Episode 47 - The Psychology of Home: Curiosity, Reinvention & Designing for Real Life with Emily Flaxman

Your Home Is the Backdrop to Your Life

What if the twists and turns in your career aren't detours at all, but exactly what prepares you for what's next?

On Episode 47 of the PowerHouse Cool Collabs Podcast, Wendy Cohen sits down with Emily Flaxman, Founder of Flax Interiors, for a conversation about curiosity, reinvention, entrepreneurship and the psychology behind great design.

Emily's path to interior design was anything but linear. She studied psychology, worked in sports television, entered the world of high-end residential design, moved into e-commerce and branding, earned her MBA from NYU Stern, worked in retail marketing at Levi's, and ultimately brought all of those experiences together when she launched Flax Interiors in 2020.

Her philosophy? We don't leave our past experiences behind when we pivot. We bring them with us.

Emily and Wendy explore how psychology influences not only the spaces Emily creates, but the entire client experience, from understanding how someone wants to feel in a room to guiding families through the very real stress of construction.

And perhaps the biggest takeaway: our homes aren't museums. They're meant to be lived in.

They are the backdrop to our lives, our photographs, our relationships and our memories—and great design should evolve right along with us.

You'll hear about:

• Why starting over doesn't mean starting from zero

• How curiosity became one of Emily's greatest entrepreneurial strengths

• The connection between psychology and interior design

• Why understanding the client is as important as understanding the space

• Creating homes around how people want to feel and live

• Guiding clients through the emotional side of construction

• Why collaboration and community are central to Emily's next chapter

It's a conversation about design, but even more, it's about people, growth, connection and having the courage to keep exploring what's next.