AnnaCosta Ep 20

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Serena Reynolds: [00:00:00] Hi, welcome to Fearless and Flawed. I’m Serena Reynolds. 

Sara Ferrer: And I am Sara Ferrer. And today we have with us Anna Costa. Anna is the owner of ID Inc, an interior design firm that emphasizes the psychology of space. 

Serena Reynolds: Okay, so Anna, you have, you have an incredible business. With interior design with a difference, would you like to explain to us exactly how that works and what makes you different?

Anna Costa: When we think about interior design, we think about these beautiful spaces and, ~uh,~ magazines that we, or on Facebook, like, Oh my God, I wish I could live there. And in reality, it’s not really how we, Live, right? If I, if, if you zoom away from that picture for one second, you’ll see messes everywhere. You’ll see a lot happening, and there’s kids, and there is, ~uh,~ dogs, and there’s God knows what else, and, ~uh,~ maybe there’s [00:01:00] burned spots everywhere.

Anna Costa: You just see this one perfect which is not real. And it always bothered me because, you know, as a mother of three, as, uh, we have a busy lifestyle and we run around and, you know, life is not perfect. Life is crazy. And what space supposed to do for you. It’s supposed to work for you. It’s supposed to give you the ability to live your life best possible way.

Anna Costa: It’s supposed to help you be able to close those doors with all of the garbage, all the kids to all the things that we don’t want to see. And then feel calm and relaxed. And so I think one of the problems was that you couldn’t really understand. You couldn’t see the human life in Actual design. Yes. I love a beautiful chandelier.

Anna Costa: Yes. I would love this incredible white couch, which I will not have because I have three children that [00:02:00] like to eat and watch TV in the same time. So there’ll be spills. They’ll be life. And so how do you adjust to that? How do you create space that meant for you that allows you also to live your life and your best abilities.

Anna Costa: And so I think that’s where the psychology comes into place, but more so. When I started really researching the background of psychology, it’s really about our senses and how our physical and emotional response to our surroundings and kind of go back to caveman time. And we think about color and how what it makes us feel, right?

Anna Costa: Like Talk about red. Red is a really powerful color that we pay attention to right away, right? And it’s why? Because it’s the color of blood. It’s a color of fire. It’s something that we danger, that we have to pay attention right away. So it doesn’t matter what’s in the room, but if I put one thing that’s [00:03:00] red, that’s what our eyes are going to go to.

Anna Costa: And the same way as colors, blues and greens are really calming, relaxing. It’s because We were looking for that to survive, right? We need water. We need lush green grass to be able to grow our crops, to be able to have animals to feed our crops, you know, all of that matters. So when we see that. That makes us happy biologically through many, many thousands of years, we still have responses to those to those colors and to that environment.

Anna Costa: And so when you realize that there is a connection, a physical emotional connection to your surroundings, and our senses are a form of a response to how we’re supposed to live and how we’re supposed to survive in this environment that we’re in, it allows us to determine And how to create a space that’s truly going to make us feel the way we want to feel on that.[00:04:00] 

Sara Ferrer: I have to ask, when did you have this revelation? I have to imagine you weren’t just born with this. 

Anna Costa: I had a really interesting time in my master’s program. I was getting it in organizational behavior, psychology, HR, you know, stuff like that. And I was going to work in a big corporation working as a human resources.

Anna Costa: And that was my goal, right? Getting my master’s and. While working there, while going for my master’s, I also worked at the university and it was a beautiful campus, really old, really beautiful with old buildings. And I had to work in order to get my master’s at 90 percent off for me and my husband, both of us went to get our masters to save some money.

Anna Costa: I worked and. I worked as an office manager and they put me in this, I guess, a table in the center of four different departments and the people would walk behind me, people walk in front of me. There will be constantly [00:05:00] questions, fluorescent light right above my head. You can imagine there is no time for yourself for that time period.

Serena Reynolds: But how did that make you feel being in that environment? 

Anna Costa: Oh my gosh. I did not realize this from the beginning because I don’t get it. An emotional response a lot of times too, like I don’t notice If I’m anxious or depressed right away, right? So I didn’t realize that this is how I was feeling. But over time, I’m like, Oh, I feel shitty.

Anna Costa: I feel crappy in this environment. Like I can’t, I feel like I’m in jail of some, some kind, you know, there’s no natural light. There’s people everywhere that all around you can’t have any moment to yourself. And, and I think all of that kind of culminated to, I hate my job. And that’s why I came up with it.

Anna Costa: I can’t be here anymore. It makes me feel so angry to be here, so upset to be here. And then when I sat back and I realized what it is that I hate about it, it’s these [00:06:00] elements of my surroundings. It’s not the people. It’s not the actual job. I didn’t care, but I didn’t mind it. I actually enjoy talking to professors.

