The Architect turned Lighting Designer's trap (And What Came Next) - Golsana Heshmati

Summary

LytePod – "The Lighting Designer Who Got Success Completely Wrong (And What Came Next)"

Guest: Golsana Heshmati
Host: Lytei
Date: June 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the evolving definition of success through the journey of Golsana Heshmati, a renowned lighting designer and entrepreneur. Golsana reflects on her personal and professional development—how success metrics have shifted for her from major awards and high-profile projects to meaningful collaborations and personal fulfillment. With candid insights on entrepreneurship, creative practice, and team leadership, Golsana provides a deeply honest look at the human side of design and the business of lighting, all set against the backdrop of New York City's vibrant design scene.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Changing Definition of Success in Design

• Early Notions of Success

  • Success initially meant "big names, impactful buildings, large projects" (02:48) and external validation.
  • Over time, fulfillment came from "the smallest collaboration, a conversation with someone that is like minded" rather than big accolades.

• Career Evolution

  • "When you let go of all those learnings from before... now the way you pick your clients, the pick your projects, it's now more meaningful into what, what that brings to your life and how you can contribute to it rather than how famous that's going to make you." (02:48)

2. Entrepreneurship: The Lonely and Honest Path

• Self-Discovery Through Business Ownership

  • "Entrepreneurship and owning business is very lonely." (00:18, 31:46)
  • Found deep learning in discerning what actually mattered, versus external expectations.
  • "Starting your own design business teaches you a lot about yourself and what are the things to care about most and what are the things that didn't matter." (00:18, 03:55)

• Mindful Hiring and Team Vision

  • The importance of vision alignment and intentional onboarding:
    • "When people start, they have to create their own vision, they have to write it, they have to read our intent..." (33:58)

3. The Power of Self-Belief and Risk-Taking

• Golsana’s career marked by relentless self-trust:
  • “Because there is a feeling of if you don't trust yourself, then no one else will. And if you want to convince others to believe in you, you have to first believe in you." (00:00, 27:01)
• "Betting on yourself" is a recurring motif.
• Risk-taking evolves when responsibilities grow—taking risks for others (e.g., employees) brings new challenges. (29:29)

4. Crafting a Personal and Professional Brand

• Starting SEED Studio

  • Launched her studio without a major client, relying on connections and proactive outreach (18:30).
  • First project landed via networking at a women's architecture event: "I started Seed without a project... I realized there's one thing that I'm good at, which is connecting with people and making friends." (18:30)

• Brand Identity

  • Intentional brand-building from inception:
    • "From the very beginning, it's like a missing link... I wanted us to be a certain way, like the branding, the website, the logo, all that." (24:51)

5. Creativity, Collaboration, and Fulfillment

• Biggest Joys
  • True satisfaction comes from “deep creative conversation with someone else that is either my teammate or my client or just a friend.” (42:56)
• Collaboration, curiosity, and meaningful conversations fuel her energy as a designer.

6. Community, Team, and Vision

• Team Alignment and Shared Purpose

  • Emphasis on hiring for vision, not just skills, and onboarding that centers around personal and collective goals (33:58).
  • "We have a very extensive onboarding process. So when people start, they have to create their own vision..." (33:58)

• Dynamic Growth

  • Studio evolution is ongoing, accepting new ideas from the team—e.g., embracing sustainability as a team member's passion. (38:01)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Redefining Success:

  "The honest answer is when you had a very successful brainstorm with, with an architect that you like to work with, come out of that meeting, that project is never going to be built. But that felt more successful than... having finished projects that have big names."
  — Gulsana (04:53)

• On Self-Trust:

  "If you don't trust yourself, then no one else will."
  — Gulsana (00:00, 27:01)

• On Starting Out:

  “I was just... spending from my savings with a vision and that was all I had and a laptop and a world of experience.”
  — Gulsana (18:30)

• Pivotal Networking:

  “It was a women's AIA event for recognition of architects...I talked to everyone, made a friend...She scheduled a lunch and learn...and I got the project right away through just this random connection.”
  — Gulsana (18:30)

