Life Inspired 2022

“More than twenty-five years ago, after earning my Arts degree from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and studying design in Italy, I built a multimillion-dollar fashion company selling my collections to 1,800 stores situated around the world – in two years’ time. Alongside that, came a great deal of stress; I had these extraordinarily high, manic-like moments where I’d go into overdrive to meet multiple, high-priority deadlines. I remained optimistic because that is my nature, but it became difficult to manage.

During this period, I traveled to Asia on business and unknowingly embarked on a journey that would teach me to cope with stress and ultimately change the course of my life. I all but fell onto a yoga mat, learned to breathe properly, figured out how to meditate, and discovered a formula to connect to a power greater than myself.

I subsequently sold my fashion business and opened a 5,000 sq. ft. wellness sanctuary in the heart of Chicago for individuals to seek reprieve from day-to-day stressors through meditation, yoga, and other wellness therapies.

Delving into the science of wellness, I examined mindful living and the blue zones of the world to help brands market the benefits of a holistic lifestyle, and I began and continue to lead international mindfulness and wellness retreats. It has been incredibly fulfilling to witness people live more consciously by finding joy in mini rituals, like cutting up an apple or drinking tea. The immense gratitude that comes with living in a mindfulness state is what fuels my passion.

However, life—as I knew it—took an unexpected turn four years ago. I was involved in a high-impact car accident and suffered from what was believed to be a severe concussion. I woke up the morning after and didn’t know where I was – my hands and feet were numb, and my body was extremely weak. Several brain scans later, I discovered I was born with a rare congenital condition called Chiari malformation. Essentially, this means my brain tissue extends into my spinal canal, and the swelling from the accident was causing my brain to push down into my spine, up against my skull, and blocking my cerebral spinal fluid.

I was ordered to stay off all screens/devices for the next six months to allow my brain to heal from the shock. I developed permanent tinnitus in the process and can still hear screaming in my ears 24-7. For the first time in my life, I could relate to my little sister who lives with nonverbal autism, and growing up with her, I understood a complete change in my lifestyle and that immersing myself in a multisensory environment could help relieve my symptoms.

While there were times I struggled to get out of bed, I made a point to escape to my bathroom sanctuary when I felt overwhelmed – it became my haven. I dimmed the lights, lit candles, burned aromatherapy oil, turned up soothing music, and imagined I was somewhere else, like watching a sunset on a sandy white beach. I believe this is how I narrowly avoided brain surgery. Still, if I am consumed by too much noise or bright light, or if I smell something that doesn’t sit quite right, I grow extremely anxious and become very symptomatic.

Years earlier, while teaching mindfulness meditation, I had interviewed several employees from multiple different corporations who sat in towering cubicles all day with nowhere to go to shut down their brains. This memory profoundly disturbed me as I learned to live with my own disability, and it is what prompted the company I founded to develop and design physical spaces in the built environment that take people on soothing and meditative voyages into their deepest selves where inner-peace and calm lives. Within as little as five minutes in a wellness space, you can reduce stress and anxiety and reset your mind and body by just engaging in conscious breathing techniques.

Through a curated, eleven-sense, wellness mapping philosophy, MindCurate^™ transforms spaces into multi-dimensional, meditative, and tranquil environments through biophilic nature design, alchemy, elements, ritual, sound frequency, visual projection, energy architecture, music, guided meditation, scent and beyond.

Wellness rooms can be implemented in residential, commercial, educational, hospitality, and urban creative spaces. In a post-pandemic world, these rooms offer businesses an appealing way to bring employees back to the workplace as they nurture human well-being and boost engagement and inclusivity. However, organizations need to also be prepared to incorporate a robust wellness strategy into their policies or the physical spaces will not be nearly as meaningful. The entire organizational culture must shift.

That is where MindCurate comes in – from live curated experiential events, mindfulness content creation, hands-on training, immersive brand activations, retreats, and the design of wellness space, our ethos is to assist in finding unique ways to acquire calm and serenity.

