When a space stops being decorative and starts sharing its story.

I got goosebumps. A lump formed in my throat and my eyes started to well up. 

That's when I knew we'd nailed it. 

We'd been brought in on a facility that, at that point, was still just lines on a drawing board. The technical and functional aspects had already been scoped and documented; the construction detailing was sorted. But this building needed something else. It needed a presence. An impact. And that wasn't going to come from the architectural drawings alone. 

The client had a beautifully articulated brand package; logo, colour palette, strong copy. But that deck had never been built for a physical space. It was built for marketing and print. It had nothing to say about how a person should actually feel standing in the room. 

So instead of starting with the brand guidelines, we started with different questions.

Why does this space exist?

Who's going to move through it?

How does their life or career chang...

For the past 10 years, I’ve started each year with an intentional planning session—a ritual that’s helped me realign, refine, and design a life I love. What once felt like a complete reset at the beginning of each year, is now about softening into more of what I love and making small, meaningful tweaks that align with who I am becoming.

This year, I had the privilege of guiding a group of ambitious businesswomen through this process at my Business Planning Day in January. A large part of the day was focused on getting clear on what we truly want from life—because only when we define that vision can we build businesses that support it. Too often, we find ourselves designing our lives around our work, when in reality, our businesses should be designed to enable the lives we desire.

Over the years, I’ve shifted away from traditional goal-setting and instead embraced intentions over goals. Goals can feel like another task on a never-ending to-do list, while intentions shape the way we sh...