• Team Vision:

  "We hire people that believe in the vision and when they come in, we train them into it...We take trips as a team together to just do vision planning and talk about where each of us are going."
  — Gulsana (33:58)

• On Creativity:

  "Creativity is king. Everybody's creative...For you, it's this creative journey of a life project."
  — Podcast Host (41:24)

• Adopting the Lighting Designer Identity:

  “Oh yeah, very much. I'm a lighting designer. I'm only a lighting designer and now I'm like encourage people to become a lighting designer because I feel that it's amazing.”
  — Gulsana (41:43)

• Studio Growth:

  “We started to take on an initiative of sustainability in lighting because of the new person that joined our team...that is an add addition to something that in my vision, wasn't there.”
  — Gulsana (38:01)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–01:11 — Opening thoughts on self-trust and betting on yourself
• 02:48–03:50 — Golsana’s early success philosophy and its evolution
• 04:53–06:05 — Emotional drivers of fulfillment in creative work
• 11:00–13:41 — Accidental entry into lighting design
• 14:02–17:04 — Transitions between continents and their impact on growth
• 18:30–21:32 — Founding of Seed studio and landing the first major project
• 24:51–26:48 — Building the Seed brand
• 27:01–29:22 — Teaching and trusting oneself; moving from luck to intentional opportunity
• 29:29–33:15 — Risk in leadership; culture of transparency and shared decisions
• 33:58–35:12 — Hiring and training for team vision and alignment
• 38:01–39:28 — Studio evolution and embracing new ideas like sustainability
• 41:24–42:03 — Creative fulfillment and embracing the lighting designer identity
• 42:56–End — The importance of collaboration, feedback, and client relationships

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Tone & Language

Throughout the episode, the tone is candid, insightful, and empowering—echoing Gulsana's honesty, resilience, and collaborative spirit. The conversation flows naturally from personal stories to actionable lessons, always centering the authentic, human side of design practice.

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Summary Takeaways

• Success is a moving target, often defined by meaningful moments, not outward recognition.
• Entrepreneurship in design is both lonely and empowering, teaching self-reliance and focus.
• Trust in oneself is foundational for leading others and managing creative risk.
• Building a creative business is about more than portfolio—it's about relationships, vision, and team culture.
• The most sustaining energy comes from creative collaboration, authenticity, and openness to evolving together.

Listeners leave encouraged to reflect on their own definitions of success, the value of self-trust, and the ongoing evolution of creative practice.

Transcript

[Gulsana]

Because there is a feeling of if you don't trust yourself, then no one else will.

[Podcast Host 1]

Gulsana hasn't left anything behind.

[Podcast Host 2]

What she's done is bet on herself her entire life.

[Podcast Host 1]

And that instinct has shaped everything, including her very successful lighting design practice in New York City.

[Gulsana]

Today, entrepreneurship and owning business is very lonely. The way you pick your clients that pick your projects, it's now more meaningful into what, what that brings to your life and how you can contribute to it, rather than how famous that's going to make you. Starting your own design business teaches you a lot about yourself and what are the things to care about most and what are the things that didn't matter. It was a massive project and I was like, oh, wow. So I got the project right away through just this random connection and I immediately hired an internal.

[Podcast Host 2]

You were betting on yourself, but you've bet on yourself your entire life.

[Gulsana]

Because there is the feeling of if you don't trust yourself, then no one else will. The big picture vision is not an end goal of let's get to this point. Point A is basically, let's go to Word.

[Podcast Host 1]

Before we jump in, I want to thank five companies that show up for this community. Mark Diode, led, Kelvix, Lead Flex and Targetta usa because this show exists thanks to their belief in designers and the way they work every single day. Before we get into this episode, I want to talk about one of those companies because it's worth your attention. Here's the truth. Nobody gets into design to manage logistics. You, you got into this to shape how people experience space. But somewhere between the concept and the installation, the friction creeps in the timelines, the specs, the supply chain, that's the problem the team at Mark is actually solving. Their architectural linear portfolio is built to disappear into your intent, restrained when the space calls for it, bold when the moment demands it. Always serving the architecture, never competing with it. And behind it, the kind of specification, simplicity and manufacturing skill that lets you stay focused on the work that matters. Get back to Designing Mark Lighting.