Anna Costa: I love cooperating and learning about new, ~um,~ research that comes out. But the concept of not having that personal space or just having the ability to Take a breath of fresh air or see natural light affected me physically so much that I went to my advisor and I said, listen, I have an idea. I think I need to pivot within a year in.

Anna Costa: I’m like, ~um,~ there is something else here at play and I think I know what it is and I need to do research about it and I need to learn about it. So I am pivoting. I’m still getting my organizational behavior, but I want to pivot. I started doing a lot of research about. design and about spaces and how they affected us and psychologically and how does, uh, employees get affected in a work environment.

Serena Reynolds: Sorry, I just [00:07:00] have to re ask. So what were you studying at, at college? 

Anna Costa: I was getting my master’s in organizational behavior. 

Serena Reynolds: Okay, because I thought psychology for some reason. I had it in my head. It was psychology. 

Anna Costa: It’s a form of psychology. It teaches you how to be a great leader, how to understand your employees, how to help them be, ~uh,~ the best version of themselves for more productivity and creativity.

Anna Costa: All of that is organizational behavior. 

Serena Reynolds: And then you went into interior design, you pivoted into interior design. 

Anna Costa: I kind of, I stayed with organizational behavior, but I introduced the concept of interior design and how to create a space for employees to feel more productive, more creative. How do you, how can you adjust your, uh, space, physical space to allow for a better environment for employees, how to allow your employees to feel at ease, or if they’re working [00:08:00] as a team.

Anna Costa: accountants, how do you give them the ability to focus in on these numbers? Or if you need them to collaborate and come up with some new designs, how do you create that environment naturally so that people can come together and communicate with each other? 

Serena Reynolds: So are you still working at the college at this point?

Serena Reynolds: Yeah. Yeah. So did you rearrange your Office, 

Anna Costa: I could not do a lot of that because I think I would, uh, they would not be so happy. So I was able to adjust certain things that allowed me to get a different type of lighting. And, ~um,~ I had to stay in the middle. I, I was in the middle of four different departments, so that was not gonna change, but it allowed me to really hone in on the research and understanding and development.

Anna Costa: And so once. Once I did my dissertation, but I wrote all my research down and I graduated with organizational behavior. My take was, I’m going to go into work for HR or I’m going to work for a [00:09:00] company that specializes in this field of how do we design spaces for creative, for productive, to promote corporate culture in an environment, an office environment.

Anna Costa: So that was That was my goal and that’s what I went with. I also have a background in design for my bachelor degree because I, I didn’t know if I want to go into psychology or I wanted to go into design. So I decided to get both and, uh, maybe go into child psychology using art therapy. 

Serena Reynolds: But I feel as though your story is really complex.

Serena Reynolds: Should we go right back to the beginning? And where did this all start? Where, where was it that, that kind of grew the Anna that we know today? 

Anna Costa: Yes, that’s an interesting question. I’ve been, ~um~ All over the world. I lived, ~um,~ in different places, moved around 18 times. I counted. And so I started my life in St.

Anna Costa: Petersburg, [00:10:00] Russia, which I thought was the most beautiful place on earth because it was designed to be a. A capital of Russia, and it was designed to be this, ~um,~ European architectural with beautiful castles, winter castles, summer castles, beautiful beauty everywhere. And, ~um,~ I grew up in a one room apartment, which means is you actually live in a room that belong, that has, that is an apartment.

Anna Costa: There are other families. owned other rooms and you shared a kitchen and one bathroom. And so it’s called Kompaktno, which means that you kind of compact in one space. And, um, but I got to live in the center of St. Petersburg and surrounded by beautiful architecture and beautiful life. And that was part of my upbringing.

Anna Costa: That was part of the culture itself. [00:11:00] The Ballets, the museums, the music, everything was kind of embedded in you, into your soul, I guess. 

Serena Reynolds: How old were you? I was, I lived in Russia until I was nine years old. So, so you had this upbringing of culture and richness and beauty and architecture and it’s obviously had an impact on you.

Serena Reynolds: I can tell that from your passion when you talk about it. So then what? 

Anna Costa: And I’m nine years old. And as a Russian Jew, we the times were not great. There were a lot of discriminations. ~Um,~ and my parents did not see a way for us to stay in Russia and thrive in the environment. And so we decided to move and to leave this beautiful country Spots that we love that.

Anna Costa: I love. We moved to Israel, which was completely the complete change of what it really is that you can imagine. My original [00:12:00] life was architecture, European, and this is completely different. This is open, open fields and not fields. I can’t call it fields. It’s a, um, the environment becomes. It’s a combination of this old thousands and thousands of years old spaces with really brand new state structures.

Anna Costa: And so you’re kind of in between. You’re walking on the on a street that thousand years old. Somebody else walked in. But in the same time, you go into a building that was built maybe 20 years ago, and it’s all sustainable. The resource and scarce and water, uh, electricity, you are not, you’re working with what you have.

