Episode 2 - Tina Marie Talks With Award-Winning Fashion Designer David Peck
Tina Marie Talks With Award Winning Fashion Designer David Peck.
Award-winning entrepreneur and designer David Peck studied fashion design at Ecole Parsons à Paris after a career as a classical cellist. After time at renowned fashion houses Paco Rabanne, Junichi Hakamaki, and Robert Normand, David's work continued in New York before moving to Houston in 2010 where he operates his own line.
David chairs the Paris College of Art Board, is a member of the Advisory Board of Directors for Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS), the Fashion Design and Merchandising Advisory Board for Houston Community College, and is the Fashion Chair at PS One Portfolio School in Beijing, China. He previously chaired the Fashion Task Force for the Greater Houston Partnership.
Named one of Houston Chronicle’s Most Interesting People and a Rising Star by the League of Women Voters, he has chaired/co-chaired many events including the Alley Theatre Ball After Party, Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS), the Judy’s Mission Possible Luncheon, and served three years as the Creative Director/Producer for the KNOWAutism Gala.
David directed the uniform design of the JW Marriott Houston Downtown, Hotel Ylem, and Oxbow 7 at Le Méridien Houston Downtown. He has been a guest artist at Interlochen Center for the Arts. He has styled for film and television. His work has been exhibited at the Ellen Noel Art Museum "Texas Now" exhibition in Odessa, Texas and at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
David's work has been featured on the cover of Women's Wear Daily; in publications such as Teen Vogue, Lucky, Marie Claire, InStyle, and People Style Watch; and on popular television shows Hart of Dixie and E! News. David has dressed celebrities such as Kate Bosworth, Jaime King, Giuliana Rancic, Mayim Bialik, Maggie Grace, Ashlan Gorse, Rose McGowan, Esperanza Spalding, Lauren Conrad, and Taylor Swift.
Tina Marie (01:03):
Hello and welcome to another awesome episode of light your life. I'm your host, Tina Marie Saint seer. And as always, I get to invite in the amazing people that influenced my life. I can call them friends and they will be influencing your life as well. And today is one of those cases. Again, I get to interview my dear friends, David Peck. Let me tell you a little bit about David. Before we jp in. David is an award-winning entrepreneur and designer of his own line, and he studied in Paris after career as a classical cellist. Very interesting. And at T he spent a lot of his career with fashion houses that you've heard of puck over bond. Hopefully I say this next one, correctly, Junichi Hakka McKee and Robert Norman David's work then continued to New York. And then he made his way to Houston in 2010, where he now operates and owns his own fashion line under his name.
Tina Marie (02:03):
You can find that@shopdavidpack.com, you can also find him on Instagram, the gram@shopdavidpeck.com, very entertaining and very informative. I love all your posts. He has been named as Houston Chronicles, one of Houston Chronicles, most interesting people, and his work has been featured on the cover of women's daily. Women's wear daily teen Vogue memory, Claire, I mean, beautiful magazines and publications that you know of that feature amazing designers in our world. And he's dressed celebrities catch this, some of the names, Kate Bosworth, Jamie King, Maggie grace, Rose McGowan, and Taylor Swift. So I can't wait to dive into today's interview where we will be sharing how to design a life. You love living. David, thank you so much for being my guest today. This is going to be excited. I've been looking forward to this. All right. You're a very interesting person, and I know you have great wisdom in the journey that you've had through your life that will impact and influence other people to live their journey and beautiful ways to thank you for being
David Peck (03:08):
Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Tina Marie (03:12):
And so I had a question, you know, what had you go into your own line? I mean, not all fashion designers. I know they, they say they want to, it's not an easy journey, you know, like, okay, I'm operating a business here. I'm not just a creative. So what got you into that space? Where I want to own my own line. I want to operate my own business. I want to go for it.
David Peck (03:35):
That's a very good question. And it actually started long before I went to school for fashion. , I had gotten a degree as a classical cellist, as you mentioned. , and while I was doing that, I was working for Ralph Lauren and I started in sales and ended up doing windows and visual merchandising, , because they liked the way I folded clothes. So, you know, if you ever think that you're in a job that where you're not going to get noticed, like something as simple as folding clothes can change everything for you anyway, , I really admired Ralph Lauren's ability to create this world. And, , when I started thinking about the idea of design, , or fashion more specifically, I didn't really come from a family who was interested in fashion. None of it was just not part of my background. , I really thought fashion design was, you know, designing gallons for the Oscars.