[Podcast Host 2]

Acuitybrands.com youm have lived in many countries. You've lived in seven different cities. Now you're building a company out of the ground in New York City. Your own boutique lighting design studio. You know, what's one thing that you thought you had figured out that you've now realized is completely wrong?

[Gulsana]

The main thing that I was very much committed to and believed when I was younger, right out of school, was the definition of what success and happiness in the way that I thought Big names, impactful buildings, large projects, that was the definition of success for me. And then as I evolved in my career, now for me, the smallest collaboration, a conversation with someone that is like minded and just sparks of ideas is for me happiness. And when I feel mostly fulfilled in my career. So then you let go of all those learnings from before and the way you pick your clients, the pick your projects, it's now more meaningful into what, what that brings to your life and how you can contribute to it rather than how famous that's going to make you.

[Podcast Host 2]

Where do you feel like that realization turned itself upside down for you?

[Gulsana]

I think it was after starting my, my own business, which, which was a journey. It's been more than seven years and I feel like entrepreneurship or starting your own design business teaches you a lot about yourself and what are the things to care about most and what are the things that didn't matter or they were not as essential for you or for your clients or for the world in general, but you were taught to believe those. So for me, the realization of what makes me feel happier and feel successful happens throughout the course of running my business.

[Podcast Host 2]

So when you look back on what may have taught you what success looked like, who was teaching that to you or where were you absorbing that opinion or impression from?

[Gulsana]

So I think the world of design and architecture and there is a number of factors that you think these are. If I checkbox these items, then I'm a successful person. But then when you do that and then at the same time you inside yourself, you feel like what really makes me happy? Or what is the moment that I felt the happiest and the most. When was the time that my creativity found a way to speak, when I had a voice. And those are times that you start to look back and see is this what I really wanted to be published in, in a magazine or to win an award or. The honest answer is when you had a very successful brainstorm with, with an architect that you like to work with, come out of that meeting, that project is never going to be built. But that felt more successful than. Yeah. Having finished projects that are, that have names like big names. Yeah.

[Podcast Host 2]

If you think about what that emotion is, can you describe it?

[Gulsana]

I have that good feeling of accomplishment when I am surrounded by people that are creative and are interesting to talk to and we share that, share conversations and ideas, whether it's a smallest thing, it's a piece of furniture or light fixture or, or a bigger project. But the feeling, I would say feeling of happiness and feeling of the answer to the why of why are you doing this and what's the meaning for it? So it's. Yeah, I think that's all I can say. It's like you're feeling that you got your answer.

[Podcast Host 2]

You've now started to grow in ways you also never knew existed because you're a true entrepreneur and you're building a business. You mentioned how you've kind of proven yourself wrong once already. Is there anything that you feel is a very important truth to you at this point that others probably or might not agree with?

[Gulsana]

I am not sure if others wouldn't agree with, but something that is a challenge and it's also, it's something that I'm mindfully being careful of following the path that staying authentic and keep my vision and all the things I believed.

[Podcast Host 2]

What was it like to set the foundation for, for this unknown process of entrepreneurship for you in building a brand?

[Gulsana]

Yeah, I was always curious about these things. I was just recently telling my co workers at work, like in my trips from Cyprus to Tehran, I would stop in Istanbul and go buy a lot of clothes in the sales and come home and set up a popup of styles and would just invite anyone I knew they would come and buy those clothes.

[Podcast Host 2]

So what was the curiosity there was. I mean, was it like you were scamming the system, beating the system? You knew somebody needed something and you wanted to help them get it. What do you think drove you in these early years?

