From HGTV to Beauty: The Art of Reinvention with Alison Victoria
Skin Anarchy - Ekta et al.
In this episode of Skin Anarchy, host speaks with Alison Victoria, interior designer, television host, and executive producer, about her jou
Key takeaways
- Sleep and consistent movement are foundational to well-being, often overlooked despite being free and accessible.
Main topics
- The role of home environment in mental and physical health
- Self-care routines and sustainable wellness habits
Notable quotes
"Doing design makes me happy and being happy makes me healthy."
"I sleep nine, ten hours a night. So that's awesome. Yeah, very important for my skin, my health, everything."
Conclusion
Alison Victoria's journey underscores the power of authenticity, intentional living, and
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) Hey guys, welcome back to Skin Anarchy. Today's a very, very special episode because we're going to be talking to a true expert when it comes to understanding the interior environment we're always in, the home environment. She is such an expert in the home interior decorating side and also an executive producer and television host. So without further ado, please welcome Allison Victoria. Welcome, Allison. Speaker 2 (0:19) Hi, thanks for having me. Speaker 1 (0:22) No, it's an honor to host you. I'm so excited to chat with you. I can't wait to like learn more about your journey. You know, you have had such an amazing, amazing career so far. And I would love for you to kind of walk us down memory lane, if you don't mind. And like, where did it start for you? Especially the television. Oh my Speaker 2 (0:36) gosh, it's a long journey. I'm going to give cliff notes. I always wanted to be a designer, which really helped me beeline it to exactly where I am. It wasn't wondering like, oh, do I maybe want to do this? No, I maybe want to do that. That came way later. in life. And I'm actually very glad for that because I was very steadfast in my journey of becoming an interior designer. I knew I wanted to do it since I was 11. And so it was easy to go to school for that and then get my job right out of college doing that with a home builder. And then came those moments of what do I really want to do in my life and adding to it, but always keeping the baseline of what I love the most, which is interiors. Doing design makes me happy and being happy makes me healthy. And that's to me the most important thing. So yes, I'm stressed to the max right now and doing too much, but I know that it will pay off. So it's worth it. Speaker 1 (1:32) You have so many projects, I feel like, that you're always juggling. And I think that's what's like really extraordinary, right, when I talk to professionals such as yourself, because I feel like we never get to hear about that in terms of like what that means for like how much time you have for yourself, you know? Like what do you do for like self-care? I'd love to dive into like your own self-care journey. Like, you know, did you have any moments, especially in the television side and the producing side? I mean, that's such a busy lifestyle, you know what I mean? So like, did you have moments where you're like, wait, I need to slow down for a minute, you know, and take care of myself? Speaker 2 (2:01) Yeah, I would say that I'm not doing the best job at it right now. Definitely not. Like when I was on my phone last night, because I work only from a phone. So everything I do is on my Apple iPhone. I have a laptop that sits here. It doesn't get much use, but my life is on the go. And so it's a constant. And I don't love that because it is very hard to detach. So last night, for instance, I was like, okay, put the phone down. I never watch TV ever. I have one television in my house and it never gets turned on. So last night I was like, okay, I'm going to do it tonight. Tonight's the night. I went into my movie room and never turned it on. I was working and then I had to tell myself, like, I was like, Paul Brandt, my partner, my boyfriend, just to stop working. And so I don't know the balance. I do know that every morning I wake up and I work out. That is my one hour of just pure detachment, put it that way. And I do it with a trainer, not because I'm so fancy, but because I have to hold myself accountable and she does that for me. If I worked out by myself, I'd be on my phone. So it's like knowing what my boundaries are and... also making sure that at least there's one thing that I do every day for me. I would say two things, like the workout and then sleep. I sleep nine, 10 hours a night. So that's awesome. Yeah, very important for my skin, my health, everything. I mean, I do attribute so much of that to my sleep ability. Speaker 1 (3:23) No, I love that, though. You brought up such a good point because we don't talk about like the bare essentials of like what actually keeps us healthy. You know, like I literally every day I'm like, you know, talking to brands that are coming out with like the latest innovations. And it's like, you know, we're trying to biohack right now. And we've got the peptide bros in one corner where it's like no one talks about like what are the bare necessities to have this like healthy, beautiful life. Right. And you wake up and you feel like, OK, I want to go do something today. And I feel like a lot of people struggle with that. But no one talks about things like sleep. So I'm glad you spotlighted that, you know. Speaker 2 (3:52) Yeah. Why not talk about the things that are free? Everyone's talking like all these like keywords right now, peptides and longevity and that costs money. And a lot of us don't have that disposable income to go and start doing peptides for $1,500 a month. So it's like, what are the things that we can do that cost nothing? And I think for me, I look at it like my workout, I