David Peck (04:28):
, but I, when I, when I decided that I was going to go to school for fashion, I decided on fashion rather than a kind of other things that I was interested in doing. It was because I could see so many avenues that were interesting for me. And, , I always had the idea that I was going to do it so that I could have my own business. , I never dreamt that I was going to work for somebody else that may, maybe for a period of time, I thought that I would work for somebody else. But the end goal was always that I was going to have more of a, for lack of a better term it's overused now lifestyle company that, , was akin to Ralph Lauren, what he had done. , and so that, that really was kind of the impetus for moving to Paris and studying fashion. , not because I was so obsessed with fashion per se, but that I really wanted to use it as a vehicle to express a world.
Tina Marie (05:19):
Wow. That is powerful. And how old were you when you started understanding that this is a passion that you had inside yourself?
David Peck (05:28):
, if I were honest, I would say it happened a lot younger than, , I kind of formally recognized it, but I finished my degree when I was 21. So that was sort of when I made the decision that if I'm going to go get another degree then, so I guess 21 was the officially. , but I think I knew sooner than that, if I'm really being honest, like I always had an idea that I was going to do something larger. , I don't think I ever imagined working for anybody. I, everything that I was always interested in growing up was very entrepreneurial. I want it to be a lot of different things growing up. And, but I think if I look back on it now in hindsight, the thing that would have been common with all of those things is entrepreneurial.
Tina Marie (06:15):
That's awesome. I'm glad that you have pursued your passion and stayed the course as it takes a lot of energy, many people abandon, you know, they're like, Oh, this is too much work and they let those limiting beliefs keep them away from their passion and you've, you know, gone the full course and you're going even higher. So congratulations. And thank you.
David Peck (06:33):
Thanks. I mean, it's definitely, wasn't the easiest route to take if anybody thinks that entrepreneurship is like the quick way to success, it's, it's not. So if that's what you're looking for, I don't recommend it. , but for me it was really the best thing for me. , and, and being able to create something from scratch. That's something I have always been able to do and kind of see disparate elements and put them together into something that makes sense. And, , being an entrepreneur now, , for the longest time, I, and I think I've mentioned this to you before that, , when people would say fashion designer, it didn't really resonate with me and it didn't, , fully encompass everything that I wanted to be. And so it felt limiting. , and I think only in the past, I would say four or five years, I kind of discovered the term entrepreneur, , as one that I can clearly identify for myself at this time. And it feels much more liberating and expansive than, , simply fashion designer. Not that there's anything wrong with just being a fashion designer, that's what you want to do. But for me, that, wasn't my path. Yeah.
Tina Marie (07:44):
The full brella, the full scope of what's alive in you right now. And so could you share with us, how do you stay in that creative mind? Cause you know, for myself being an entrepreneur, there's the day to day, there's the things that need to get done there. The people that we lead and the projects that we're overseeing, making sure that the customers are satisfied and those logistics, so to speak can, can feel more to me at least draining if that's what we focus on only. And I know you're a creative, you're obviously a very creative mind. How do you balance those two worlds?
David Peck (08:20):
That is something that I've gotten better at I'm still not perfect at it? , I definitely think, , I have many aspects of my personality and there's one part of it that is very, very creative. , but then there's another part that's super grounded. I'm kind of typically Ken's Capricorn aspect, , and very practical. So there's this kind of like this duality in my personality that kind of exists. And it's very hard for me to work on both of them at the same time I can kind of infuse one or the other with it. But, , what I have found that works best for me, it's to separate it like intentionally separated. So I have scheduled time on my calendar where I sort of allow myself to be creative and to think bigger and to think creatively and to kind of go outside the pressures of running a small business.