Anna Costa: And so the environment completely different, completely changed. 

Sara Ferrer: It sounds like Anna, it sounds like in, in Russia and in Israel, you, and correct me if I’m wrong. It sounds like in, you [00:13:00] know, in St. Petersburg, you have all this architecture and all this amazing European art inspiration, yet you’re in this one bedroom.

Sara Ferrer: That sounds just very limited. Now you’re in Israel and you’re, like you said, you’re, you have the surroundings that are thousands of years old, but, but there’s no real connection to the space in terms of maybe the beauty that you’re used to, or the, the, the authenticity or the history. Did you feel at the time, like you didn’t have a space?

Sara Ferrer: that you fit in? Like, what did that feel like to you as a young person? 

Anna Costa: I think that I never thought that I had a space. We’ve moved around so many times in my life that every time I had a space, it was shared with many people, even in Israel. You know, I lived with my grandparents and my parents and my brother, and it was, it was very small constantly.

Anna Costa: And the other thing I felt like there was no, I could not [00:14:00] decorate it. I could not make it my own in any sense of the way. We had, we couldn’t put it on, we couldn’t put anything on the walls because And, and we may move when we change space again, we can, we don’t, we didn’t have the permanent space and the feeling of me being here.

Anna Costa: This is me. This is my space. And I think that, that thought in my mind always been like what I would love. My own space, I would love to feel like this is mine and to represent myself. And I never had, which as a child, maybe not a big deal, but, um, it allowed me to play with what is else’s outside and learn.

Anna Costa: ~Uh,~ about my surroundings in a different and in a different way. 

Sara Ferrer: It sounds just like this is, the impact of having limited space, not being able to decorate it and now you decorate spaces is not lost on me. And then you’re, then you’re at college or you’re, you’re studying and you’re in this crazy [00:15:00] office with this horrible lighting.

Sara Ferrer: Like, again, I don’t think it’s ironic that this is, you know, the industry you choose to be in, right? Based on your, your limited resources as a young person. 

Anna Costa: Yeah, I feel like it, it was, it’s very much the case. I, I’ve always wanted to be able to do, have my own space. And that’s something that I’ve never had.

Anna Costa: And so I paid attention to it. I had to pay attention to it. I had to think about it. I’m like, all right, why am I feeling this way? Why is it people feel this way? And then you would walk into somebody’s house and you’re like, Oh, wow. I understand who lives here. I understand this person’s space because it’s theirs and because I moved so much in my life, my belongings were not, I didn’t have a lot of belongings.

Anna Costa: I need to know exactly what I have. So you’re moving with a box or two, right? So what do you, what do you have that, that moves along with you? And so I, that grounding, that roots. I never, I never [00:16:00] experienced it. And so, ~um,~ I think that would, that made me think about it even more. 

Serena Reynolds: So you said you, you lived in 18 different places.

Serena Reynolds: So obviously we, we don’t have time. We’d love to hear about every single one of them, but which one, which one had the most impact on you? What’s, what’s your, what’s your memories of growing up? What’s apart from obviously St. Petersburg and? What else has shaped who you are? 

Anna Costa: Each experience definitely shapes a little bit and changes you.

Anna Costa: You learn something and I truly believe that. You know, when I talk to new people, I do feel like I am learning more about the world. I’m learning more about my surroundings and I become better for it. So I love communicating and that’s maybe part of me moving around so much and have to make so many new friends every time I move.

Anna Costa: ~Um,~ but also I think, Every space makes a difference, but I think what really, [00:17:00] uh, shaped who I am, uh, as a designer and as a, ~um,~ as a person, I think that definitely the early years of Russia to understand architecture, what really beauty means, ~uh,~ what hard work put in and it stayed in this architectural elements, you know, and you walk in hundreds of years later, it’s still there.

Anna Costa: It’s still looking. Oh, and it’s still impacting someone else. So how spaces impact others and not just that that moment but hundreds of years later. I’m not assuming that my designs are going to be there hundreds of years later, but I’m very much aware how my how what I come up with is a design will affect the person that’s going to be in that space on a daily basis.

Serena Reynolds: So what is it that you are trying to give to, to somebody and how do you reach to that con? How do you get to that conclusion? How [00:18:00] do you know what’s right for individuals? So you work in corporate, don’t you? Predominantly. Is that true? 

Anna Costa: Uh, not only corporate. I, I think pre covid that was corporate . I think with Covid it changed, and I think what Covid did for me, it allowed people to understand exactly what is it that I’m talking about.

Anna Costa: And, ~uh,~ if before I would give a really good example and that’s my go to example all the time and let’s think about it. Let’s go through our thought experiment. I think that’s a great moment to talk about it. And, ~um,~ imagine you’re going to a dentist office. And we are walking into the room and we see gray walls, maybe a little cream white.

