We were lucky to catch up with Laura Cerrano recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Laura , thanks for joining us today. Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?

Once the effects of Covid were truly acknowledged and social distance restrictions were put in place, all my services shifted to an online platform. The good news for me was that I already established a virtual space for delivering feng shui consultations, so this branch of my buisness was a bit more seamless with transitioning.

In regard to my reiki business, I had to rethink my approach because at that time all my sessions were in-person. With that in mind, I wondered how reiki services would be perceived since the hands on healing approach was removed. I remembered there was a chapter in my Usui Reiki textbook that discussed Distance Reiki Healing. I reread the chapter and thought, here is a great opportunity to put this method of Reiki into practice and provide a safe communal space where we can all share, heal and simply connect. With that decision made, I held free weekly virtual reiki healing circles from 2020 – 2021 through ZOOM.

I didn’t know what to expect and if anyone would show up. To my surprise, people from all over the globe joined the weekly virtual reiki healing circle. It was amazing! Attendees expressed how the weekly sessions were helping them feel more grounded, connected to themselves and others, while providing them with a safe space to share stories and even find joy during times of turbulence.

As we moved closer to 2022, it was observed people were understandably craving more in-person interactions (including myself). I once again went back to the drawing board and thought what is another way to build community, promote social and emotional well-being, while still retaining a safe distance when interacting. Two words came to mind, drum circle! Prior to Covid, this was a community I was constantly involved in.

I reached out to a few drum buddies, shared the idea of how we could safely gather and inquired to see if any of them would like to co-create outdoor drum circles. Those who were eager for human connection, said YES! It was understood people would meet outdoors, socially distance themselves, mask up, and use sanitizing wipes to keep shared instruments clean. After putting out the call, weekly drum circles came into existence. We met at public parks, the beach, and friend’s backyards. Drum Circles became our new medicine and a great way to stay connected through human to human interaction.

As I became more immersed within the drum circle community, senior care centers for Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Parkinson’s, cancer retreats, universities, hospice and bereavement centers began contacting me requesting drum circle events. Understanding I needed more formal training I was introduced to two drum circle programs called Music for People® and Rhythm2Recovery. Both organizations provided me with drum circle leadership tools on how to further support social and emotional development through simple prompts on exploring musical improvisation.

Feng Shui Manhattan has come a long way from the first days of its establishment in 1997 by my mother and Feng Shui mentor, Carole Provenzale. In 2025 I’m happy to share our company has expanded itself to become a healing hub of various wholistic services for mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. Clients can choose from feng shui, reiki, sound healing, geopathic stress dowsing and healing drum circle sessions.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Around age 12, my mother, Carole Provenzale, introduced me to the art and science of Feng Shui. During that time, she was studying to become a certified Feng Shui Consultant through the Metropolitan Institute of Design in NY which followed the teaching of his Holiness Grandmaster Professor Lin Yun. She knew Feng Shui would be the perfect tool to help me gain greater insight into how to perceive my adoption from Colombia and keep me centered during my teenage years. 
As time progressed, I apprenticed with my mother seeing first-hand the miraculous transformations in the lives of her clients. In 2000, I became certified through the Proven Feng Shui School in New York. Since Feng Shui requires a range of studies and applied skills, I continued attending workshops, lectures, and classes that covered various healing modalities while providing on-site consultations alongside my mother. By learning and teaching Feng Shui, the practice enabled me to forecast solutions during challenging scenarios in life from a young age which has carried over into adulthood. 

One project in particular that still captures my heart today is the Viana Hotel & Spa located in Westbury, New York. My mother and I collaborated on this major hospitality development, and it has been recorded as the first building on Long Island that is fully Feng Shui-ied and LEED certified. The memory is bittersweet because Carole never saw the completion of this hotel. She passed away in 2010 before the grand opening in 2011. 

At age 26, I was left to run the consulting firm full-time and my training from SUNY New Paltz was only in Art Education and Fine Arts. Talk about a learning curve, and it had to happen fast. I researched, attended business classes, and learned through first-hand experience (which was not always pleasant and sometimes costly emotionally and financially) in how to re-establish and grow the company. 

Since that time, Feng Shui Manhattan has expanded beyond New York establishing offices in Los Angeles and Walnut Creek, California, while also providing services for national and international clientele. The company has been featured in highly respected publications and TV networks such as Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen,” HGTV Property Brothers, PBS, CBC Television, and The New York Times. I provide in-depth consultations with residential establishments, small businesses, real estate developers, public schools, Fortune 500 companies, and healing facilities. 

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The main story that comes to mind is when my mother, Carole Provenzale passed away on May 18th, 2010. In that moment my whole world crumbled. Carole was my mother, my best friend and my feng shui mentor. The same week of her passing, she and I were scheduled to co-present on the topic of Feng Shui at a local Long Island venue called, Eyes of Learning.

My heart was heavy and I debated whether I should still present or let the speaking engagement go. I had two days to make a decision and called the Eyes of Learning program director, Barbra. After sharing with her about my mother’s death she said, by you presenting and knowing this was a venue your mother was so excited to co-present along side you, is very much a beautiful way to honor her memory. With Barbra’s counsel and support, I decided to move forward and we both agreed to keep the announcement of Carole’s absence neutral.

Looking back at that moment in time, I think its safe to say that was a right of passage that was silently witnessed by the Eyes of Learning audience. My mother was no longer physically present, but I absolutely could feel her soul and love while presenting that night. The next generation of feng shui consulting began, is what that evening at its conclusion represented.

As for the years that followed, resilience was the constant theme of learning how to run and grow a buisness. There were lots of lessons learned, some gracefully and others not so much. However, with each stage of evolution I found many helpful people appear during pivotal transitional points.

I am so grateful to my mother, my father, my siblings, husband, friends and to all the people i’ve met who have helped me along my journey so far. Each one at some point has contributed to my life in a tremendous way, even when its been as simple as a single word of inspiration.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The top sources right now include my Google Buisness listing, daily/weekly blog and video posts created for my website and social media sites. I also make sure to tap into the most traditional way of connecting to clients, which is through referrals and networking. Since I provide a wide range of services, I allow for subtle cross-pollination when speaking to different audiences which illustrates a well rounded skill set that is creative, innovative and flexible in the type of services offered. The final biggest resource is partnering with other businesses were we both align with the same values, respect for each other and intentions. This has been the newest exploration in reaching clients, especially when providing drum circles for school programing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fengshuimanhattan.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fengshuimanhattan/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FengShuiManhattanLongIsland/
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/lauracerrano
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NYCFengShui
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/NYFengShuiManhattan
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/feng-shui-manhattan-new-york-2
• Other: https://fengshuimanhattan.com/press