David Peck (09:15):
And then that way, the day to day running of a small business and all the answer questions that need to be answered and the problems that need to be solved, like impose have their own place and giving each one, respect is something that has helped me find balance. I think before I tried to handle it all in one day and it didn't work very well, it was exhausting and I always felt distracted. And, , I think science has shown us that we actually don't multitask very well. , it's not possible. And I know that very much and my wife will tell you, like, I can't like she gets very frustrated. Like if, if the TV is on and she's trying to have a conversation, I need to pause it and I need to focus. If I don't, then I'm distracted. I can't have a computer open or a phone near me. Like it, I am very bad that way. , and I think if most of us were honest, we were probably all really bad that way. , so for me having that separation kind of eliminating the distractions, setting that side attire, setting aside time where my email's not open, my phone's not on, I'm not reachable, it's blocked off on my calendar and my team really has respected that. And that has helped me immensely, especially in this past year, , to kind of foster both sides of the creativity and the practicality of running a small business.
Tina Marie (10:34):
That's awesome. Thanks for sharing that. And it's hard to do. I mean, just realizing that you can turn things off is it's almost like an anxiety. Some people go, you know, like I know, , some of my friends, they may forget their phone at home and it's almost like it's doomsday, I'm kind go get my phone. So turning ourselves, you know, putting ourselves in a place where we're not reachable where the outside world has to wait for our engagement is a discipline. And one that as you're sharing is, is quite necessary for the creative mind.
David Peck (11:07):
Yeah. I'm not perfect at it yet. I actually recently turned off all the notifications on my phone. , so no texts, , people would still call me if they really, really need to, but no Instagram messages, nothing with social media, no emails. , and that has really helped. I will say that because I'm a han and, , I kind of have been programmed to kind of have that Pavlovian response to like getting the dings that I still probably check all those things way too much, even though I'm not getting the notifications, but not having the notifications on my phone as a present reminder, it's such a stress relief and, , kind of extremely liberating. , and it has helped me, I think I'm a little less dependent on my phone or computer, , and, and really, truly set aside that time to be creative and think about the bigger picture
Tina Marie (11:57):
Whenever you started this practice, did you notice that the mind may have needed some allowance to get into that creative mode? Was it a natural, you know, from one mindset of being connected and seeing all the projects and then you drop into the creative space, is there a way that you reset or allow your mind to know, Hey, we're going into this creative mode now?
David Peck (12:20):
Uh, yeah, I, you know what I found and I heard this recently in a podcast and I can't remember what it was, but, , basically giving ourselves the grace to, , give into our temptations is actually something that can really help with that transition. So, but giving it a time limit. So for instance, like if I, if I know I'm going to have this creative time, but I need to, you know, I feel this urge to like check my email instead of denying or check my email, which I think then would distract me throughout the creative time because I haven't checked my email. I give myself like I have five minutes I have until this time I can go through it and then I can shut it off. And somehow that kind of pacifies the urge to keep that going on in the back of my head during that creative time.
David Peck (13:05):
So I think sometimes I kind of get giving in to the temptation, but with this very specific limit, , is something that can help me transition better into a time of creativity. And then I find that I'm more able to stay in sort of that zone more easily without thinking like, Oh shoot, I didn't check my email or I haven't checked to see if anybody needed me. And the truth is, you know what, once I rationalized it, if anybody really needed me, if it was really an emergency, they would call me or come find me. I'm not that hard to find, but, , it's a, and it's not going to be the end of the world. And because I've set a specific day aside every week for this, , then you know, people learn to respect your boundaries and they even help you enforce it, even if you're not, , being the best at it yourself. They're like, you need to go have your time.
Tina Marie (13:57):
I remember you got on the calendar, come on, get it done. I love that. And so as a business owner, what has been one of the hardest obstacles you've had to overcome?
David Peck (14:07):
Oh, goodness. A lot. , they could be here for days. , but the biggest one I think was losing my business five years ago. , it's actually almost five years ago. Exactly. Yeah. That will, that I relaunched. But five years ago in September that I ended up closing my business. , and in many ways it was really painful because the business on paper was so successful. , we were doing so well. We had really high revenue like we were doing really well. We were finally becoming profitable. And , for many, many reasons that I won't get into it, it just had to end and as painful as that wasn't as horrible as that was. I'm so glad that it happened when it did. , and I'm really glad for the five years that I've had since then, because it was really, I had that business for five years and now I've had this iteration of the business for five years.