Anna Costa: You smell chlorine because they cleaned up the whole test base and getting ready for you. There’s bright lights into your eyes, right? You have the sounds of the machine about to go in and you have an emotional reaction to that. You may not be so calm and [00:19:00] excited for, to open your mouth because of your surrounding, what you’re expecting to happen.

Anna Costa: And then Thinking about this, now we’re going to switch into a different environment. We’re going to think about luxurious spa, and we’re going to walk through the luxurious spa, and we’re going to imagine the color scheme, which is probably going to be natural woods, a little bit blues, maybe greens, maybe purples, very calm, very relaxed, right?

Anna Costa: We, the light is dimmed. We can hear the sound of water, maybe tripping. We smell lavender, you know, so much more relaxed now than you were before, right? 

Sara Ferrer: You got me super relia just, I feel like I was in like a 30 second meditation. I don’t know, you just started saying, when you said the dripping of water, I was like, yes, I now want to take a nap.

Sara Ferrer: Not, not because, because it was so soothing, the environment you just created, but there, there was such a change. Such a change. And so that’s such a change. 

Anna Costa: Yeah. And so it’s a great way to understand how we emotionally [00:20:00] think just by feel just by thinking about the space that we’re in. So, which is very liberating because we can then be in charge of what we want to accomplish.

Anna Costa: Well, how we want to feel, how do we want to function in the space? 

Sara Ferrer: So, so I have to, I have to ask because I’m a very literal person. And so when I hear psychology and space, and I’m sure there’s a lot of. education that has to go with the client, whether it’s a personal client, like a client that’s redesigning their house or a corporate client.

Sara Ferrer: Like if I were to come to you and you go, well, what do you want? I go, I don’t freaking know. So like, what’s the process of taking all of your education, your experience, your natural talent, and then taking what’s Sarah might want in her living room and making it a reality. Do you go in and just, you know, wave your magical wand about what Anna thinks would look best?

Sara Ferrer: What’s the process of getting the best space psychologically for whoever you’re dealing with? Is [00:21:00] it like just, Hey, I’m going to email you a, you know, a 10 questions form, or do you have to spend time with these people to know what their energy is? 

Anna Costa: I do have to speak to people and I talk to you. And so if you come to me and you say, you know, my living room does not work.

Anna Costa: I don’t like it. I don’t know. The colors are off or something, and I need to adjust. Can you help me with it? So that’s probably. The surface element of your problem. Your real problem is a lot more deeper than this, right? Let’s talk about why doesn’t that work? Are you can you not see your kids when you’re I don’t know in the kitchen Can you not?

Anna Costa: Sit down as a family to relax and afterwards. Does it not feel comfortable for you to enjoy a book? What is it that part of your life? That doesn’t work for you in the space. Why the space doesn’t work for you in your life? What is it you want as a as an individual for this to be [00:22:00] right? Is it family space?

Anna Costa: Is it your space Sara? Oh, do you want to relax? Do you want to work in there? What is it that you require and let’s work on first of all fund the functionality of it and let’s then Let’s, um, bring in Sara’s design aesthetic to find out what is your background? What is it that you, uh, why do you like these colors?

Anna Costa: Right? I’m not gonna. Okay. 

Serena Reynolds: Sara wants to paint every wall red. What do you say? Yeah, what do we say? Because this is good. He says to you, I want a really calm family environment. I want to settle down with my hubby over the evening and share a meal and a glass of wine. And I love red. I want everything red.

Serena Reynolds: What do you say?

Anna Costa: What red really means, and how can we add the colors into the space that maybe not bright red, maybe it’s [00:23:00] more deeper brown, burgundy, maybe comes as a of pillows, or maybe comes as a form of wallpaper behind a TV. What is it that, how can we add your color into the space without making it Work against it.

Sara Ferrer: Very diplomatic, very, very diplomatic. Like you just made me love that burnt red terracotta wallpaper that you sold me on when I wanted like bright fire engine red, as you see how she just did, that’s an art right there. What she just did. 

Anna Costa: I, you know, I’ve had many, many different clients with kind. Similar interests and that, you know, and you have to find a way to make this work for you because in the end, it’s not my space.

Anna Costa: It’s not my design. It is your space and it’s works have to work for you. So what I’m doing is bringing my knowledge base and I’m bringing my thought, my understanding of what it is that you [00:24:00] are looking to do. And we’re working together. I’m not, I’m not going to come back and say, I know what you need. I know what you’re going to do and you’re going to love it.

Anna Costa: In reality, you have to love it. And reality, your family has to love it. I had a client. Long time ago. ~Um,~ she came in and she asked me to come in and she says, you know what? There’s a problem with my dining room, living room. I, the kids eat in the front of the TV and we’re just not, you know, I want us as a family.