[Gulsana]

That's a, that's a good question. Like each of those things are a little different, but at the same time I wanted to, I think as a kid, when you, when you do these things like you want independence and you want to stand out. For me was that when I was 13, I wanted to be the 13 year old that actually makes money and has a vision and is, you know, I was always looking at my future as something bright and nice for myself. I had a lot of hopes. So then it was like little steps to build that. And if you want to be a photographer, if you. I always thought I wanted to be an artist. So all of these things, all of the creative paths I took was contributing to that big vision for me.

[Podcast Host 2]

What did it feel like to go work for someone when you had this impulse of, was there this clash inside of you of I can't do my project because I'm doing someone else's project?

[Gulsana]

No, but it was, I wouldn't say it was a clash because I always, somehow I knew I am in a path. So I didn't Want to go beyond where I was. I wanted to take this, the right steps because I was. It was very thoughtful of, okay, I need to do this many years of work here, this many years in my mind, I had that clear. But also it was moments. There were moments that were not comfortable because your employer asks you to do something that you don't think it's right. Like that design decision could have been better. And you're inexperienced, so you question that in your mind. But I never actually reflected that much in. In work. So I didn't have a clash with my employers ever. But I think that actually helped me in a way that. Because I was. I very much acted as a person with. With grit and wanting to make things better. My jobs were also kind of my. My projects in a way that everywhere I went and worked was. It was always bringing up ideas how to make that place better, how can we do things more efficient, better, how do we add to our creativity, how I can contribute to that. And luckily, that was always appreciated. I was lucky because the people I worked with were open people. I can imagine that can be a clash if someone is investing too much in your idea.

[Podcast Host 2]

Your first professional experience was in Barcelona.

[Gulsana]

My very first professional experience was in Tehran. So I went to Cyprus, studied and came back to Tehran and started to work in an architecture studio. I did an internship and then I worked there for. Worked in another studio for about a year, and then I went to Madrid. So I had a year gap between my bachelor's and master's degree.

[Podcast Host 2]

And there's this interesting moment, right? Architecture is what you're fascinated with. Lighting shows up. How does lighting show up? And then how does it suck you in?

[Gulsana]

It showed up pretty accidental. So I wanted to go to Spain. I want. That was my plan to learn Spanish, to be with my cousins that were there and study. And I wanted to go to Europe and I want to continue my architecture studies. But I found this master's degree. Actually, my cousin found it for me. She was like, how about this one? And it was architectural lighting design. And I was just curious to explore it. The last course I took at architecture school in my last semester was daylight, daylighting. So I was. I had it very fresh in my mind. And I was, oh, yeah, that's great. It's. It's a sign. I have to go, like, study this to get better and then study more of architecture later on. So I went to school in Spain and it was honestly all throughout my studies and even my internship, that was just an experiment before getting back to architecture. And then I figured that it took me some years to fully. I feel it gave me more tools and more ability to transform spaces. And it's just fascinating now I think having this immaterial with no surfaces. You're in a space, they give you a space and there's. You don't. Regardless of materiality or formal shape or anything, you can fully transform it. So I'm now much more interested in perception of the world and spaces than actually so. So that kind of makes lighting more interesting for me than architecture because the perception just comes with. Happens with light.

[Podcast Host 2]

So you move to the west coast and there's an opportunity there for you. But then you end up in New York City. What does that time look like for you in terms of trusting your process but knowing your goal is to do this all on your own.

[Gulsana]

So going to the west coast and Berkeley and San Francisco was a move. I mean it was by choice, but at the same time it was something that I had to do at that moment in my life. And I went for it with a lot of motivation and breed to fully adopt to a new continent and new culture. And it wasn't as fluid as I thought it will be. But something that started going very exciting was the opportunities I found in my career in US in the west, in San Francisco, places I worked were very inspiring. So I felt like I've been growing and the growth was more visible. I guess it's cultural. So hierarchies are more blurry in the US than in Europe. So you actually can show yourself and there's a lot of opportunities for emerging designers. So I just start to feel that as something that I actually want to work more towards. And so I did some experiments in working with. Working in an architecture studio but be a lighting in house lighting designer still between architecture and lighting challenges in that time. But I started to do a lot of art projects when I went to Swest Coast. So I was kept that I guess part of my. My vision or what I want to do as part of like this is me and I start a website for myself and then I'm like an artist. But I also do lighting design, but I also do architecture kind of that thing. But kept going working in them in the light design studios that I was working and keep growing and learning, learning my skills and. And it was very. It was very interesting time because I learned a lot from the places I worked in San Francisco because it was different type of lighting design that I was not used to. I was used to public urban lighting In Spain and then this was like more focused into commercial public projects with all the US regulations that I didn't know about.

