 My name is Elishiba Gadoni, but most people know me as Lisa and I am the CEO of Losita Interior's Decor & Design and we are based in Nakuru, but our starting was here in Nairobi. Alright, you started in Nairobi? Yes. Were you born and raised in Nakuru by chance? Yes. I was born and raised in Nakuru. What brought you to Nairobi first before interior design? I came to Nairobi for the first time to study. I went to KSPS formally, then he changed to Inorero University and I came to study law. Then I stayed there for a couple of years, like two or three years studying my law. Then I finished and I got employed, but as fate had it... Alright, so you worked for a law firm for a while? Yes. You practiced law? Yes. You've been an associate? Yes, I've been an associate. Why not law? Why interior design? Let me ask, why not law? I tried. Actually I went to court. I did the mentions. I appeared in court so many times, but something just pulled me away. It was a side thing at first. When people go for show, I would go. I have many intrapreneurs friends. They would pull me to the show and they would tell me, no, don't come standing, come with something. And I would find myself carrying a duvet, a bedsheet, something interior. Then it just grew and grew and I found myself quitting employment and going to my full-time job. Alright, the transition between quitting and starting your business is always a challenging one. It's a decision. People think about it for a while. Before you resigned, you think about it for a very long time, I'm sure. I'm telling you, it is not easy. Don't be cheated that when you quit employment and go to do your own business, it's going to be easy. It is not easy at all. You would get sleepless night. If you used to wake up at 6, now you wake up at 4. If you used to go home at 5. Is it because of stress and insomnia? You have to make it work. Me personally, I don't believe in mediocre. If you're doing something, do it right. If you're not doing it right, just leave it. Just leave it. Alright, so this was a big decision for sure. How did you plan for this transition? Because obviously while you're thinking about resigning, you're obviously planning how you're going to transition to your next phase of life. How did you plan for it? Because I'm pretty sure somebody is watching us right now. I'm going to work but he or she doesn't love that job that is going to do. Me personally, I was driven by passion because actually I didn't used to feel like I'm going to work. I felt like this is it. I was born for this. And when I get stuck, something pops out of my mind. I'm thinking now this is the next thing. If this doesn't work, this is the next thing. So I can't really say, when you're passionate about something, the ideas just come. We can only take you thus far. We all know when you plan for something, somehow it will get stuck and you get stuck. You always get stuck. The passion is the driver. Passion and God. So before you handed that resignation letter, find something that you're passionate about and go back and talk to God. God will show you and when you pray and just think and meditate and you relax it will fall in place. I'm trying to understand the source of your passion. As a child, did you always find yourself arranging things in the house, decorating your room and things like that? Yeah, I'm a very organized person. I like when things are in the right place. But when I was young, everybody used to tell me, you are going to be a lawyer. Because I always like defending those who feel like they are being oppressed. Then that combined with my passion of being organized, interior design is just that. Our motto is transforming spaces, transforming lives. Transforming spaces, transforming lives. So you've been in and out, you've been from office to office working, you've lived in different homes and you've said what is the motto again? Transforming spaces, transforming lives. Transforming spaces, transforming lives. So for me to get your services, at least you need to convince me that a space that is so tough by you is good for me in different ways. What is the power of just being in a space that is well finished and to my specifications. If say I like black and I'm in a space that is full of black and is dear to me, what is the power that comes with that? When I meet my client, first thing I'll judge you from how you're dressing. What did you say? Don't say. And then I'll just check how you're dressing, the things that if you allow me, I come to your house, I see how it is. This is courtesy of law school. You're taught how to study people. Thank you. For the courtesy of law, study of psychology, you have to study under law. So I ask you your favorite colors. If you have kids, I have to consider that. So before I come to make your space nice, I have to consider many things because when you're a bachelor, you don't want pink things around. Most people... We have different kinds of bachelors in 2019. Most people, they want that man cave kind of feel. But when you have kids, you have to break it. The rules of the home are made by women now. But I don't want to break it so much that you don't fit. It's still your home. So I have to balance your wife, your kids and you. All right. That is well put, well explained. But I'd like to know what is the power of going back to your home that is designed to your specifications? You relax. If you're stuck in traffic the whole day, you just want to rush home and relax. Assuming your red is not your favorite color and you reach home, everything is red, you don't feel like you're relaxed. You'll be like, ah, this place, I want to move. I don't like this. All right. So to be an interior designer, you need to have very good understanding of color. All