Anna Costa: I just don’t know. Something’s not working. And maybe the color scheme, maybe I need a new chandelier. And um, I said, well, let’s take a look at your dining room. Why, why are you not using dining room as a dining room? ~Um,~ and it ends up that, all of the toy storage was in the dining room. And so who’s going to come in and sit down and have dinner at, uh, in the dining area where there’s filled with kids, uh, art projects and toys everywhere.

Anna Costa: It’s, it’s not an environment that allows. Family to get together. And [00:25:00] so part of the designer study and design that we did was not just Creating a space for them to eat dinner together, but rather Moving around how does the whole function of the first floor works? Where do the kids play how much time you want them to spend in front of TV?

Anna Costa: How do you want them to function and so you we really? Go back and forth. And really, I learn about the individual family and how they go throughout the day, what they do and how do they want it. And where is, where is the lack? Where is the problem? What is, what are you missing? And what is it you want to do?

Anna Costa: And so when we design a space, we’re designing for what you want to, how you want to live and what you want to do, versus 

Serena Reynolds: not necessarily what it is that they say that they want. From a design. So you’re, you’re building a strategic answer to their, to their problems inside their infrastructure, which with which they [00:26:00] live.

Serena Reynolds: That’s a really complex way. I can’t believe I said that. Like, 

Sara Ferrer: No, you said it good, but is that like super challenging Anna? Like, I’m, it sounds great to me, but like, what’s your biggest challenge in this industry? Just in general, is it dealing with people? Is it figuring out the right design? Is it creating a whole plan and then someone like going, Wait, by the way, I fucking hate red.

Sara Ferrer: I like blue instead. After you’ve done all the, can you speak to some of the challenges of this in general? 

Serena Reynolds: Or is your biggest problem people understanding the value of what you’re bringing in your design. I mean, I’m sure you have lots of clients that come to you and say, Oh, I don’t like the interior. I don’t like my sofa.

Serena Reynolds: I don’t like my wall color. Can you do something with it? And really that’s not what you’re offering. You’re offering more of holistic solution, facial problems. 

Anna Costa: Yeah, I think the, I think the problem, ~um,~ and I don’t so much want to call it a problem. The challenges really [00:27:00] come through being on the same wavelength, right?

Anna Costa: You mentioned understanding, there is an introduction that I have to make and I have to be careful about how I, how I talk about it. Because you don’t want to sound like you’re in a completely different form, what they’re looking to do. In reality, my clients at the end, they want to have a functioning, beautiful spaces.

Anna Costa: That’s the bottom line. How do I achieve that is, is my own process. So I sit down and we’ll talk about what it is that they want to do. And But by questioning them by understanding their background by, ~um,~ analyzing what it is that they’re thinking about and what they want. I can then come up with an idea of like, All right, well, how about this?

Anna Costa: What if we create this? And how does that make? How does that feel for you? And it’s going back and forth. It’s a partnership. So I guess if you have a good partner, if people understand and trust [00:28:00] in the fact that it’s a partnership. I know what I’m doing as a professional, and then I have their best intentions at heart.

Anna Costa: And think, once you have that together, the design is beautiful, no matter what. Really love the final result, and I don’t want to, uh, say anything buff, but I, I, I love making people happy and making them feel, uh, like they have now have a new life in their space. 

Sara Ferrer: It sounds like a very word of mouth. Type of industry.

Sara Ferrer: Because like, if I love my space, I’m going to tell 10 people about it. Is that how you find most people through word of mouth? Or like, how does someone find you? 

Anna Costa: Yeah, I think that’s that’s exactly right. It’s word of mouth right now. And I was I’m lucky enough to be able to do what I do and not invest in marketing.

Anna Costa: Although I know I have to as a professional, I you know, as a business owner, you have many hats. And marketing is definitely one of [00:29:00] them. But I’ve been fortunate enough that I don’t have to kind of advertise myself. But and also People that come to me because they understand what it is that I do. It’s just, it, it’s that one extra step that I don’t have to kind of showcase, um, expertise or because they’ve seen my work already, they have, they understand what it is that, that I can do.

Anna Costa: And so they come to me already kind of ready to embark on this journey with me. 

Sara Ferrer: It is a partnership of almost like. You know, it’s not a one and done deal. It’s here’s what I think. Do you like this? Okay, what would you change here? And, and it’s also, can I just say, you led in the beginning with something that I thought was very powerful, the idea that There’s the Instagram look that we all want.

Sara Ferrer: And someone like me, when I hear interior design and psychology and the beautiful spa, we all want that. We all want the trickling water and the [00:30:00] white couches. But then I think a lot of us feel like, Oh, that’s not realistic. That can’t be. You know, I’m a working mother or, Oh, you know, I, I got kids who love to eat in front of the TV guy, you know, or, you know, what, the storage area is the corner of the freaking living room.

