeah.
Speaker 1:And do you have some crews that you've worked with that you can recommend to them, or do they find their own crew and then come to you separately?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I so kind of both. So I have several crews that I have worked with that I trust. Yet I also kind of make my clients interview, like I will give them three or four names and then I make them choose. If, for some reason, a crew or somebody ghosts them or something goes horribly wrong, I don't want that on me, no.
Speaker 1:I understand. I do the same with things within my business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it's like if I'm recommending somebody, then my name and my reputation is on the line and so, yeah, so it's definitely both. I definitely have companies and contractors, and not just contractors, but painters and tile setters and carpenters. I have all of those people that I recommend, but ultimately, the actual hiring is between the client and that professional.
Speaker 1:Yeah, whenever I was looking through all of your information in preparation to the interview, I saw you had something and I can't remember if it was on an Instagram post, your bio post and I loved it and I was going to throw it back at you. Uh, but it was the balanced, collected and slightly unexpected and I, I, I loved that because I feel like that basically applies to any type of project. First of all, the slightly unexpected I do love. I have very little bit worked with designers and they kind of push me out of my comfort zone of things that I maybe wouldn't have necessarily chosen colors, textures, it is a little unexpected, but I always find myself going.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad I'm so glad I listened to them, or I'm so glad they had that vision, and so I just wanted to ask you a little bit about that little tagline, because I thought it was fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, thank you, I appreciate that, that is for sure, kind of like the cornerstone of what I believe and how I work. And it's funny people have tried to get me to nail down, well, what is your style, what is your niche, what is your design style or what kind of rooms do you work with? And I can't ever give, I can't say, oh, my style is traditional or my style is modern, because I genuinely truly appreciate all different. You know styles and you know I like a little bit like a little bit of mid-century, a little bit of, you know, like a traditional, kind of old antique, and a little bit of like a modern. You know acrylic, something so like.
Speaker 2:When I say, balance like that to me is having little elements of all these different styles so that the room feels very authentic. So there's where, like, the collected comes in, it's like, well, I have this beautiful antique secretary desk from maybe my grandmother gave it to me or I found it in a flea market and balancing that with like, okay, maybe let's pair it with like a super modern, like acrylic chair with a fur seat right, so that we're keeping it from being too stuffy, it's not, it's not too traditional, it's not too contemporary where you feel like you live in a sterile showroom. You take notes from all different styles and you pull it all together and you're you're always paying attention to, you know scale and proportion and balance, making something makes sense. So if you're going to have something funky over here, then you want to have something funky over there. So it just looks like it's intentional.
Speaker 2:So everything that I do is like I'm super intentional about everything that I put in a room. I'm also super intentional just with again going back to kind of being the boutique, kind of small. I'm very intentional about just how I work and who I work with. And yeah, like I just it's, it feels I always. I always get like whenever people ask me, well, what's your style, I have to like word vomit, you know, like all this whole long, you know, because I'm like, but I don't have a style I don't have a style.
Speaker 2:Like you know, I just I really genuinely like it all. So, yeah, because that's what makes it real. That's what makes it real and lived in, and not like I don't want it to look like like pottery barn catalogs are beautiful, like we all flip through pottery barn catalogs because they're beautiful, but they I want my house to look real, you know, and authentic and not like a showroom. So that's kind of the explanation of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's perfect, and I think that goes back to you being intentional curating something specific for your clients, because obviously they've got a different style Right, they have a different vibe.
Speaker 1:And then for me, a lot of times, how I design something or the look I'm going for is also about a feeling. Yes, a feeling that I want in that room Is that my decompression room Is this, you know, my creative room. And so I think, when it's kind of a loaded question, when they're like what is your style? Because you've got things you like, you like you said, you've got different things, you merge together, but you also are kind of catering it to your clients' styles yes, Well and it's all.
Speaker 2:It's all like everybody's different, obviously, and it's all so subjective, like this is all. It's an art, it's creative, it's so subjective, like and even if you said my style is modern, that could look different to different people, and so it's kind of like, it's kind of a not super useful. Uh, cause I'm like I want to know how you live, like you said, I want to know how you, how do you want to feel? You know what speaks to you? There are very few like hard and fast, like this is. You know, this is pretty or ugly, this is in or out, like it is, it is all, it is all subjective.