[Podcast Host 2]

So coming to New York was a whole different story. Is probably an understatement. There's no city like it in the world. It's home for everyone. No matter what you believe, no matter where you come from. It's a melting pot. It's incredibly diverse. Tough, but loving and welcoming. What was it like to feel that tough love yet welcome, welcome with open arms to New York City when you got here.

[Gulsana]

It's been honestly an amazing journey being in New York. I, as everyone here, or all New Yorkers, have this love hate with the city. My love has been always more. Although it's tough to be here, it's really tough. But there's this energy in New York that I felt it from the moment I moved here and started my job at an architecture studio. Actually, just the vibrancy, it's the flow of ideas and different people from all over the world. It just suddenly hit me the first month, I was like, this is where I have to be and stay. Because nobody is from here and everybody's from here. And that's for the first time after being. Leaving home after many years, I felt like this is home because you build yours, because you're going to build a home yourself. It's not something fixed that you're going to just fit into. It's just the most flexible, inspiring place ever

[Podcast Host 2]

at that. At that point, you'd lived in six cities. Do you remember the first client you got and what it felt like?

[Gulsana]

Yeah, actually I do remember because it was very unexpected. I started Seed without a project. I didn't have a freelance gig or nothing. I was just. They're spending from my savings with a vision and that was all I had and a laptop and a world of experience. And a world of experience and the whole New York City in front of me. That is competitive. But I knew some people, so I. I think I started thinking about methods of marketing, which is tough for a designer that has never done it. But I realized there's one thing that I'm good at, which is connecting with people and making friends. So I started to go to every architecture event that is being held in the city, be it in a university or AIA or all that. And there was this one event I was. I registered to and was in Upper west side. I lived in Brooklyn. It was 7pm I was so tired and then I was like, should I go? I was just contemplating. I was like, yeah, I'm going to go. So I sat on a train for an hour to Upper west side. It was a women's aia, women events for recognition of the fellow AI people, the architects. So I, I went there that talked to people and made a friend that was not the head of any architecture studio, but she was just the only person I felt connected to because I talked to everyone. But she was very receptive and she scheduled a lunch and learn for me the day after at her. At their office. It was a big office, actually a large architecture office. So I went there and it was like, lunch and learn. I have to buy food for 50 people. But I did it.

[Podcast Host 2]

How many people did you buy lunch for?

[Gulsana]

I think there were maybe 36 people.

[Podcast Host 1]

That's awesome.

[Gulsana]

But I had this presentation ready because I've been working on these marketing materials. So I presented. They all loved it. The principal of that studio asked to meet with me right away and he gave me a project which was the Columbia Art School. They were remodeling. It basically was a fit out of the whole school, five floors. It was a massive project and I was like, oh, wow. So I got the project right away through just this random connection and I immediately hired an intern to help me with revit and all that. And that's how we went there.

[Podcast Host 2]

That's incredible.

[Gulsana]

It's really incredible. It was just like that moment that I pushed myself to take the train for an hour. Just.

[Podcast Host 2]

Yeah, it really is inspiring. When you hear that story and something

[Podcast Host 1]

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[Podcast Host 2]

a one hour train ride is nothing when you.

[Gulsana]

Nothing, no.

[Podcast Host 2]

When you look back at everything that you've done, right, There was a lot of intentionality leading up to that moment. You are particular, you're particular about this brand that you've built. It's not your name, it's not even anything with maybe the, the notion of what you do, it's, it's the seed.

[Podcast Host 1]

Where does the seed come from?