Mindfulness is what we all desperately need right now – in some shape or form. Simple, mindfulness meditation and breathwork techniques can help manage stress, anxiety, sleep disorders, addiction, and PTSD. Pioneering the movement into mainstream society will strengthen humanity, and make our world a more beautiful place to live in."

The Morenos were relocated to Muscatine, Iowa when Martin was a teenager. After graduating from Muscatine high school, Martin joined the United States Marine Corps and traveled all over.

“I was eager to serve my country – I met a lot of great people and learned many life skills. When I finished my active service, I moved back home to Iowa and married my high school sweetheart.”

Today, Martin is a proud dad to two sons. He has over twenty years of managerial experience and has been employed by HNI Corporation, Allsteel’s parent company, since 2014.

As part of an HNI Belong initiative, Martin recently co-launched Somos HNI, a Member Resource Group (MRG) – translating to “We Are HNI” in English – is intended to empower HNI’s Hispanic and Latino population to reach personal and professional goals.  

To honor Hispanic Heritage Month, the MRG hosted a celebratory fiesta at the American Legion in Muscatine on September 4 and invited the community to partake in a wide range of family-friendly activities including live music, food vendors, a loteria, and soccer.

“I’ll be honest, Hispanic Heritage Month never held much significance to me. However, lately, my mindset is shifting – maybe it’s my age or my exposure to the MRG, but I’m proud of my culture and it’s inspiring to break barriers and bridge the gap on stereotypes.”   

Wonhee grew up in Incheon, South Korea with a longing to become an artist; she leaned into making things by hand and went on to study sculpture at Seoul’s Kookmin University. Wonhee became highly fascinated by design shortly after earning her BFA; she attended a Dutch design exhibition where renowned professors from DAE showcased their designs. Wonhee yearned to learn from their brilliance.

John was born and raised in Wisconsin, by a family of artists and artisans. High school pottery classes inspired him to attend Alfred University in New York, where he earned a BFA in Ceramics and Sculpture. John landed in the theater/film industry right out of college – designing props, sets, and costumes. He was trained in cabinet making at College of the Redwoods (now the Krenov School), after a big move to California. While he sharpened his skills, he was left with a hunger to learn design.

After graduating, the couple founded Studio Gorm in Rotterdam and took an experimental and constructive approach to designing simple, yet thoughtful furniture and household products informed by their academic research. The couple was thriving, but within the next year, they were presented with visa challenges and needed to go somewhere to establish residency.

America was the ‘no-brainer’ option as they believed the U.S. would offer a better opportunity to create a more fulfilling lifestyle. They were unsure where to put down roots until both John and Wonhee were offered jobs at the University of Oregon to help start a new Product Design Department. They settled down in Eugene and continued to grow Studio Gorm.

The Shakers, a religious community that came to the United States in the late 1700s, have largely influenced John and Wonhee’s work. The community’s philosophies around simplicity, utility, and honesty are widely regarded as the first American Design ideologies.

John and Wonhee took the rare opportunity to travel to Hancock Shaker Village and Mount Lebanon Shaker Museum where they immersed themselves in the Shaker archives and indulged in conversation with the curators – and the idea for Furnishing Utopia was born. Afterward, the duo made it their mission to partner with several other studios to design a 32-piece collection of Shaker-inspired objects.

The global collective of creatives at Furniture Utopia explore how design values are interconnected across cultures and time. John and Wonhee continue to serve as two of Furnishing Utopia’s principal organizers to this day.

Through the years, the husband-and-wife team built a perfect blend between teaching students and conceptualizing unique projects with clients. Four years ago, John and Wonhee’s lives turned upside down when they became proud parents – it’s been their most exhilarating gig yet.

When considering college, I knew I needed to leave my small town and live in a city. Both to escape and maybe even disappear. I enrolled at Georgia State University, in Atlanta, and for the first time in my life, I discovered a safe space for exploration. I met people from all backgrounds and found a community that helped me understand and celebrate being LGBTQ+. 