Speaker 2:And it's like, you know, I would never, ever tell somebody I mean, I can't tell you how many times the client has said, well, I know, this is dated or this doesn't, this isn't pretty or this isn't, you know, in style or whatever, but it was my, it was my, you know my mother who died and passed it on to me, and it's like, okay, well, if it has a story and it means something to you, then it stays Like. Or even if it, I wouldn't have chosen, but you love it, and it's like I can't tell you that that's ugly or, you know, like it's your house. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to say, okay, so if we're keeping this thing, then that means that we need to think about this over here and we need to think about, like it's all about you know, it's all about you know, again, balance and you know making something feel intentional. So, yeah, because there is no one size fits all and there is no right way or wrong way, it's all incredibly subjective.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you. Thank you for that. I do want to ask you for a few decorating or designing tips you may have for people on a budget. I think a lot of times, myself included there's a misconception of I can't make this look nice when I don't have the money for these XYZ items or a particular brand or you feel like you have to get rid of everything and start over as opposed to. Maybe it's my piece, so I would love to see if you have any tips, tricks, resources.
Speaker 2:So resources? When we first moved back to Dallas and I decided I had my first child and I was like I'm not going to go back to work full time but I need something to take off mom hat and to get out of like baby and diaper mode. I worked at Pottery Barn part time. They have like an in-home program where and it's a totally free resource Every local store should have a handful of design studio specialists that go to your home and they take measure, they bring fabric samples, they give you ideas and they can also space plan, like they take your room measurements. They've got a space planner tool that they can help you talk through, like types of furniture, what colors you should look for, what you should, you know, just all those things. That is super, super helpful and it's totally free. That service is totally free.
Speaker 2:Another thing in terms of just a general decorating tip that I thought of when you were asking this question in general go bigger and go taller. Go bigger, like if you're choosing a rug and maybe your budget doesn't allow for a wool, or like a super high quality heirloom style rug. Go for a jute, something inexpensive that you can go big. Go as big as the room will allow, rather than smaller. That costs more. And then the same with artwork Go big, go as large as the wall space will allow and don't go small. Because even if the artwork takes up almost the whole wall, it has an impact and a visual, visual presence and it looks very powerful. But it could be, I mean, it could be repurposed, it could be a, you know, art that you found at, you know at Goodwill, and maybe you just painted over it and you just made it kind of a blank. You know, did a DIY, but it's big and you know your scale. Scale is probably the number one thing that people get wrong. Lamps are too small. Go bigger on a lamp. Go bigger on artwork. Go bigger on rugs. So that's like an actual like decorating tip.
Speaker 2:Another thing that I wanted to mention in terms of like, how you can just be on a budget in general. So there are local Facebook groups. They're called Buy Nothing and they are super, super awesome, especially for, like people in our situation that have moved, and you awesome, especially for people in our situation that have moved and people moving to new cities for med, school or residency or they're starting a new job and they're starting all over. Check your local Facebook group. For a buy nothing and it's like everything has to be free, you can post hey, I'm looking for this thing. And also, if somebody is posting something, it's kind of like Facebook Marketplace, but everything has to be free. So that's another great resource to check.
Speaker 2:If you're kind of looking at starting a room from scratch, is that those local it's search by nothing by nothing and each like I know that there's a Nashville you can only be a member of one group at a time. You can't be a member of all the groups and, like scour, all the groups, be a member of one group at a time. You can't be a member of all the groups and like scour, all the groups. Like you, you, I mean, I want to say you may even have to provide your address so that they so that like it's a very kind of kind of controlled, protected thing where you can only be in the one. So, like I am in the you know, franklin or and I think there's even two different Franklin groups Like I am in the Franklin group, that is like an East Franklin and a West Franklin.
Speaker 1:I love that.