Sara Ferrer: So I feel like a lot of people kind of count themselves, count themselves out of being somebody who could have a quote unquote, calm, tranquil space because they don’t see their life as calm or tranquil. So I, when you’re explaining this, I’m, I’m almost fighting inside with the idea of like. Is this possible for the average Joe to have this space while also having chaos in the background?

Anna Costa: I think it’s part of life. You have to be able to come up with, you have to have a space for yourself and you have to have a space for your family and you have to have a space that ideally to have a space that allows you to rejuvenate because your home is a place that you’ll be, you should be able to come and feel at [00:31:00] peace, right?

Anna Costa: Outside the fact that you have tons of, you have kids and dogs and life and, and business and all of that, you know, we all experience it. No one is perfect. Kim Kardashian has a beautiful home, but she has how many people helping her out to keep that house clean? And how many, 

Serena Reynolds: and how many rooms don’t we see?

Anna Costa: Exactly. I think this one navigation that really is a camera lens. You don’t see real life, and I think real life is important, and a space should help you live your best life. It shouldn’t make you feel like, oh, I have all this stuff. Over here, and I have kids over here, and I just don’t know where I am at.

Serena Reynolds: I’m so inadequate as a mother. I can’t keep the house tidy. All my dining room table’s full of washing. What do I do? You make a space for washing. 

Anna Costa: Yeah, exactly. It’s, it’s life, right? So how do we create a space that helps us [00:32:00] with the, all this, all this life to allow us to kind of, to declutter, or to declutter our mind and really come to a full family peace.

Anna Costa: Right. What can we affect? How can I adjust in order to create that space that allows me to feel at peace? 

Serena Reynolds: So what is the common problems? A couple examples that people come to you and like, I don’t know how to deal with this problem in my house or, and how do you, how do you come to a resolution? How do you, what would you?

Serena Reynolds: What tips would you give to somebody that’s struggling with, with their space at the moment that aren’t in Boston, for example? 

Anna Costa: I think all of us have, have such busy lives. It doesn’t matter where you work, what you do, we all have busy lives. We have real, we have, it doesn’t stop. It doesn’t stop when we get home.

Anna Costa: It doesn’t stop when we get it back. So I would say the easiest thing you can do. It’s a declutter. [00:33:00] I think decluttering is a really easy, fast way to allow your brain to calm down because what happens in our brain when we have lots of clutter is that we cannot concentrate on one thing. We have so many little things that we’re paying attention to that concentrating on one element and calming down is really hard.

Anna Costa: So the quick, easy thing to do, let’s declutter certain things. Then our mind loves, absolutely loves symmetry. So if we want to find a focal point in our living room or dining room and create symmetry of Items, maybe one side has two the other side has two and something in the middle So you count by threes fives or sevens?

Anna Costa: Meaning that there’s something in the center and then two things on both sides and our mind comes down We love that as a So there’s certain things that we can work on to allow us to kind of right away create more of a [00:34:00] calming space. Another thing I would say is that bringing your history into space, for instance, trip you’ve taken, you brought in pictures, let’s frame them up, like make a beautiful picture from the, from your favorite holiday that you’ve taken, or it’s at your mom’s throat that you, that was passed down from generations.

Anna Costa: Let’s put that on display. Anything that we can bring in that makes us feel like we, it’s us, it’s our space. That also brings, brings calm to and relaxation to us. 

Sara Ferrer: What about lighting? What about lighting, Anna? I always wonder, because like, do we do candlelight lighting? I don’t know. Is that soft? But I can’t freaking breathe with the candlelight.

Sara Ferrer: Do we do the, do we buy the fake candles that, that, you know, so you don’t burn down the house? Because everyone’s always like, soft lighting. Well, what are, what if we’re all stuck in houses with like bad lighting? How can we adjust it without tearing out the lighting system? 

Anna Costa: So the thing I would [00:35:00] say is that with lighting, you want to layer the lights, right?

Anna Costa: So layering means something in the ceiling, something on the wall, a wall level and something, but on the, on the table. So creating a layered effect create in a more calm, more relaxed environment. So you’re talking about candlelight, candlelights, more yellow lights. It’s great for dining areas for maybe when you want to relax in the living room.

Anna Costa: More natural light, more like I have a window right over here and the light and it’s natural light, natural sunlight and it’s warm and it’s relaxing and gives us energy, right? So depends on type of light with what we trying to accomplish, depends the type of light we want to put in, right? And is it, I want to have candlelight dinner or do I want to feel energized to work on my business?

Anna Costa: So it really depends again on the intention of what we’re trying to do. 

Sara Ferrer: That makes perfect sense. I am guilty of like, Oh, I read candlelight is [00:36:00] like soft and it’s good for calming down, but then I’ll also take out my novel and try to read under it like, like in candlelight. And then it’s like, what am I doing now?

