Meet Karina Guzman | Interior Design & Feng Shui Certified Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Karina Guzman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Karina, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
We all have gifts and talents that make us unique and different to anybody else. Being able to share mine was the inspiration behind my present career: wouldn’t it be great if we all could share our natural ability with the rest of the world?” And so, after some time pondering and convincing myself, I decided to go after my dream: To create a company where I could share my passion for beauty and energy applied to the spaces where we live and spend our days and nights. Harmonious Living by K is the result of my love for Interior Design from the perspective of how the furniture arrangement, colors, accessories and everything that surrounds us in our homes affects the energy and how that can also affect the way we feel in those spaces. I believe that one of my gifts is being able to feel the energy around me, that happens to me with people very frequently, but it is especially strong with spaces, so why not help people designing homes that are beautiful but that also make them feel relaxed, happy and in balance. Spaces that help people recharge and heal after spending their days working or studying. Opening my own company wasn’t an easy decision because we usually think about everything that could go wrong, what if I am not successful, what if I am not good enough, what if I am too old for this, etc., in those days we were living the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and that gave me the ultimate push to try, what could I lose? On the other hand, I could win a lot: learning how to start a company in this country, learning to be my own boss, taking responsibility for my decisions in front of my clients, and specially to feel that I can do whatever I put my mind on if I really want to and pursue my dream. During these past two years, I got both my certifications as Interior Designer and as a Feng Shui Interior Designer from the New York Institute of Art and Design and in December 2021 I formally started my company. I am still only taking the first steps to bring this dream to where I want it to, but even though some days are difficult and challenging, every day also gives me the opportunity to learn about myself, my talents, my gifts and to use my time the best way I can, honoring myself by doing what I really love.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Harmonious Living by K is an Interior Design, Feng Shui and Home Organization consulting firm whose vision is to bring beauty, harmony and good energy into my client’s home and lives. This has been a journey that started when I was a child, admiring the beauty in nature, observing how I felt when I was enjoying a natural scenery, noticing how animals reacted in different environments and to different people. All those moments gave me inputs to later in life understand how connected the “feeling” and the surroundings were for me. I have a degree in Social Communications with a major in Advertising and P.R. with more than 15 years’ experience in marketing, events, public relations and advertising. During all those years I was always confronted with choices that involved beauty, staging for ads, tv commercials, choosing locations for events and decorating for all kind of events. Without knowing, I was cultivating my sense of aesthetics and beauty working with different categories of clients and big companies. At the same time, during my whole career and life, I learned to flow and to be guided by my feelings, to take notice of how I felt in different situations and people and how that could affect my performance and productivity in my work and personal life. Once I decided that I wanted to dedicate my time to do something that made me feel passionate about and after being helping friends and families with their homes, organizing after a move, refreshing spaces because they “didn’t feel right” and staging before a sell, it was just a matter of when and how to do this formally as a business, creating my own company and applying my knowledge to earn my own living. This was in 2020 and I am still creating my brand and working with different kinds of clients. Creating a company during the Covid 19 pandemic have presented so many challenges but I am still here, building day by day the company that I believe could bring light, good energy and prosperity to my client homes through the implementation of Feng Shui techniques and Interior Design principles. Harmonious Living by K summarizes my journey in life: a passion for beauty, a sensibility to feeling what is right or wrong with the energy in a space, the belief that clean and organized spaces help to better functioning in our day-to-day activities, the curiosity and drive to learn new abilities and the wish to help and to share whatever I have learned in my career and life. I am ready to guide my clients in their own journey to transform their homes into their own temples to heal, recharge and be surrounded by their kind of beauty.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Places to Visit: – Miami Art-Deco Historic District,
– Miami Design District.
– Wynwood Art District,
– Morikami Museum and Gardens
– Yellow Green Farmer’s Market – Hollywood
– Las Olas Boulevard – Fort Lauderdale
– Vizcaya Museum and Gardens – Miami
– Key West
– Lincoln Road Shops and Restaurants – Miami

Restaurants:
– Boca’s Grill (Venezuelan) – Brickell
– Xixón (Spanish) – Miami
– Casa Juancho (Spanish) – Miami
– Old Lisbon (Portuguese) – Miami
– Eatapas (Spanish) – Fort Lauderdale
– Sugarcane (Latin) – Miami
– Cafe Versailles (Cuban) – Miami
– Steak 954 (American) – Fort Lauderdale
– Casa D’Angelo (Italian) – Fort Lauderdale
– Shooter’s Waterfront (American) – Fort Lauderdale
– Crazy About You (American) – Brickell
– Yardbird Table and Bar (American -Southern) – Miami

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people who have guided me to this point who deserves my acknowledgment. First, to Carlos, my best friend, partner in life and husband who always believes in me and pushes me to be brave and to believe in myself, To Mamina, my mother: who always, always supported me no matter the size of my dream. To Vicky, my daughter: my inspiration, I want to show her that everything is possible if you really want it to. To my friends and family who so many times reminded me about my talents and encouraged me to share it with the world. I have also been lucky enough to be surrounded by guardian angels like Sara Parisi and incredible friends who also have believed in me and gave me my first jobs: Aleida Serron, Patricia Frolich, and The Pita’s family, To Dr. Wayne Dyer and Louise Hay, their books inspired me to follow my heart and love myself. And lastly one final shoutout to those many souls that I have encountered on my journey who have helped me shape my dream, you know who you are.

Instagram: @HarmoniousLivingByK

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Harmonious-Living-by-K

Image Credits
Carlos Alves, Karina Guzman