David Peck (15:03):
And, , in so many ways it feels like a do over and a way to, even though I still make mistakes, I still don't get it. All right. , really learning from what I went through the first time and really go after what I truly want and not let people tell me I need to do. , and that, that has been extremely liberating to kind of, and it took me a while. It wasn't like, you know, I went through the closing of that first business and all of a sudden woke up the next day, knowing how to do it all right. , it definitely was not the truth then. , but I think that with time and with perspective, I was able to let go, a lot of the limiting beliefs that I had around what a fashion business was supposed to be. And that's when I talk about embracing the word entrepreneur, that is when that truly happened is looking at it in a different way. And now I look at the business so much differently and, , it's, it's extremely liberated.
Tina Marie (16:00):
So when you look at the word, thank you for sharing that. Whenever you look at the word entrepreneur, tell us what you see, what's that mean to David?
David Peck (16:07):
Well, to me, I look at entrepreneurship as like the ultimate form of creativity because you're, I mean, creative people, what you go to design school for is truly to solve problems. And I think sometimes when you specify it as fashion design, you are limited to solving problems based on that specific genre. And you're, you don't necessarily apply that to the business, but when you kind of take a broader word like entrepreneurship, then you look at creativity in a bigger sense. And you look at like, how am I going to be creative in building and designing this business and the life that I really want to live rather than just, how do I make this a really interesting garment? And what's interesting is that I feel like the product ends up rising to meet the business. And you're making a product that fits into this business that answers needs of your customers, because you're looking at the bigger picture. , and I, so I think that the biggest transformation in my mindset is really redefining what creativity and design means for me. And it's so much more expansive and so much more fulfilling than simply looking at it through the lens of fashion.
Tina Marie (17:19):
That is so beautiful. And as you were sharing that, I literally heard that that's more than likely what Ralph Lauren went through as well. I know you touched on that earlier because he did, he moved from, we don't, I don't just see Ralph Lauren as a fashion designer, like you mentioned, he was a lifestyle creator and that is entrepreneurial. That is impactful far beyond what we would consider as fashion.
David Peck (17:45):
Yeah. I think the thing that made me resonate the most with his story in particular was that he was a kid from the Bronx, you know, not a lot of money, , born with the name Lipschitz and, you know, decided to create this world that was completely lost, the completely, you know, pseudo European, but completely authentic at the same time. I don't think there's anything that rings false about the world that he's created. That feels very authentic and very him. , but it didn't necessarily get defined by his upbringing. And I think for me growing up in New Mexico and, , in a family that I love them and they have so many wonderful traits, but you know, being interested in aesthetics and, , design is not necessarily one of them. , I'm very much an outlier in my family. So being able to see somebody who had taken the germ of an idea, you know, he started with a tie and kind of expanding that to this universe is something that was very inspiring to me. And it's still inspiring to me.
Tina Marie (18:45):
That's amazing. Uh, thank you for sharing that. I'd forgotten that about his history and you know, you just, there has to be so many stories of growing up with that last name.
David Peck (18:54):
Yeah. Do you're interested in his story. There's a really fantastic, , docentary on HBO about it's. I think it's called very Ralph, , that came out last year. That really talks about how he grew his business and, , watching that now many years later, after having originally been inspired by his story, , it's just like, Oh yeah, that's, that is the thing that made me excited about going into this world. It wasn't the fashion, it wasn't anything else. It was the idea of world making, , that was so invigorating.
Tina Marie (19:29):
And you know what, today we're talking about designing the life you would love to live, right? And so you didn't know this docentary, you know, it just came into your knowing this last year, yet there was pieces and glimpses of his life that you could imagine into that fulfilled you as a person and brought you down this beautiful journey. So my next question is what has been your greatest reward of your journey so far?
David Peck (19:58):
There are so many wonderful things that I've come from all of this, including, you know, wonderful things that have come through, quote, unquote failures. , but I would say right now, the thing that I feel the most grateful for, , are the people who, and community who have supported me along the way and so many different ways. , you know, I think there's never been one person throughout the whole time that has, it's like, this is the person, but I think life has brought me the right people at the right time to give me the encouragement along the way. , including meeting you, like, I think we started working together a year and a half ago, , and that was really transformative. And then there was somebody else who helped me relaunch the business and that was really transformative and all of these people, , coming and now in my team, like, I feel like my team is, is such a powerful part of why we're doing well and kind of can dream about the future and make that happen is, , you know, it's having those kinds of people around you that, , take everything to the next level and help you, , kind of see another side of yourself and the other side of the business and kind of latch on to that same vision and grow it and expand it with you.