Sara Ferrer: I’m just straining my eyes and frustrated, which is totally counterintuitive to like soft, relaxing setting. So what I’m hearing is. It’s okay also to have different spaces that have different functions, even all it can be the same space that you turn off the lights to candlelight to wind down. And that same space might have a beautiful big window that you don’t necessarily shield with you know blackout shades in the morning, do we get these Instagram tips right and it’s like, or back in the day used to be like the cosmopolitan tips you know the, the, the girly magazines it’s like what is Cosmo say.

Sara Ferrer: And it’s like, at some point, you have to put it into context. And then what I end up doing, the irony is that, candlelight with a, with a book. And then the irony is, then I go to bed and turn on my iPhone and read. That’s always the irony too, is like, we are, this is called fearless and flawed for a reason.[00:37:00] 

Sara Ferrer: Right? And so we need people like Anna. To guide us and steer us in the like, you are human. It’s okay to be flawed. It’s okay to be quote unquote messy, but let’s try to do small things like the clutter, let’s try to do small things like, you know, like layering the light or, Hey, grandma’s throw blanket.

Sara Ferrer: That just brings nostalgia to you. Put that front and center. 

Serena Reynolds: Putting things in frames on walls. That’s three massive tips there. That we could have just skated straight over. And threes. I love, Sara probably giggled a little bit to herself there. I’m constantly like, no I don’t like even numbers. It’s got to be an odd.

Serena Reynolds: Odd works, evens does not. So threes, sevens, fives, perfect. You can do anything with that combination. 

Anna Costa: I think it’s, you know, I think there’s so much psychology and design and into what we’re [00:38:00] doing on a daily basis of what I really talk about. And I really want to emphasize this. The is that we can design our life.

Anna Costa: We can design our future. We can design who we want to be by just creating a different surrounding for ourselves by being intentional about what is it that we want. How do we want to live and let’s create a space that gives us the subconscious kind of push to be the person that we want to be. So let’s do a place for who you want to be.

Sara Ferrer: That is so good. If you could, knowing what we know now, knowing your entire journey, you’ve enlightened us on really this fascinating journey of the moving, the little girl who never really had a space. If you could at this point in your life, knowing that now you have this amazing design company, you’ve taken psychology and you’ve made it part of your, your design aesthetic.

Sara Ferrer: If you could talk to that five year old girl, she’s in St. Petersburg. She’s in that one bedroom or excuse me, that, that, that [00:39:00] one room apartment. She doesn’t know what the future looks like. She’s so desperate to want her own space, but can’t get it. What are you telling her, knowing what you know now? 

Anna Costa: I would tell her that life is a journey, and that things move in ways that you could never imagine.

Anna Costa: And you learn as you go, and learn taking everything and anything, because that will make You a better person. And I think that part of my journey, and I think part of what I always want to do, and I, I’m going to credit Oprah Winfrey for this. I heard her speak in a, in a conference. And I think she was a pivotal moment from, for me for, to, to start this business, to get into what I’m doing.

Anna Costa: And I think what she said, ~uh,~ really resonated with me. And what she said was that we all have. a tool sets that we are bored by, that we know what we’re good at. Each and every [00:40:00] [00:41:00] [00:42:00] one of us have things that we’re really good at. And if we use those tool sets to help others, that our path [00:43:00] will open in front of us and it will give us this things that you cannot even imagine.

Anna Costa: And for me, I think that’s where I’m like, Oh my God. I have never knew what my toolbox was. I knew that I couldn’t, I couldn’t figure out how I was. I am a designer. I have all this psychology, uh, education, and I’m really passionate about both. And how do you combine that? And then doing that talk, she’s like, yes, I’m like, yes, this is it.

Anna Costa: This is what I have to do. I have to help others using this, these elements. And this is my toolbox. She really, I think she gave me. The, um, the insight to start. And so knowing my toolboxes and developing them and at the best capacity, if that’s why I would tell my child or my, myself, work on your toolbox.

Sara Ferrer: Right. Right. And, and, and for so many of us who, [00:44:00] you know, myself included, and I’m sure many people listening, sometimes we think. You know, what do I want to be good at? And we focus on one thing, right? Marketing, design, instead of saying, well, what are those like soft skills? Or what are those natural skills, right?

Sara Ferrer: Or just experience that you bring to the table. You, your journey of what 18 countries, 16 countries in that comes experience and life. So really what I’m hearing is leaning into that as opposed to thinking that’s something to lead aside, bring it to the table, right? 

Anna Costa: Yeah, absolutely. You are what your experiences are.

Anna Costa: So be strong, get yourself and really understand them and be them. Embrace it. All of that will create a really good path for you. And I think 

Serena Reynolds: that makes up your USP. And so interior designer sounds to me as though that’s like a label that, that only half touches on, on what you do. It kind of [00:45:00] barely touches the surface.

