Transcript

Wendy Cohen 00:00:02

All right Powerhouse friends and colleagues we are here again at our fabulous new podcast we're calling it cool collabs because we have the coolest collaborators in the world and we're sharing them all with you on this 20 minute commutable um podcast and today I'm so proud and honored to have my uh dear colleague Rebecca Pogonitz from goo Design Group here with us hello here we go we're gonna go to the gallery so we can see Rebecca and there she is 

Rebecca Pogonitz

hello everyone 

Wendy Cohen

hello good afternoon Rebecca we are gonna have so much fun

Wendy Cohen

00:00:42 because we're going to be sharing with everyone all about you and how you your story and where you are in your successful journey and then we're going to tie in a little bit I'm going ask you some questions about how you live your life with an attitude of gratitude and then a little bit about how you're helping Humanity which is I know a core value for your so without further Ado Rebecca share with us your story tell us about you 

Rebecca Pogonitz

well it's fun that we're sitting down here because you're very much a part of my

Rebecca Pogonitz

00:01:11 story so um I was a career changer got my BFA um in my 30s and um while I was um raising my three kids I worked within my community and got all my experience but then after my divorce I really didn't know what I was doing doing um and I had to pull up my boot straps and really figure out if interior design was actually what I wanted to do because I was sort of in a vacuum I didn't have any plan and I was looking into health and wellness and um Fitness I became a personal trainer I even started a little

00:01:49 company called fit power Chicago which would Empower kids in schools a colleague of of mine um I did Krav MAA with we were trying to bring this program to schools and um we even spoke at two national anti-bullying conventions believe it or not but of course that it just wasn't the right timing um but I was really searching and then I met Wendy Cohen 

Wendy Cohen 

you were already empowered and enlightened before you met me but go ahead 

Rebecca Pogonitz

but after meeting you Wendy as my coach and Mentor you really helped me set up my business and really I had no

00:02:27 clue I had I had rebranded to goo Design Group in 2012 but I really didn't know what to do with it and um I literally really I consider really starting my business business in 2014 - 15 when I met you you gave me a contract you know I'll get vulnerable here I don't care um you told me how to be a big girl in this business so and you believed in me when I was struggling you yeah go ahead 

Wendy Cohen 

had a lot to believe in Rebecca a thank you no you are a pure talent and you know I I could see what you did not only in the

00:03:09 projects that I got to visually see personally but also from the photography and then I also personally talked to many of your clients because I was trying to help you put into words the experience that you um gave to these people which was much more than a beautiful space 

Rebecca Pogonitz

yes yes that's my whole mission you know the whole concept of luxury um you know that topic comes up a lot and the way I find luxury is you want to provide a luxurious experience for your clients of course there's luxury in finishes and Furniture but to me the

00:03:45 experience is so important because it's a deeply personal Journey when you're helping someone build a home or renovate a home or even design their living room I I don't want them to come to me and just uh create something in pieces I wanted to be part of their entire story throughout their lifetime so I helped I I really go out of my way um to bring a personal experience and um we become friends I've become very close friends with some of my clients so yeah it

Wendy Cohen 

 is an intimate experience but what I really

00:04:19 think sets you apart Rebecca and that you do so brilliantly is the health and wellness is really who you are yes you know so tell us like you know how when when you let's say I was doing a new project which I I might be doing a new project soon and of course you'll be involved um you know how do you get started and how do you in you know in a nutshell I know we could talk about this for hours but how do you tie in that health and wellness and I know you and I were talking about this like you said in

00:04:47 2014 so you were way ahead of the curve

Rebecca Pogonitz

 yes hashd design wellbeing and I started a lot of video marketing with your support and everything was about how can I make your life better but I over the years on my own personal journey and how I wanted to set myself apart in this industry because as you know it's very competitive um I really had to have a very specific point of view and um my point of view now is we don't just design spaces we heal spaces it's a spaces it's a healing process and um that's really my entire approach is

00:05:28 what's going to make you feel better what's going to give you more joy what's going to relieve your stress and what can I do to help you with that and it's it again it's just the interpersonal experience it's helping a client discover really who they are with their design style um a a lot of my clients learn so much about themselves yeah um when they work with me um and so that's my whole approach is we start with a client's inspiration I even tell them tell me what you don't like because if I don't know what you like then I know

00:06:06 where to turn in other ways and so we literally we I ask them to go on to house and create idea books and share them with me and then we sit down together and we just talk about everything and I ask a ton of questions so by the end of that meeting I I really do have a solid sense of which direction to go to and I can help them figure out what's going to help 