Speaker 1:I love that I remember when we were going through sometimes trying to redecorate and trying to repurpose things, doing DIY, we swapped with other families of things we no longer needed or liked, or we were changing our color scheme and everything we had was red or whatever. So I think becoming resourceful at times is very budget friendly. Totally, that's awesome. Thank you for sharing those. I'm going to be checking out by nothing, sure, okay. So I always end with the same two questions for guests. The first one is what advice would you give to your younger self and that could be personal, it could be professional Just what advice would you give your younger self?
Speaker 2:I would say don't lose yourself in the medical journey. You matter too. Pursue your own thing, pursue each other, and the medical journey does not define your life. And also, I would say, pay attention to the life that you are building. Be intentional, just like I said before, you're not just surviving. Be intentional about just the life you're building and the habits you're forming. And look up every once in a while from when you feel like you're you're drowning in in this, this kind of unseemingly unending journey. Look up and don't get so caught up in the just surviving, the day-to-day. That would be what I would tell myself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's great advice and that's something that we've talked about before is, you are surviving, but you're also trying to thrive in that environment, and you're not just surviving but you're living as well, and so I myself needed that advice back in the day, and I did lose myself, so great advice and definitely for another episode to dive deep into that. And then the second question is if your medical journey, your medical life, were a reality TV show, what would the title be?
Speaker 2:Okay, so I way overthought this, but the title that I landed on is Growing Up While Becoming Us. Because we got married, like I said, tiny, tiny babies at 22, young, naive, no idea what we were doing. You know, 10 years of survival mode, but the key is we weren't alone, we had each other and in a lot of ways, being getting married so young, young, dumb and broke was difficult. You know, like it was very difficult, because we learned a lot of things. We formed some bad habits, which you know, maybe we'll talk about next time. So in a lot of ways it was not ideal. You know, maybe we'll talk about next time. So in a lot of ways it was not ideal, but in a lot of ways it allowed us to really grow up together and kind of become our own unit together and mature together. And you know, it wasn't just his journey, it was our journey. So, yeah, growing up while becoming us would be the title of my reality.
Speaker 1:Fantastic title and it's like those experiences are. You know what made you guys where you're at today? And we have said that as well that going through the things we went through whether it was good, bad we made the mistakes, we learned from mistakes, we made mistakes again, that it brought us a lot closer together. Well, even though some of those times were hard and we didn't see each other very often, I think that's a perfect example.
Speaker 2:I love that and having that shared history. You know, anytime, the more history you have with somebody, the more bonded you are, and so, as long as you are like intentionally you know we had to intentionally choose one another and you know it's it's not, it's not all warm and fuzzies all the time. You know you have to. Just you have to be continually choosing your spouse when things are hard and that is a conscious choice. But you know, continuing to do that and continuing to show up for each other and support each other, I believe you can get through pretty much anything if you have each other to lean on and you both have this kind of a shared mindset and yeah, and then that shared history is very, very powerful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great advice, and thank you for being here today and sharing your expertise with everyone, listening. If they have questions or want to work with you and brain on some things, what's the best way that they can get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:So my Instagram is Brady Fisher Interiors. That's the easiest way to, obviously, just shoot me a DM. You can email me at hello at bradyfisherinteriorscom. I have a new website that hopefully, as we speak, is actively being worked on right now. So I will have a new website in the works that will have a contact and inquiry form that they can fill out. But, yeah, Instagram email, that's always easy.
Speaker 1:And we'll put all that in the show notes, so we'll put links and your email address for them to reach out to you and thank you for your time and just sharing a little bit about your story and for those of you listening, please share the podcast with others. This is what helps our community, helps us grow, helps us to support one another going through this journey. We appreciate you and until next time. That's a wrap on this episode of Behind the White Coat. I hope today's conversation left you feeling more understood and supported and if you enjoyed this episode, I would love for you to subscribe, leave a review or share it with another physician spouse. Your support helps more of us to connect. Keep in mind, this podcast is for you, so let's keep this conversation going. Dm me on Instagram at Amanda Barron Realtor, with your thoughts, topic ideas, questions or even guest suggestions. I would really love to hear from you. Thanks for spending part of your day with me and remember you are never in this alone. See you next time.