David Peck (21:14):
, so I think that's then the most rewarding is it's the people that I've had in my life that have kind of helped me when I didn't have the energy necessarily, or feel like I had the energy, I should say, , to do it. , and to kind of rediscover what really excited me about the work.
Tina Marie (21:32):
Right. That's awesome. And thank you for mentioning team. Cause I wanted to dive into that as business owners and your creative, your vision is, is wholly yours, right? And whenever you're involving your team and what's going to be created in the outcome for your customers, how do you balance that ownership of the outcome? You know, as a creative, we see our vision and we, we don't want to be mean about saying, this is what I see. This is what I want, and we want to be cooperative and collaborative with our team. Is there any words of advice on that collaborative spirit from a creative mind?
David Peck (22:09):
I think the biggest thing that I have found is, , when I can clearly articulate what the bigger picture is to my team, the more easily they can buy into it, if I'm, if I can't find a way, whether it's with words or pictures or some sort of story, , to inspire them and to kind of most make them see what it is that we're trying to create or that I would like that for them to create, then it becomes very hard. But, and I will say like one of the things that we've worked on a lot this past year is systemizing the business, which I would say probably a year ago, they would say on the surface, they understood why systems were important, but not true, truly at a core level. , but because we've been working on this for this really a year, I guess, trying to get systems in the business and they're seeing as the business grows, how important it is to have those things in place and like seeing how they affect the bigger picture, then it gets them excited about, Oh, I'm going to start creating these on my own.
David Peck (23:10):
And I'm going to figure out like, how do I not work harder? I work smarter. , and so I think once I figured out better ways to communicate that whether it was through stories or podcasts or books or whatever, to kind of get those points across then that helped us grow together as a team and, or even the team members I think have helped themselves, you know, one member of the team kind of latched on early to the idea and were able to illustrate how it was impacting, how they were doing their job. Then it was easier for other members of the team to kind of say, Oh yeah, like I get it now. Like I understand why it's important to, it's not just this thing, you know, to create bureaucracy. It's really something to create freedom and liberation so that I can actually do the things I love to do and not get stuck in the, you know, admin or whatever it is. That's it feels like is dragging you down.
Tina Marie (24:04):
I love that because that even goes into what we're talking about in a broader scope today is designing the life you'd love to live. So whenever we look at designing the life that we'd love to live, there will be inherent systems that are supporting the, the take out or the growth of that life. , you know, simply from having systems of finances and depending on that systems of communication with our beloved people around us, systems of networking, things of that nature, everything does come down to systems that can, like you said, create this effortless, ease in our life, but the mind, the mind first goes, ah, systems, you know, for many people, some people love systems, you know, they're all about it. Other times they're like, that feels like it's going to be too much work to maintain or sustain. What, what advice could you give toward systems in general, whenever we're designing the life that we'd love to live?
David Peck (25:03):
I think the biggest thing is to see, , truly that systems are liberating, , and not cages. And I think a lot of people look at systems as I'm creating this rigid structure that I have to adhere to. And that feels very confining. And I would probably have said that at one point in my career as well. , but I think what I've learned is that in really looking at the bigger picture of the, the life I want to live and designing that and being really intentional tensional about creating that life, that, , you start with the bigger picture and work backwards. So this is what I really want. I want more time. I want to travel. I want to have, you know, such a, this kind of house I want to have whatever it is that is the life that you want to live.
David Peck (25:50):
You work backwards from that. Then you can kind of like distill it into small parts. Like, well, if I want to travel, then I can only spend X amount of time on this. So how am I going to get all the stuff that needs to get done in this amount of time? And so when you chunk it down and kind of work at the big picture and go backwards, then the system sort of naturally start to happen. Whereas I think if you start with that, manusha of like, I'm, how am I going to organize these files? It's not about organizing the files that that is a by-product of designing the life that you want to live. And so I think sometimes especially creative people, and I think most entrepreneurs have this element of creativity within them that you have to start with that thing that ignites you and the reason you got into it. And for me, it's like creating this life, not only a life that I can share with other people that they can have with themselves, but I life I truly want to live for myself. And if that is something that I'm trying to do and that I'm designing and creating them, all of these other things have to be in place for that to happen. , and that for me is the ultimate motivation for creating the systems. And it makes it seem effortless rather than sort of another boring admin task.