right. Color impacts us subconsciously. And we don't even know about that. All right. Tell us more about color. What does color mean to you? Color and light go hand in hand because they have to make the person relax. There are people who don't like a lot of light. So I can't paint your house a lot of bright colors. There are people who are, when they see a dark place, they become depressed. I have to consider that 90% of the people, when you expose them to a lot of light for very long, they become depressed. You see. So you have to expose them to light? No, to darkness. To a lot of darkness for very long time, they become... What is wrong with this person? There is nothing wrong. It's just a maybe... Around a psycho. No, there is nothing like a psycho. It's just like, there are people who are medically, they are not allowed. All right. I feel your eyes... Yeah, your eyes, your skin. Yeah, we consider all that. So basically, there's nothing wrong with them. There's nothing wrong with them. Yes. So color is very powerful when it comes to interior design. Yes. All right. When we talk about interior design, one would assume that when you get a contract, it's everything from the flower vase to the color on the wall, to the seat that you're going to be sitting on. Is that the situation on the ground in your line of business? No, it's not the situation. When we were beginning, Kenyans would not appreciate interior designers. They thought I could do it. Then you go and pimp somebody's house, then they start appreciating. Pimp is a word in English. Yes. We transform, we pimp. Okay. They start appreciating. If I make your house look beautiful, your sister comes, your cousins comes, now that's how our business basically is just, it has been boosted by word of mouth. Yes. People get experience. They get experience from a good interior designer. Yes, from a good interior designer. And then tell another person about it. Tell another person, then they now start embracing. So when they start, currently people are giving us roofs, floor, seats to decorate for them. But arrangement of the house, Badoanajiamini. Badoanajiamini. Yes. All right. I know that. I was so an umbrella, you were an umbrella. You were quite. You were quite. All right. We are going to be talking about some of the misses that Kenyans have when it comes to interior design. But before that, when you look at, when you look, you watch movies, right? You watch TV series. It's very easy to know this is a British home. Yes. This is an American home. Yes. This is a Chinese home. Yes. Can you tell this is a Kenyan home? Yes. How do you tell? We have Ankara pillows. Kenyans like mixing colors. They don't like a specific color. They like five-seater sofasets. Yes, five-seater sofasets. They like the house with 10-seater sofasets. It's actually seven-seater. Yes, seven-seater. But these days now, when you glam the house, it will look less congested. You tell them create space. Kitambo people used to think the mother sits. The better they are. The better it is. So now days you tell people the mother's space. The mother's space, the better it is. The mother's space, the better it is. Yes, the less the colors, the better it is. This leads to my next question. Space, when considering space. How is space important? Space gives you the uncluttered space. Like when it's too cluttered in your mind, you won't know. But in your mind, you're not relaxed. You see. But if it's like spacious where you can pass, you can put your books in a nice, like this table is plain, you'll find that you're relaxed. Books for a lawyer, obviously. Yes. So we get you a shelf specifically for your clutter. We get you monotones for your clutter. We just arrange your house to look the least possible clutter. So what I'm getting from you, most of these aspects of interior design, from the colors to the space, they affect us subconsciously. Yes. That's why our theme is transforming spaces, transforming lives. Let me tell you, if you live in a house that is to your taste, you'll be more productive. You'll be more productive for sure. You'll be 100% productive. If I arrange your clothes in color, like blue, yellow, black, so when you want to wear, you just want your white shirt, your black suit, and your... Not tomorrow. It's Valentine's Day. Red is my color. Yes. You'll live a stress-free life. Imagine if everything is there, nothing is folded, everything is just jumbled up. When you go to the sitting room, the sofura is on top of the table, you'll be frustrated. All right. So confusion comes with confusion outside in your home, brings confusion in your head. All right. Talking about productivity, I'd like to talk about office spaces. Is this something that you do as well? Yes. We always bring blinds. We put theme colors. These days each different offices have different theme colors. If you are a lawyer, you have their theme colors for the office of the law. If you are a doctor, they are theme colors for the office of the doctor. So different clients need different things. So we cannot put them together. That's why I tell you, us, we can't just buy and go. We have to follow up. We have to ask you what do you do? Because if you put a farmer who is doing farming, you put them in a white room. You're frustrating that guy because he will come with his boots. Their floor is white. Their walls are white. Their seats are white. It needs to compliment the person. Yes, compliment the person. Always. Always. It has to compliment what you like and the person. A lot goes into this. So do we have a rule book? Because you have so many rules that you live by. Do you have some rule book that I can read somewhere for interior design? Oh, it just comes with taste and some people have the eye. Some people