[Podcast Host 2]

How does it grow, right, and, and how much time did you spend really becoming comfortable with what that was? So when you got to that moment of that presentation, it felt like you'd been doing it just as another one of your projects.

[Gulsana]

I think it's an ongoing project, so I'm still, we're still evolving the brand of seed and working on it, but from the very beginning it's like a missing link or something in lighting design studios that generally they're not very branded. They're like a support consultant. They're all architects and designers with background in design and they're creative people but they don't brand themselves as, as such much because also you don't want to compete with your clients that are architects. I don't know where that comes from, but I wanted us to be a certain way like the, the branding, the website, the logo, all that. So first thing I did when I, after I rented the desk was I contacted one of my friends that she's a, she's a brilliant graphic designer and I asked her to design our logo and she gave me a quote and was way out of my budget. And I remember I was like, I have to design myself. So I designed the logo, I designed a brand, the website, everything, myself. But I had time. But I was working hours in day because I was my. Now that I look back, my motivation and grit was so, so high. I just like that's the only thing I wanted to do to design this studio. And yeah, and when I had that, the Lunch and Learn presentation, I already had all the. A lot of booklets, designed a lot of presentations. But that's also because it's my. I enjoy a lot doing graphic design and presentation. And the contents were all. Because I was teaching for a while, so I had the educational content that I used.

[Podcast Host 2]

You were betting on yourself, but you've bet on yourself your entire life. Do you think you could not bet on yourself? I mean, how do you, how do you teach yourself to bet on yourself versus not bet on yourself? Where does that come from?

[Gulsana]

I still. If you just now take me and take away all the things I've done and put me somewhere else in the world, I would be rebuilding it from scratch and trusting myself. I think I was always like this, but because there is the feeling that if you don't trust yourself, then no one else will. And if you want to convince others to believe in you, you have to first believe in you. And that's what I always did. I always believed that that's kind of the risk that you can call a risk taker. But I don't really think it's a risk. I think it's just trusting yourself.

[Podcast Host 2]

What was, you know, what turned the dial to get you started with the luck to the opportunity.

[Gulsana]

Yeah. The interesting thing now it even surprised myself on a daily basis, like all of us, is that, for example, clients that I was looking for was going after for a lot of many years just sending emails have doing lunch and learners taking them to lunch, sending a note to remind them. We have a newsletter, all those things. And there are some clients that have been my dream clientele to work with and they just contact you without you even going after them because they now know seed and they know our work, which is. That's fascinating to me and still fascinating to all of us as a team that we are now in that place that we don't really need to go market ourselves too much to people that they have heard of our name. So it's interesting. But I think the point that changed luck into opportunity was learning the being intentional. So the intentionality. Then I started to systematize our studio with a coach and then I knew how many people I'm contacting this week? What are the responses? When is the next time I have to reach out to them. So it turned into a system of RStudio 2 to do business development. So that's, that's the switch. Before it was friends of a friends that heard of you and you just try your, your luck.

[Podcast Host 2]

What was it like when you, you knew you were taking on risks that would affect others because you were employing them.

[Gulsana]

Now that was not fun. It's because when you take risks on your own, you move a three. It's, it's just you, you have to figure it out. But then when your decisions affect other people, then those risks are not as, as fun to take nor necessarily a lot of they become stressful. But I think transparency really helped me in a way that everyone in our studio knows what's going on. So I don't make a decision alone. I try to involve others in my decisions. I still need to do the risk because at the end of the day it's all me. But, but having I think bringing in some support, some the support of people that work with you and you all share the same intention of building the studio, living a better life as a designer, creating something together, it really helped with those kind of decisions as a business because now I don't think we do something that's not. Well, I want to say this, I don't know if it's true, but most of the decision we make as a, as a, as a business, all the people that work in the business agree with because we run it by everyone. And then if someone's not on board with it, we try to convince them and explain why this is being done a certain way. And I think because coming back to your question of if I struggled with starting to work in architecture studios, but I had a lot of my own opinions is that I, I hoped that they involve me as well. They give me a voice to make a decision. Not every, not it didn't happen all the time, but when it happened it felt really good. So I wanted to keep that culture in our, in our in seats.