Serena Reynolds: What you do is you create lifestyles for people that work. Interior design is just a label to put you in a bucket so you know where you fit in, but ultimately that’s not what you do. That is just the tool you use to give your gift to, to other people. 

Anna Costa: And that’s, that’s the, the issue with what is it? How do I describe myself?

Anna Costa: And I think that flaws and things that I need to work on, and that’s probably finding that moment, what it is that I, how do I describe myself? To others, they understand what it is that I do. And so that becomes, ~uh,~ one of the things that I, I talk about. And it’s, it’s actually really fun. It’s, it starts a conversation.

Anna Costa: And I get to educate other people about what it is that design and psychology have in common. And so that’s on, has a benefit on its own. But yeah, I wish I had, I wish there was a [00:46:00] name for it. I’ll find it. Maybe it’s the Anna Costa 

Sara Ferrer: formula. The Anna Costa method. Yes. Where do people get to see your amazing, like we have listeners who are like, okay, I, I’m, I’m, I’m liking what she’s saying, but like, I’m very visual.

Sara Ferrer: Where can people see your before and afters, your designs, your aesthetic, or your, your ability, your portfolio, if you will. Is it, do they have to email you? Is there a social media page they should be following? 

Anna Costa: Yeah, there. So my website, AnnaCosta. com, A N Y A Costa. com or, um, my Instagram, which is Anna.

Anna Costa: Costa. id, 

Serena Reynolds: which we both have on fearlessandflawed. com to make it easy for people to find you. 

Sara Ferrer: And also I just want to point out. Again, like you are just in the coziest little nook on this, on this, um, zoom call, like, I always think it’s really interesting. You know, if you go to a hairstylist, you always kind of like, you want their hair to be nice.

Sara Ferrer: You go to a makeup [00:47:00] artist, you want their makeup to be nice. Your background is just giving me all the cozy vibes in the world. So like, I inherently trust you just based on the interior designer who creates spaces of coziness of warmth. Like if you’re listening, her background is real. It’s not one of these fake backgrounds that Serena and I like to use no shade to that, but I’m like, wherever you are, Anna, I want to be every day, natural light fireplace.

Sara Ferrer: So you are your best, you know, business card right now with this look. 

Anna Costa: Thank you. I can, I just, I’ll actually bring this all in circle back to where, and that it doesn’t, um, I started living in a one room with my family, with my brother and my parents, and. I will say that I’m in my bedroom right now and I’m living in a space that is maybe 10 to 15 times bigger than it is now than I started with.

Anna Costa: I see [00:48:00] how growth, how helping others, how doing what you do best really helps you get to where you go and I have no idea where I’m going. I am imagining that wherever life will take me, I am going to go with an open mind and I’m going to get there. But to say that I have a, um, a cozy spot in my bedroom and actually I’m sitting in my closet.

Sara Ferrer: That’s your closet. Oh, holy hell. Send me the invite. I’ll be over ASAP. Oh my god! She’s literally next to a fireplace. Cozy little, like, oversized chair with like a brick wall. And that’s your goddamn closet?! Anna, girl, we need a second episode just to take a tour. Yes, queen. You have manifested. Whatever you’ve manifested, write it down.

Sara Ferrer: Because I will recite it tonight. So it definitely makes me feel like I’m beyond grateful for where I am right now. Forget Kim Kardashian. I want Anna Costa’s life. Let me tell you. [00:49:00] No, but that’s, that’s, that’s amazing though. But what I’m hearing is like, it’s full circle. You now have this space. It’s 10 to 15 times bigger than what you, what you were used to as a child.

Sara Ferrer: But you have, and this is important to mention. You have, have created this space physically for yourself now, but also through your journey, you have become the master of your space at this point in your life. So that’s just a like a kudos to you, snap it up for taking everything in your tool kit and having a brand based on your vision and your design, but also living it.

Sara Ferrer: A lot of people Who they are and what their brand is. Isn’t necessarily who they are off camera. You got the whole holistic thing going on. So I think this is the embodiment of fearless flawed saying, Hey, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, but I’m going to figure it out and just rocking with it. So thank you.

Sara Ferrer: This has been such a treat to really see your journey from beginning to now. And again, in my diary tonight, I’m just going to say [00:50:00] dear diary. I am going to be Anna on my next life. Fearless and fabulous. There ain’t no flaws here. 

Anna Costa: Always strive to be authentic and be myself and always open to everyone. So that’s where, that’s where I go.

Anna Costa: And that’s how I feel about business also being doing the best. My intentions are always for my clients to have the best space, to have the best life and to have a great future. That’s what I look for in client and all in residential and corporate and small business. I, I. in every place. 

Serena Reynolds: I love this.

Serena Reynolds: Thank you so much for a wonderful conversation today.

Sara Ferrer: Thank you. This has been wonderful.