don't. Actually there's a rule book and there's also training. Yes. So that's why we go to school to get that kind of training. All right, there's a form of training. But there's that eye that just comes naturally. All right, I feel that. How can they get a hold of you on social media from the business ones to the personal ones if you would like to get more followers? Okay. We are on Instagram and the decor design. We are on Facebook and the decor and design. We are on... Which other handle is there? We have a tumbler. No, not there. And our offices are at Lydia Kid Kenyatta venue. Second floor. You can come there and you'll find us. All right. Lydia Kid is in Nakuru. Yes. You moved a shop from Nairobi to Nakuru. Yes. What are some of the advantages that came with moving shop from the capital to a smaller town? There is... Okay. Maybe you can give me the advantages and the disadvantages. Start with... The advantages. The advantages I realized Rift Valley is not... Most interior designers have not gone to Rift Valley. They have not exploited it. Yes. So Rift Valley needed somebody there and people there are beginning to appreciate like the city people and I can say they don't disappoint. They don't disappoint. They have embraced us. They are giving us good business and generally most of them there have homes. They build their own homes. They build their own homes. So when they give you job it's starting from the gate. Come from the gate. Do my lawns. Do my pavement. Do my exterior. Landscaping. They are landscaping. Do my curtains. Do my wallpapers. Do my painting. My room. Unlike Nairobi where people live in apartments. Yes. People live in apartments. So they'll just give you their living room. Just decorate for me my living room. I'm okay. All right. I feel that. That is one advantage that came with moving shop. Did you do some research before you moved shop? Actually, most of my marketing I do online and most of the my clients started calling from Kericho from Kisumu now I was like when they call you here in Nairobi they take a pause. They thinking like now I'll call you back and you're like why when you tell them I'm in Nakuru. Okay can you meet tomorrow in Kericho at 8 because they know if you're in Nakuru if you're in Nairobi you'll overcharge them. First they assume in Nairobi if you're in Nairobi you're going to be expensive. Yes. So this is also another advantage. Yes. What are some of the disadvantages that have come with moving from the capital to a small town? Okay a small town is low to embrace. Obviously. Yes. A small town basically. Smaller. Let's say smaller. Smaller. So I can just say it's just the slowness to embrace but actually everything I can say I can't complain. Yes. All right. Wonderful. I like this. I'm going to put you on the spot now a bit. What are some of the the interior design cultures in Kenya that you can't stand? Some of the things that Kenyans do in the houses that you cannot stand you see them and you're like oh no. Not again. No, no. Is there something they do that I don't like? I don't think there is anything. All right. Okay. That clamping up of space but it's not really nice because the space is limited the house becomes stuffy even it's not healthy for you because once you see like this it cannot stay here for five years without you ever moving it the dust mites will kill you. All right. So you need some space to move the seat. Move the seat clean up. Yes. It's just healthy for you. All right. All right. So space is one thing. Yes. Another one. Just that. Everything else I think you can work with. Everything we can work with. Yes, everything else. Including kupunikara TV. Yes. At least I will protect from dust. I will protect the TV from dust. Yes. We will do this one like this. One more time. Tell them if they need your services how can they get in touch with you? If you need my services I am best at Lydia Ked Nakoro. We have fundies everywhere. I have fundies here. I have fundies in Kisumu. I have fundies in Kericho. Don't be afraid to think that I am just in Nakoro. No. We have fundies everywhere. We are best at Kenyatta Avenue, Lydia Ked. If you want to call me you can reach me on 0738-2186. All right. Yes. What advice to somebody who wants to quit what they are doing right now? Even if it's a job, if it's a business, if it's a sport, whatever they are doing to earn a living somebody who wants to quit and start afresh what would you tell them? Just look them straight into the eyes. Wow. If you want to quit that means you have reached rock bottom. And if you have reached rock bottom the only place left is to go up. So dust off, get up and start working. I always see people on Facebook right that type a man if you get money tomorrow please type a man wear your work shoes and start working. There is no two ways about it. But still type a man. Type a man, wake up and start working. Don't stop any man. Don't stop and don't fail and don't be in that comfort zone. You have to work and you have to put in the passion. All right. Thank you very much. You can't end this without answering the question on Facebook. What are you expecting to see maybe I report the drops today. I hope it just unites Kenyans and improve the economy. That's all you want. Unite Kenyans. Unite Kenyans. Thank you very much for coming to Tuaia in the morning. And I had a good time and all the best in your business. And I'd like to see you expand to Kigali, Rusha, Tanzania and the rest of them. Thank you. All right. We've come to the end of this. We had the CEO and founder of Losita. What is the last part of the name of the company? Losita. Deco and design. Losita, Deco and design. And if you'd like to get other services, you can get them on social media as? Deco and design and Losita in Tuaia.