Tina Marie (27:00):
You've touched on something that's really important. And it's the knowing that we can be selfish about what we want in our life. Sometimes I don't know about you, but I was raised that you, I check in with other people to make sure that what you're doing or what you're thinking or what action you're going to take is going to be approved of, or, or within a framework with other people's okayness. And we can lose sight of our own vision or own one, our own identity in all of that. And then we wake up one day and we start asking those questions, who am I, what do I want? And oftentimes that comes through coaching or getting somebody close to us going, well, what are you doing? What do you want? And there was a movie I'm sure you've seen it, the notebook. Did you see that? And so, , the question is, what are you words? She's like, I don't know what I want and getting that clarity, first of the selfishness of really diving into what do you want is the first step that we need to have in our own awareness before we can design a life we'd love to live, right?
David Peck (28:05):
Yeah. Yeah. I think that's true. And you know, it's, it's hard because I have a family and like there's a, it feels like sometimes there's a limit to how selfish women can be. Let's when you have kids. , yeah, so you're like, Oh, I actually do have to take them to school, even though I don't want to, you know, there, there are certain parameters that kind of, , define our lives. But I think the thing that, , I truly got comfortable with was figuring out what it is that I truly wanted. And like, and really being honest about what that actually was rather than trying to define it by society standards. So I would say when I first started the business 10 years ago, the first iteration of the business, , I, the very person posts that I had if I looked back at it was exactly right.
David Peck (28:53):
And, , I, you know, there was such an element of, , simplicity to the, my original design plan of what I wanted the business to be. And I think if had I stuck with that, , and grew that then maybe I wouldn't have gone through everything I went through, but because you know, the industry, I will say in general tells you, Oh, you need to do this. Or you need to do PR a certain way. You need to sell a certain way. You need to do seasons a certain way. There's all of these kind of limitations that were imposed, which have now because of COVID and the, just the internet have actually all been imploding couple of years and they definitely don't work anymore. , and maybe for me, it just imploded a little bit sooner. , I think if I had stuck with that original creativity of looking at that germ of an idea and being creative with that, then there would have, you know, maybe it would have worked, but, you know, I was supposed to go through everything that I went through.
David Peck (29:52):
And I think learning that I learned what I didn't want. And I learned I did, I basically tried everything that was possible in the traditional realm of running a fashion business. And it was so hard. And so unrewarding, I mean like, why am I doing all this for this kind of return? And so now in kind of redesigning the business and designing a life that I want to live, I'm like, well, I want to work this much. I want to travel this much. I want to have this much freedom. I want to have this much financial security. You don't want to live like a starving artist. Like this is not. , and I hope that one day I make it big and it'll all be fine. Like, no, I need to design a business. That's profitable. I need to design a business that actually functions in the sustainable.
David Peck (30:33):
And how do we do that? , and there, once I found the creativity and in that thing, and being really true with myself and rather than looking at some external force of saying, this is what it's supposed to look like, then it started to happen. And, , I found freedom in that and sort of, but I think everything has to start with, with you, you know, you have to find it within yourself and that motivation, and you're never going to be able to give to other people you're never going to support anybody else. You're never going to be able to lead a team if you don't have that vision in you. , if you're always being kind of distracted by other voices or kind of second guessing yourself, , and then I think you won't calm that clear vision and that energy is palpable and it won't work.
Tina Marie (31:24):
Yeah. So what I'm hearing is that if anyone who's listening to this podcast is feeling like it's just not working. Who's feeling like it feels stuck and your emo or your regular way of being is to seek outside yourself first and ask others, Hey, what do you think? What would you do then? You're going to still stay the course of the confusion and what your, what David, what you realized is that you did have that very simple, clear picture of where your business would be yet a part of you when the course of what other people's impression of what you should do is there. So if you're finding yourself stuck, if you're finding yourself confused, if you're finding yourself outwardly asking people, what would you do? What do you think it's that inner knowing that needs to first be cultivated and spoken to and with, right. Yeah. I know you meditate. And you, you spend these times with that inner knowing for yourself to find that silent time. Is that, is that one of your own systems and daily disciplines that you find is most inspiring?