My early twenties were a transformative time, not only professionally, but personally. I was becoming more confident in who I was but didn’t feel comfortable expressing my authenticity. Coming out was difficult. I came out to my parents first – my mother was supportive; my father, however, couldn’t bring himself to accept me. I later came to understand that for him, it wasn’t a lack of love, it was his lack of reference for what it meant for us as a family. He lacked the tools to communicate and navigate through it.

I moved to San Francisco after finishing school. It was the scariest thing I had ever done but turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. I met a professional mentor and began a successful career working for a real estate investment firm. I finally felt free to be who I was meant to be, and no longer apologized or hid.

By my early thirties, I had spent almost ten years of my career in real estate and decided to hit ‘pause’ for a bit. I was at a crossroads – while I found success in the institutional business world, I yearned to exercise my creative abilities. I had been exposed to architecture and design, fashion, art, and travel as part of my career in real estate and was captivated by the richness of people and ideas in that world. I wanted to be part of those conversations and ideas, so, I toyed with pivoting career paths. 

I took a risk and rolled the dice, and I chose to resign from my job; I chose to ’Eat, Pray, Love’, as they say and took time to travel to China, Africa, Hong Kong, and the Middle East. Through that experience, I gained an incredible worldview that didn’t exist up to that point. My perspective shifted, my priorities evolved, and I allowed myself to step out of the status quo I previously felt I had to reach, both professionally and personally. Upon my return, I changed careers and have been working in the commercial contract furniture and design industry ever since.

Fast forward to June 2022, as I celebrate turning 40, I’m in a unique position to push the boundaries of what workplaces do. I’m responsible for developing and sustaining strong relationships with key influencers from the A&D and CRE communities as well as large commercial end-users while promoting the Allsteel brand, our products, and our partnerships. I’m authentic in how I show up, which for me, is more than just words – it’s being comfortable with and expressing who I am each day and allowing others to do the same.

When I’m not working, I love spending time with my fiancé Glenn – he’s my best friend, my confidant, and I’m a better person because of him. We’re getting married next summer in Montana. I love art, culture, history, and building community in meaningful ways. I’m passionate about multiple causes and previously served on the board for the Architecture and Design Museum in Los Angeles where I led diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts

In early 2020, I realized it was time to address the unresolved issues with my dad. We hadn’t spoken for 20 years yet I wanted to try and build a relationship with him, and I knew it would require work. I packed up my two-door BMW, and I drove from Los Angeles to Georgia to reconnect with him – my missing piece. We rekindled our relationship and speak almost every day now. We learned from one another, and after all these years, our relationship is stronger than ever.

When I left Georgia for California, I said, ‘I’m done,’ and never thought I would return to the South. I never imagined my family and I could overcome our differences, but it’s what prompted me to move to D.C. Now, my family is back where we always should have been. We’re closer – both physically and emotionally. Who knew that it would take a pandemic, getting a little older, gaining a lot more wisdom, and being willing to risk it all to finally feel whole?

My story is one that I’m certain others in the LGBTQ+ community can relate to and it brings me enormous pride to share my journey. Coming out was tough, and it’s ongoing. For those of us in the LBGTQ+ community, our paths are rarely linear or easy. My advice for anyone struggling is to keep going. The path towards openness is so individualized; there is no timetable – no right or wrong way. Celebrate what makes you different, and don’t forget to take risks, because you never know where it will lead you.

I was at Cushman & Wakefield leading the outsourcing business for the East Region when I met and formed a strong bond with Jodi Pulice, CEO and Founder of JRT Realty. That was over three years ago. I learned early on that we’re like-minded, tenacious women. 

Very few people have multiple perspectives from all sides of the sector. When Jodi and I discussed starting this business, I thought, ‘If not me – then who?’  Prior to my time at Cushman, I led Americas real estate teams at TD Bank and American Express. I also have extensive experience as a real estate and workplace consultant and spent nearly a decade at Deloitte. My combined experiences over the last 25+ years have made me keenly aware of the operational difficulties that exist in our industry today.

