We recently connected with Madison Kozoyed and have shared our conversation below.

Madison, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

The industry of interior design has historically focused on luxury homes, with large square footages, and an emphasis on custom work. I love that the emphasis on custom work has supported local and small vendors who are masters at their crafts. But interior design can be used for SO much more than creating bespoke spaces. I’m proud to be using interior design as tool for change by infusing my values into my business structure, operations, and design process in a couple of ways:

As a renter who has only ever lived in under 600 sq ft apartments, I specialize in small space solutions and rental friendly updates. As the U.S. looks to solve the affordable housing crisis – an issue I’m particularly passionate about – I’m ready to use interior design principles to make higher-density, smaller-space living not only a practical way to survive, but a beautiful way to thrive.

Through starting my design process with Feeling (the first F of my Triple F Design Framework), I’m also able to help my clients identify an ideal mindset and prioritize their mental health. Together with my clients, I use interior design to create spaces of self-care, rest, rejuvenation, and play. So they can have a space that is designed to support them as they manage depression, anxiety, fear, ADHD, imposter syndrome, doubt, guilt, and shame.

Additionally, I’ve crafted my 2 Week Virtual Design process to make sustainable living practices the norm for my design clients. We adjust timelines to account for secondhand sourcing, support local businesses first, source from our favorite fair trade and values-based brands, and discuss ways to prioritize sustainable home habits – like recycling, composting, filtering micro-plastics, and lowering energy use – as a part of the design.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself and your business to our readers?

Simply put, Whatsoever Things are Loverly helps creatives, entrepreneurs, and disrupters make their spaces look, function, and feel better, so they can show up everyday empowered and inspired to share their big ideas with the world.

Your environment affects your mindset. It shapes the stories you tell yourself about your life. And when you have as many priorities as creatives do, you have to show up as your best so your business or passion can be at its best. It’s my job to rewrite the narrative of spaces to reflect stories of success, abundance, freedom, and ease. It’s an important part of my process to design systems, styles, and feelings to support my clients’ mindset, habits, and goals.

Through my Triple F (Feeling, Function, Form) Design Framework I dive deep with my clients to uncover their uniquely authentic and perfect-fit style – instead of relying on prescriptive design styles. The Triple F Framework, combined with sustainable, values-based sourcing and an efficient timelines – like my signature 90-min Power Hour and 2-week virtual design process – ultimately provides the space for creatives to continuously show up inspired to their world-changing work, while balancing the other critical priorities in their busy lives.

It lights me up to learn about all of the innovative ways creatives are tackling the world’s issues. I love the way small business owners are infusing their values with their businesses to create more of what they want to see in the world. I firmly believe that your home does not have to be as big as your aspirations are, but it needs to support you in getting where you want to go. And I’m most proud to be working with the folks I admire most, cultivating a values-driven business, and creating balanced and inspiring spaces.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I’ve always considered nature and wild places and local communities sacred and worth protecting, and been led by my curiosity and creativity. As a kid, I could be found either outdoors, or participating in every possible school and local extracurricular – from music, to sports, to art, to debate. For as long as I can remember, I’ve cared deeply about the wellbeing of others and admired people who made it their life’s mission solving problems to make people’s lives better. But I struggled to find a way to support the causes I cared about in a way that felt good and sustainable to me – particularly around the affordable housing and climate change crises.

It wasn’t until I took a volunteer trip cycling across the country in support of affordable housing and bike education, that I felt empowered to finally try and align my beliefs with the ways I took action in my life. (Check out the amazing organization Bike & Build!) After watching a fellow cyclist on the trip agonize over a decision on what sunscreen to buy, something that felt so simple to me, I started to pay attention to what brands I was supporting, what ingredients I was consuming, how much waste I was creating as an individual, and what systems I was supporting by living my life as I did.

So my business, Whatsoever Things are Loverly, was really born from a desire to live a more values-aligned and sustainable life, while managing and working through the lingering feelings of guilt, shame, and “not doing enough” that come along with making disruptive changes. I wanted to help myself and others live contently in alignment with their values and find time and room for the things that actually mattered in my life – the “loverly” things!

I toiled away at a corporate career trying to learn as much as possible about project management, marketing, content creation, analytics, and creative problem solving across various industries – from fine art, to the Pentagon, to National Geographic and Disney. At the same time, I was learning on the side as much as possible about entrepreneurship and running a small service-based business. I wasn’t 100% certain on what I would offer but as I started to follow other values-aligned creatives, entrepreneurs, and brands online, I desperately wanted to support them in any way I could.

Fast forward to the pandemic, like many others, I was hit with a “now or never” urgency around my life goals and getting my dream business off the ground. I sat down and asked myself, “If I could do anything, what service would I love to offer that could help other badass creatives?” Immediately strategizing and styling homes came to mind. My partner and I have only ever lived together in apartments under 600sq ft – with gear for multiple music projects, our dog, my business, and two work-from-home set ups. I had imposter syndrome initially, but I trusted I could use a combo of mental wellness strategies and designing my home in a supportive way to work through it. I also trusted my gut to build my values of mindfulness and sustainability into the foundation of the business, and help others incorporate their values into their homes in a tangible and transformative way.

The problem solving of making a space look beautiful, function well, and feel good is truly the most fun combination of all the info I had been curiously devouring for years.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When interior design found me, I frankly couldn’t believe it. I actually wouldn’t let myself seriously consider it for a few weeks! With no formal interior design training, a mere art history degree, and a passion for good design, I had major, MAJOR imposter syndrome.

I let that imposter syndrome stop me from fully diving into offering my services in the beginning. But I had a business mentor remind me to reframe thinking about my business as a solution to a critical problem my ideal clients have. Since the beginning of the pandemic, everyone has a real need to fit in more life, more function, and more ease at home. I knew working through my imposter syndrome would be required to show up every day excited to serve entrepreneurs and creatives busy with their world-changing work craft authentic homes they feel supported by, are proud of, and stay inspired by.

I had a gut feeling that my tiny apartment was heavily impacting my mindset and if I was able to use interior design to transform the *feeling* of my space and make it function well to support this new business, I could tackle my imposter syndrome.

I’m thrilled to have found that my gut feeling was correct. When I aligned my physical space with my habits and vision for my business, it took off. I landed my first client, interviewed with local publications and on podcasts, launched my signature service, and quit my corporate job. And crafted the rest of my home intentionally to support my life, so I can continue to show up refreshed to support the business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://whatsoeverthingsareloverly.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatsoeverthingsareloverly/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatsoeverthingsareloverly/

Image Credits
Photos by Maddy Kozoyed