David Peck (32:37):
Yeah, I think it's a really important, , one of the things that I've done is, , both written down and recorded as a voice memo on my phone. , sort of my things that are wanting to manifest or kind of contemplate and have happened in my life. And so for the days when it's hard to think of them all, or I just don't have the energy, I have that, and I can kind of use that to help guide a meditation. , and I think it's, uh, I've noticed that when I neglect it and when I don't use that as a way to start my day, , then I tend to be more reactive to my day rather than intentional about my day. , and I think that having that time, especially in the morning, you know, kind of before I get into work, , really helps to kind of make me make decisions based on that intentionality rather than, Oh, this is happening and I need to react to it.
Tina Marie (33:35):
All right. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Cause people don't know the inside world of entrepreneurs or creatives. We really, you know, it's not like you're going to go share everything out on Instagram, although I love your Instagram posts. I'm so glad that your Instagram posts become like part of my normal feed. I'm like, Oh, what'd David post today. Uh, but that, that inner world of our own mind, we don't avail to other people. It's, it's, it's like the sacred space that is between us and our higher power that infinite intelligence is working in and through us as we're an instrent of it, whenever you speak to other creatives, or if you were speaking to creatives right now, what advice would you give them to trust their, their creativity to trust that voice and to move in its direction?
David Peck (34:24):
I think the biggest thing is understanding, like if you, if you truly desire something you're going to make that happen. I think especially if you're creative. , so if there's something inside you that says, you know, I can picture this and I can, I can see it then there, that means it probably exists already. , and it's your job to uncover it. And the biggest barrier to uncovering it is often ourselves because we get in our own way. And I think using for me meditation, , and kind of the reason I like it recorded or, and even more than written down sometimes is that, , it helps to remind me what I'm truly about, , rather than getting distracted by all the things that could be. It's like, no, none of these are the core beliefs about myself and about what I'm trying to create. And so if you have a specific vision about something that you want to create, then I would even practice, you know, craft a meditation practice around that. And I think that you've improved your days with that sort of intentionality. Then you'll be amazed at how much you'll be able to create and honor by being focused. , and it allows that creativity of a place to be rather than feeling like it's sort of all over the, and you don't know exactly what to do with it.
Tina Marie (35:39):
There you go. That's beautiful advice. Thank you so much. Whenever I was younger, my father was a, he's a musician. He's a, you know, he sang in a band and, and he bought my brother and I, my younger brother and I, , amplifier and microphones, and then we had sound recording equipment and he wanted us to, I guess, you know, the Jackson five were popular, I guess they wanted us to grow up and be the, the Haimer two or something like that, but we were being recorded and I remember playing it back and going, wow, is that what my voice sounds like? And I remember that that first, you know, impression of my own voice was like, I didn't like it. Like, I don't wanna, I don't want to hear myself talk, Oh my God. And then I started thinking, this is what other people really hear.
Tina Marie (36:24):
And so I was reflecting on this a couple years ago because one of my, my processes is that I record in my own voice, that vision of the future. And like you're speaking to here and I play it back in my own ears to program my subconscious mind and have it know that this is what is becoming, and now as I've gotten older and, you know, I had a long history on radio. So if you don't like the way your voice sounds and you go into radio, that's called painful. Uh, and so I, , I know, love my voice. And I think that there was a part of me whenever I was younger, it was that outward facing. I want to make sure everybody was okay. Version of myself. That was more concerned about the impression of other people upon my life than I was about knowing my own impression of myself upon my life. And as we grow and we get curious about what do we want, what is our soul's calling? What is our destiny? What is our vision that our family and our kids and our friends and our teams move around us and they want that to happen because ultimately every single han is here for the betterment of every other han. We are a big team, weren't we?
David Peck (37:37):
Yeah, yeah, no, I can completely relate to that. I, , it's interesting. I, I'm saying a lot as a kid. And then when I went to puberty, I, I, you know, and change voice changing. I really lost it. I couldn't sing, I, it was like this. , I don't know. I lost a part of myself. And so actually part of my music training, we had to, I was a cellist, but, , we had to do sight singing and I couldn't do it because I couldn't, I was not comfortable enough with my own voice. And so I ended up starting to take voice lessons just so I could make it through these theory classes and ended up being able to free my voice to a certain extent, , and love singing. But there was always, uh, it felt like some sort of limitation, like there was some sort of tension or, , like a kind of a limit to it in, in some way, even though I loved it.