At MWBE Unite, we’re leveling the playing field through unique simplicity; we connect and integrate minority- and women-owned business enterprises and help them scale through partnerships to deliver services across all dimensions of the built environment.

As a first-generation immigrant, diversifying the industry is a cause that’s intimately close to me. I was born in Taiwan, moved overseas, and learned to speak English at age ten, then became an American Citizen at sixteen.

My family settled in New York, in an Irish, Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, where I experienced the ‘white flight’ phenomena first-hand. My neighbors were from Trinidad and Jamaica and my high school was extremely diverse. My parents owned a flower shop on the Upper West Side and dabbled in Real Estate through the 1980s – they taught me there’s always opportunity in any circumstance. They showed me resiliency and pure grit.

We’re all products of our upbringing and our experiences and those experiences refine over time what’s important. For me, moving the needle on diversity, and uniting big firms and diverse suppliers is especially pivotal for our industry. To evolve as a sector, we must become more innovative, more technologically enabled, and much more diverse, and I believe MWBE Unite drives progress on all fronts.

I began working with a small residential firm doing townhouse design, which lead me to interiors. Then, I transitioned to retail design and helped a luxury retailer build out new stores across the U.S. and Canada. This company focused on using natural, high-quality materials, which excited me and made me curious about what goes into the products we use every day.

I eventually sought out an opportunity with a co-working start-up out of NY whose mission was to expand globally. I was a founding design team member and created standards for workplace environments, from the ground up. My team was agile, and my mentor encouraged me to study human-centric design, so, I became a WELL Accredited Professional and was often referred to as the ‘well-ness guru’ or ‘plant guy’ on projects. When COVID emerged, the need for thoughtfully designed spaces was magnified, and I continued to evolve spaces for the co-working company until the design team, unfortunately, dissolved in 2021.

My recent job hunt was different – I was more selective. My future employer had to be committed to protecting the planet while taking an active role within the community. That’s how I landed in the Bay Area, at Insidesource, as a Creative Strategist and Sustainability Lead. I packed up all my plants and my dog Daisy, and we drove across the country, stopping at as many national parks as possible along the way – it was an unbelievably amazing road trip.

I’ve lived in San Francisco for over a year now and have a renewed sense of empowerment to make changes for betterment. Experiencing climate change firsthand – having to close my windows and wear a mask because of the wildfires – was eye-opening. So, my guiding light has been to advocate for sustainability, and enhance well-being and equitability because I want there to be a healthy, habitable, and inclusive world for future generations.

At Insidesource, I primarily work to help Silicon Valley tech clients achieve their environmental goals; these companies are asking important questions as they become more aware of their impact and power, and I find it inspiring. When I’m not working, I love spending time outdoors. I love hiking, biking, and chasing sunrises and sunsets. I enjoy practicing yoga, spending quality time with friends, shopping at local farmers’ markets, reading, and of course, cuddling Daisy. She’s a big part of my life.

I started cycling when I moved here and met friends who encouraged me to participate in AIDS/Lifecycle® this June, it’s a 545-mile bike ride through California’s countryside. The goal of the fundraising event, co-produced by San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Los Angeles LGBT Center, is to end the stigma around HIV/AIDS, and improve the quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS by providing free medical care, testing and prevention services. As a gay man, it’s a cause that is very close to me, especially now that I’m older and fully grasp the devastating generational loss due to HIV/AIDS. Plus, I’m looking forward to strengthening the community between the generations – after all, it is esteemed relationships, and a strong community really increases our happiness.

A responsible citizen is not a passive consumer. Our identity in society is predominantly that of a consumer and our needs as people have been commercialized to the extent of overconsumption, which has become the cultural norm. Having more stuff doesn’t make us happy. To me, a responsible citizen actively works toward building community – they contribute to the common good and acquire a better understanding of the world through different perspectives, then they translate that knowledge into responsible action and empower others.