Wendy Cohen 

that programming it sounds like you're very thorough with now how do the men or the partners because I know it starts with you know usually the first meeting might not be

00:06:37 both everybody in the family but how do you incorporate everyone in the family 

Rebecca Pogonitz

well it's interesting because at the beginning of a project a lot of times one of the spouses and sometime most of the time it's the husband or the partner they say they don't care but that's not I won't I won't settle for that because I say to him or her you're living in this space I really I care about what you care about I literally say that and so inevitably the other person gets involved and it's really exciting

00:07:11 because then there's no resentment no one feels like they're making compromises by the end of the project and I just finished up a project in Highland Park two different Aesthetics um a second marriage for these two people they're creating this home together and really the expression happy life or happy wife happy life does not apply when you work with me okay so I want to bring everyone and I want to get everyone involved right now I'm working with two teenagers on their bedrooms um they I'm redoing all the

00:07:50 bedrooms in this client's home and we're meeting all together and they shared their Pinterest boards with me and I asked them a ton questions and they're each um 12 and 14 years old so I it matters or if a client says you know what I need to change the paint color in my son's room I have to bring the sun in you know even it's sounds crazy but even if this boy is eight years old I start showing him paint colors you know because it's important you know yes he's the living in the space 

Wendy Cohen

so absolutely

00:08:29 and it's heal for and nurturing for them as they grow 

Rebecca Pogonitz

I love that nurturing nurturing that's a buzz word

Wendy Cohen

 perfect perfect and the other thing um I've I've seen and and you have reinforced over and over and over in the last 10 years that we've known each other is you believe in collaboration so tell us a little bit about that

Rebecca Pogonitz

 I have grown my business through collaborating with other design build and real estate professionals um I I'm in the middle of a project now with a builder and a kitchen designer and we

00:09:07 probably work on three three homes a year together um we learn from each other we can bring our best because I always think of you when I say this you're as strong as your weakest link I learned that from you in Powerhouse smart and um with marketing efforts actually I'm working with an architect now and we're creating some short videos on incorporating AI and the relationship between architect and interior designer and I'm going to redesign a space and while he creates it in AI and so I'm always open to O um marketing

00:09:49 collaboration having public events I'm always I'm always saying to people and you also rubbed up rubbed off on me Wendy oh let's do an event I know how to do that um in fact I've been collaborating a lot with home carpet 1 in Chicago and they asked me to be the designer on the floor for their sale they're having a big public sale on December 7th wow and I'm gonna be there just to give advice so everyone come on down for those of you who live in Chicago but that's another um social media collaborative

00:10:23 marketing I'm doing this with home Carpet One we're going to have an event so I am all over that yeah 

Wendy Cohen

we're gonna put a link to that in the description below so anybody who I'm sure other people will be seeing this video for the longevity of the their you know experience but for the anyone before December 7th which is a month away from now 

Rebecca Pogonitz

yes that's going to be so much fun 

Wendy Cohen

yeah that that is awesome so Rebecca you know I I know you personally but the audience doesn't know you and and tell me how do you how do you live with

00:10:57 gratitude and I know you're an imp path so share a little bit cuz you know for those of you who are in pths um it's it's you know it's a trying opportunity how's that 

Rebecca Pogonitz

yeah um well living with gratitude is an all daily all day long practice when I'm at the gym I finish up a workout thanking God for letting my body move um I think you know because of my journey that turning to gratitude magically uplifted me so I'm grateful for that practice the gra gratitude practice it's really a Panacea I've seen it work miracles just

00:11:43 focusing on the good um focusing on the blessings that have already been showered on me um and believe it or not I find that the more you focus on that the more appear before you and it just sort of drowns out the tough parts I think that life is always going to have its lows and its stresses and um this is part of The Human Experience right and um living with gratitude is also contagious for other people so it's paying it forward if you set the tone as a role model um and it helps me it keeps me going and it's just

00:12:25 it's just one of those things that maybe some people can't grasp I remember Oprah in her gratitude Journal yeah she was starting that um and even back then it was sort of a foreign concept with me until I really got to know myself and develop myself spiritually um but living with gratitude for me is like breathing it really is because if I didn't do it I wouldn't be sitting here smiling talking to you 

Wendy Cohen

yeah well but it comes it comes off Rebecca I mean you're authentic and and you you just exude that gratitude