can do a very similar workout in a hotel room on a floor with a towel. And I can make a choice to say, you know what? I'm not going to sit here and be on my phone doing work. I'm going to go for a walk and do it there. And moving your body, those things cost nothing. And those things make a massive difference in your overall well-being. Speaker 1 (4:35) No, I couldn't agree more. And I kind of want to ask you this, especially because I know right now, and I feel like this started with COVID because we were all so locked up. for like so long is our home environment. Because I mean, you are the expert here, you know, when it comes to interior design, understanding the space and like elevating our own spaces. I just want to get your real thoughts on this about where do you think all of that fits in when we're thinking about what is going to actually make me feel better at the end of the day, you know, because just like sleep, like what you just brought up, that's in my mind, also one of those big, big things that impact us in so many different areas of life. And we never discuss it like in the wellness. conversation never comes up. Speaker 2 (5:14) Well, I'm doing my entire sub stack about sleep and I can't wait for that one to come out in like four weeks or something. That's really exciting because it's my superpower. So this is my house and I love it more than anything. And I feel safe here and I feel like hugged every time I come in the door and I've created an environment that I want to be in and that makes me happy. So every morning when I wake up and I look at this house, I'm like, oh my, now it is a shit show in here because there's samples everywhere and my work is everywhere. I mean, if you saw behind the camera, you'd be like, this girl does not have her shit together. But that's actually kind of my life. It's always like, oh, this might look pretty, but don't open the drawers. But what you do see is what I know this house can be when things are not so chaotic. But I walk in, I wake up and I walk out and I'm like, oh my God, this is my house. Like I get to live here. And, you know, I designed my life this way, not just in the way that I live it, but in the place and things that I've surrounded myself with. I like tchotchkes. I like open shelving. I like memories of travels and photos of family and reminders of the good life that I live. And my home is a collection of those moments. And so you come into my home, there's a story for everything. I was here when I bought that. I negotiated this price for that. I bought it here and then I turned it into this. It's a really positive way of being because even when I'm alone, I'm reminded of these happy moments. And so I'm surrounded by it at all times. And that's what makes home so great to come back to every day at the end of a long one, at the start of a very busy one. Home is where life happens. Speaker 1 (6:57) Absolutely. Yeah, no, I know that's one of the biggest things I have had a hard time kind of getting my head around is how much it impacts our wellness and our overall like just everyday disposition, you know, like when you wake up and go about your day, like all of that is impacted about like how you're waking up, where you're waking up, what's your environment, what have you created for yourself in the morning first thing when you open your eyes, like that kind of thing. I don't know, it just never gets discussed, you know, and I feel like when the world of interior design, if you really think about like, Like for me personally, every single time I've seen something that I really like in terms of interior design, you know, like a concept, it's always centered around like how much comfort will this bring me at the end of the day? You know, like, am I going to feel like exactly what you were describing, really comfortable in my space, really like taken care of in my space. And I feel like that's something that that conversation needs to happen more, you know, in terms of like what we can do to enhance that. Speaker 2 (7:48) Yeah. And that's what I try to do every second that I can, whether it's on social or now through my new platform that I literally just launched this morning, where I get to talk in depth about those things, about creating a happy home, about... creating healthy decisions in home and in life. Because on social, you know, like you only get to put a little blurb out or in a podcast, you get to touch on one subject and it's longer doing a podcast than it is doing a social post. But these things are really exciting to dive into deeper. And yeah, I mean, look, I think that having a happy home creates a healthy lifestyle. Speaker 1 (8:28) Yeah. I mean, so can you dive into it a little bit with us? Like, what do you think we can all incorporate in our home environment? Well, Speaker 2 (8:34) I touched on it a little bit, but like moments and memories for me are important. And so when I design, I always, always do open shelving. Open shelving is an opportunity for you to bring those memories into your space and be a constant reminder of the good life that you've lived. So pictures and tchotchkes from travels and all of those things, things that you're proud of, things that you want to. show off things that you want to talk about and things that make you think about those happy moments. Having those right in front of your face every day, very important. I don't like walking into a sterile home. It does nothing for me. In fact, it makes me kind of shut down and close up. So that's not my type of interior. I love a mix of old and new. Anybody who watches my design knows that. I'm sitting at this credenza that's from 1942 and I'm like in love with it. I think about the life that this piece has lived. and the home that I've given it and this rebirth that it's experiencing in my lifetime. And it's