[Podcast Host 2]

So as a leader you have to make certain decisions on your own, but it sounds like you enjoy making them with your team too. What guides you in those moments? How to get who involved.

[Gulsana]

Entrepreneurship and owning business is very lonely. It's just, it's just you and the whole world of decisions and so many people's, so many people depend on your decision. So it's difficult. But I think what guides me to who to go to or how to bring up that idea to the team. It also comes from the trust. Because I trust people are gonna help me make a good decision as a team. So I think what runs our business is the way it is, is that we trust each other a lot.

[Podcast Host 1]

Trust is super important and someone you can trust is Tarjetti usa. I want to take a moment to recognize a team that understands what you and every designer already knows. Light isn't a fixture, it's the soul of a space. For almost a century, Targeti has shaped how people experience architecture using precision optics, performance and that unmistakable sense of Italian design to elevate every moment a space offers. Because light is, isn't just seen, it's felt. It drives emotion, guides the eye and transforms intention into atmosphere. For Targeti, light isn't simply the medium. It's the identity, it's the craft, the legacy and the commitment behind every solution they create. Experience it for yourself. Visit targetiusa.com the the team that we

[Gulsana]

have right now is, it's exceptional because it's. We are all very like minded in a way that the vision, our visions aligned and that's why we're there. Not because of the skills or different other things. It's all mainly the visions and there have been people that came to see them left or it didn't work out because we didn't have the same vision. So I think if everyone agrees on this, the big picture then it's, it's more fluid to, to make decisions together.

[Podcast Host 2]

And is that something you hire into or do you bring people in and, and teach them that?

[Gulsana]

I think both things. So we hire people that we think they are, they're good match or good fit to the team that we're making. But we also do a lot of training in the, and for a lot of training to bring people on board with, with the vision that is there right now. So I think we hire people that believe in the vision and when they come in, we train them into it. So we have a very extensive onboarding process. So when people start, they have to create their own vision, they have to write it, they have to read our intense and then we constantly meet about it. We take trips as a team together to just do vision planning and talk about where each of us are going. Because I know, I mean I don't expect every single person in our team to just stay with Seed forever, but I think the duration of time each of us are staying with that studio needs to be something that we are all aligned on and we all enjoy and believe in.

[Podcast Host 2]

Do you feel like that vision that people come into and is very much a part of the team is obvious in every project you do at this point?

[Gulsana]

I know because of the feedback I get. I mean, there's one thing that we have our own way of doing things in the studio and everyone. And it's a systematized process. So that is. It's gonna happen the way we are expecting it to. But then also how I think, how I know is more of feedback I get from our clients, like how we are perceived from outside. Because when you're in it, you don't really see that much anymore. It's basically like just doing the things you think they're right. But looking from outside to our studio. That's what I've been hearing as a feedback, which is very nice. And it's amazing to hear that you actually doing something that you thought you were doing. So we're not going sideways, but it's also a struggle because sometimes we get busy. When you're too busy, you become less intentional and about certain ways of doing things. So we're constantly very careful to not go there.

[Podcast Host 2]

But, yeah, there seems to be an incredible amount of mindfulness around what you've built, how you've built it, and then sharing that with your team to the extent that everybody shows up in their own way of being accountable around it. When you look at the future of what you want the seed to be, your life is one big story and one big project. So how do you start to decide it's good for now, or do you just keep going?

[Gulsana]

Or you mean to evolve it? Yeah, a different thing.

[Podcast Host 2]

I mean, you mentioned multidisciplinary. Obviously, you can always do more project work. You can take bigger fees. It's. But that was never really. It seems to be your motivator. So I'm curious, what motivates you now?

[Gulsana]

I don't think I will ever get to a point that I say it's good for now, but that doesn't mean that I want to get bigger or, you know, do more things. It's just to make what we're doing more intentional, better, and more purposeful. And there's never an end to it. Because I think all of us, when we work in the same, with the same process, same methods, on and on it would be. It gets boring and it gets. You realize.

