Episodes

In this episode, Gail Doby welcomes Ann Feldstein, a 25-year industry veteran and the force behind Moxie Marketing. Ann reflects on her journey from working on the De Beers “Diamonds are Forever” campaign to serving as Vice President of Communications at Kravet before launching her own agency ten years ago. The heart of the discussion focuses on Ann’s keynote research into why women often harbor judgment toward one another. They explore internalized misogyny—the unconscious adoption of sexist a...

This week on the Creative Genius podcast, Gail Doby sits down with Danae Branson, founder of Elite Design Assistants, to discuss the transformative power of virtual support for interior design firms. Danae shares how she transitioned from the financial sector to design and eventually recognized a massive gap in the market for high-quality, specialized virtual assistance. With a team of approximately 110 assistants—primarily based in the U.S.—Elite Design Assistants provides everything from 3D r...

This week on the Creative Genius podcast, Gail Doby welcomes Mike Ufferman and Catrina Cooper, the principals of Loczi Design. Mike and Catrina detail their professional pivot from the restaurant and auction house operations fields into the design world, and how they eventually came together to lead a high-growth firm in San Francisco. The conversation explores the complexities of “internal sales,” specifically how they navigated the process of buying the company from the original founder, Paig...

This week on the Creative Genius Podcast, Gail Doby welcomes L.A. DeRiggi, founder of Hudson Park Design, to discuss his meteoric rise from a design student to a successful firm owner. L.A. reflects on his unique background in marketing and promotions, explaining how he intentionally used an unpaid internship to validate his passion before committing to a Master’s program in Interior Architecture. The conversation dives into L.A.’s transition from being a Design Director to becoming the owner o...

This week on the Creative Genius podcast, Gail Doby welcomes Elissa Grayer, the founder of Elissa Grayer Interior Design, for a deep dive into her 25-year journey from educational administration to luxury interior design. Elissa shares how she “made it up as she went along” before finding the professional community and coaching that transformed her firm from a seat-of-the-pants operation into a highly profitable, well-oiled machine. Listen in as Elissa discusses the evolution of her firm’s stru...

This week on the Creative Genius Podcast, Gail Doby welcomes master photographer and luxury sales consultant Jeffrey Shaw to share the insider knowledge he gained from spending over 40 years serving the most affluent families in the US. Jeffrey shares that everything he teaches comes from intimate conversations with this clientele, where he noticed a division between what luxury brands market and what clients actually say. Listen in as Jeffrey reveals what truly prevents designers from stepping...

This week on the Creative Genius Podcast, Gail Doby sits down with global advisor and strategist Kiri-Maree Moore, Founder and CEO of Decision Velocity Global. Kiri-Maree shares her powerful journey from initially resisting the label of “leader” to realizing the responsibility of leading others. She defines her mission: curating spaces where humans have a greater voice and helping leaders align their decisions with long-term success. Listen in as Kiri-Maree discusses the biggest mistakes leader...

This week on the Creative Genius Podcast, Gail Doby sits down with Margaret Donaldson, founder of Margaret Donaldson Interiors (MDI), and Courtney Heffron, MDI’s CFO, for an incredibly candid conversation. Margaret shares the story of starting her business 36 years ago and how, after running it “from the gut” for decades, she realized the firm’s growth—especially during COVID—had made the business bigger than her. Listen in as Margaret opens up about the difficult, but necessary, journey of shi...

Running a thriving design firm is often described as one of the hardest jobs out there. If that’s true, how does a successful designer not only manage the chaos but scale a business to attract the top one percent of clients and win industry awards? This week on the Creative Genius Podcast, Gail Doby welcomes Stephanie Kraus, founder of Stephanie Kraus Designs, to share her remarkable story of transforming from a national magazine publisher to the head of an award-winning interior design firm. S...

This week on the Creative Genius Podcast, Gail Doby sits down with design power couple Dwayne Bergmann and Kyle Barrett to share their incredible, serendipitous love story, their unconventional paths to success in the design industry, and how they’ve partnered to build multiple successful businesses and a unique product line. Dwayne, the founder of Dwayne Bergmann Interiors, and Kyle, who previously ran his own successful design firm and is a licensed realtor, discuss the unexpected way they me...