00:12:57 and you have had and we won't have the opportunity to get into all that transformation that you've gone through in your life but I remember when I first met you I had tears in my eyes on how you survived a divorce and a change of being very Orthodox to being less Orthodox and and just even raising children in this you know in today's world so that we're not gonna to end yet we're going to still want to hear about which I I know is a beautiful story with you is how you help humanity and what you're doing with that and uh share

00:13:31 please

Rebecca Pogonitz

 um the the way I you know a lot of times when we're struggling you're you wonder why is this happening to me and um I always focus on I've learned to focus on it's happening because it's a purpose that I'm supposed to be doing and that's how I've grown go go um just my journey um I lost my train of thought Wendy you were saying 

Wendy Cohen

oh yeah well I I love the no shame on you but that's just one 

Rebecca Pogonitz

so I live my life not only with gratitude but if if remember Simon senic that also changed my life years ago

00:14:11 what's your why and always focusing on your why and so that's how I drove my business and my messaging in my business and so my why is to live as authentically as possible so people people feel emotionally safe to express their needs and and through my journey and my healing I didn't want people to feel they were alone so I am a passionate mental health awareness Advocate 

Wendy Cohen

yes

Rebecca Pogonitz

 um I served many years on the board of no sh onu I still create events with them I've moderated events I also in our industry I love getting

00:14:46 people excited about networking and um helping them grow their business um and so really my work in my life is about giving back to humanity that's I think that's what we're here to do right that's that's our purpose um and I think each one of us has a different you know then it goes gets broken down everyone has their own purpose um for me I really made my work my purpose healing spaces uh creating Oasis from the outside world so that people can heal inside their homes um and recharge it's just not it's

00:15:27 it's not about just thriving uh you can't Thrive unless you have the right elements around you and so um that's really um my whole MO is about giving back to humanity and as corny and cheesy it might sound it's really it's it's connected to gratitude because giving back feeling grateful just fuels me to keep going right in this crazy world so 

Wendy Cohen

so beautiful it's so beautiful you are you are truly a beautiful soul Rebecca and so honored to have you in my life and in our family our Powerhouse family and I always end

00:16:12 our podcast with just a couple quick questions and they're deep so I'll give you a second to answer but um I guess the one I want to ask Rebecca is especially um now after today's conversation is if you were to go back to your earlier the the little Rebecca when you were young younger what would you tell her if now that you know what you know 

Rebecca Pogonitz

um I would tell her that she is lovable that no matter what and she can achieve whatever she wants to achieve and live and I I do think I lived this way that's why I I have the

00:16:56 blessings I have now but um I the whole concept of believe in yourself that's a really hard concept you know what I mean 

Wendy Cohen

oh yeah 

Rebecca Pogonitz

but don't give up on yourself just keep searching and the light will appear 

Wendy Cohen

my gosh I got tears in my eyes that's so wonderful and so the last thing um last question is what is your definition of love 

Rebecca Pogonitz

oh wow that's really cool Wendy 

Wendy Cohen

yeah 

Rebecca Pogonitz

the first thing that comes to mind is light and this sort of Cocoon of infinite reassurance that everything's going to be okay and you are always protected and that's

00:17:54 a really deep question Wendy I'd like to hear your answer um I consider love a safety zone I consider love a place I focus on in times of need and uh Love Is God I I'm I have a very strong relationship with God that might turn people off I don't know but love is whatever you believe in love is at our fingertips all the time it doesn't necessarily have to be you know what I'm saying 

Wendy Cohen

absolutely 

Rebecca Pogonitz

there's endless supply endless supply so um that's not really a certain definition how do you define love 

Wendy Cohen

no that is there's a perfect

00:18:40 definition so in my mind everything is love that is why we're here we we are an essence of love and we are an essence of God and the Divinity and we are light beings and you were just so perfectly articulate you said it exact we

Rebecca Pogonitz

 agree we said almost the same thing 

Wendy Cohen

I know in our own words well my soul sister this has been so much fun thank you for honoring me and being on our podcast this episode is going to just Enlighten so many people and if you're thinking about um doing an interior design project residential or

00:19:14 or Hospitality or even like commercial Rebecca Pogonitz GoGo Design Group highly recommended just check out her pictures and and her experience and design a space that has health and well-being where you walk in and you just go ah it's like a hug 

Rebecca Pogonitz

exactly and Wendy this has been such an honor and I really don't have opportunity to sit down and talk with you so this was very very special so thank you very much 

Wendy Cohen

thank you I love you so much

Rebecca Pogonitz

 you too 

okay bye