[Podcast Host 2]

It's like speaking straight from the heart. What's your problem, dude?

[Gulsana]

Oh, my God. This has been good for now because normally they honk a lot here. In Canal Street, I know my vision is the big picture. Vision is not an end goal of let's get to this point. Point A is basically, let's go towards it and then other things happen naturally. And since it's no longer just myself deciding of what's. What is the. What's the main purpose. Now there's multiple people, so they bring in their ideas too. So that keeps growing. Because as an example is like recently, pretty recently in the past year, we started to take on an initiative of sustainability in lighting because of the new person that joined our team. She's an expert in that and that's her passion. So she suggested that one thing that's good about our studio is that we are very accepting of new ideas. So we embraced it and we want to pursue it. So then that is an add addition to something that in my vision, wasn't there. I didn't think about it that much. But now it's a part, it's an important part. Or like product design or all these other things come from other people's interests and visions. And we combined as a whole, as a whole, as a team for C2 to evolve that way.

[Podcast Host 2]

Being accepting and bringing all these new ideas and makes you dynamic, it makes you interesting, it gives you your competitive edge. If we look at it strictly from the world of business for a second, you've obviously got to go out and you've got to get work. I would imagine that there's an opportunity to get repeat business because people probably enjoy working with you as people, but then they see the output as well. When you look at new clients, new opportunities that come to the seed right

[Podcast Host 1]

now,

[Podcast Host 2]

how much is it driven by who you are and how you think versus who you are as people and working with versus the product in your portfolio, what do you think people focus on most or are attracted to?

[Gulsana]

First clients that we have worked with and they come back to us. They come back because of who we are as a team. But the new projects that we can pursue, they don't know us. So it's all about the portfolio, portfolio and how we represent ourselves as a brand. That's a big challenge because sometimes you want that new rfi, that new project that is coming, the RFP that comes and you need an interview, you want them to know you, but you don't have the opportunity. So all they see is a booklet of your portfolio and your fee. So you don't have the opportunity. But then so many, so many of our clients that are clients that are coming back, I think all of them come back because of who we are. And also we have this very tiny stream of clients that are, that know us because of who we are through our branding efforts outside of like non project related marketing and networking.

[Podcast Host 2]

Cash is king. No, creativity is king. Yes.

[Podcast Host 1]

Right.

[Podcast Host 2]

Everybody's creative. Everybody has an opportunity to be creative. Some people are more driven to let that get them out of bed every day. For you, it's this creative journey of a life project. Do you accept you are a lighting

[Podcast Host 1]

designer at this point?

[Gulsana]

Oh yeah, very much. I'm a lighting designer. I'm only a lighting designer and now I'm like encourage people to become a lighting designer because I feel that it's amazing.

[Podcast Host 2]

So where is architecture in your mind and in projects and in conversations now?

[Gulsana]

Architecture for me was a base that I, it was something I studied and it turned into a mindset for me in the way of the way I look at the world, the way that I interact with a city and environment and the intention of creating spaces. Lighting is now my skill, it is my tool. So yeah, architecture is basically still part of my life, but now I think that my toolbox is just lighting. There's a lot of lighting in it though.

[Podcast Host 2]

You've crafted your own experience and expertise in architectural lighting. Is there anything that you feel like you see across the architectural lighting community or industry that it believes that you don't?

[Gulsana]

Lighting me invisible. Can it work without power? Can I move it? No, you can't. It's like a, it's like a, a column, a beam. It's something important for the building. Right. So that's always this thing. But some people and I, I have started to realize that some people are reacting better to that because we also, we bring proof of our ideas with a lot of precedents, a lot of renderings and a lot of convincing. When I feel most alive, when I am in a deep creative conversation with someone else that is either my teammate or my client or just a friend. But I like to, I think the back and forth of ideas between people is something that makes, gives me energy to keep going and that's when I feel most satisfied with what I do. It's just a moment that I'm like, that's why I'm doing this, makes me very happy.