David Peck (38:27):
, and it's interesting that I've found that even in the past couple of years, as I kind of become freer with myself and, , I guess becoming a truer version of myself, that my voice has become freer. And, , now, like when I get back and sing and, and it feels, , it just feels different. There's less of a, , a barrier to entry, I guess, there, , which is something that if you don't say, maybe just sounds like hooey, but, , but it's, it's something that I found that completely relates to my growth as a han being. , and it, it, it's interesting that, you know, how much our voice, both literally and figuratively, it's such an important part of our identity. , and having, actually having to listen to your voice is important. , because having it recorded, I think I had the same issue. I didn't like, I, you know, I still listen to my voice. I'm like, Oh, especially my speaking voice. I'm like, well, that's not so great. , yeah, but I think having that and listening to it and, and kind of truly resonating with your own. Yeah. It's, it's very important to do. I, I have found that it has been liberating to me.
Tina Marie (39:55):
Wow. This is powerful. The direction the interview goes. Right. And it is, there's, there's amazing magic and resonance. And I believe our voice has given to us, there's this? , I don't know the tribe in Africa. I wish I knew. So if anybody listening knows exactly the tribe of AF in Africa that does this practice, I'd love to have the name of them. , I heard this speaker that I attended a conference of. She was our keynote speaker, and she told a story of a tribe in Africa that whenever the mother and the father know that they are going to, , have a child whenever they are deciding that that is part of their destiny as a couple, that the father begins to get a tune that is told to him. And then the mother has another tune. And what they do is they start hming the tune and they start resonating with certain words that come in.
Tina Marie (40:51):
And it's a very fluid process that whenever they S they realize this, then they, they harmonize in this song that comes through them. And only when that song feels as though it's complete and full and rich, do they then have intercourse to create this child? And they're, they're singing the song whenever the child is being conceived. And then through the, you know, as the pregnancy progresses, they continue to h and sing this song and fill it with even more richness before the baby's born. And then when the baby's born, they sing its song to it. And this song becomes the song of that child, almost like a fingerprint of soul fingerprints that its identity came into knowing through harmony and resonance and sound, before it came into physical form. And then whenever they, that child, as it grows, gets into trouble or goes off the course of things that, that aren't safe for it, or, or in its destiny like we do, right?
Tina Marie (41:59):
The tribe comes, brings the child, uh, the, it gets around this child and it sings that song. The whole tribe learns each other's song. And then as the child grows, it learns its song and to comfort itself and to direct itself and to inspire itself, it sings its own song to it because the song was its resonance before it ever came into physical form. And I remember when I heard that story, I absolutely fell in love with that. And I think we're all a beautiful orchestra, magical piece, uh, designing our own life here. I wanted to share that with you.
David Peck (42:37):
Yeah, no, that's beautiful. Isn't that awesome. That's sort of one of those reminders that you can kind of carry. And I think that's what with the meditation practice in so many ways does, is it, it sort of, , it's almost like liturgy and church, like, you know, it's not about the actual word so much as it is the ritual of doing it, that brings you back to a certain feeling in a certain place. , and I think that's what meditation can be too, is it kind of reground you to kind of remember where you started, , and where you want to go.
Tina Marie (43:09):
That's beautiful. So speaking of that great segue, what do you see in the vision of the David Peck brand and the, the message that it brings to our world? What would you have our listeners know about that vision and impact that David pack as a brand, a lifestyle brand has for them?
David Peck (43:28):
Well, I think on both the practical level, and then also the creative level, , we're looking at expansion this year, , both physical and, , content wise. Uh, we're looking at expanding our space. We have sort of been bursting at the seams for the past year or so. And, , we have this opportunity to literally double our space. , and so that's something I'm really looking forward to in this new year, , and making that happen, but we've also sort of, I think, hit on, , content and, , a way of helping people imagine a life that is beautiful and that they'd like to hopefully live, , that we can share with them using our products and using, , things that are interesting and resonate with us. , both from a product standpoint that people could buy, but also with organizations and causes that, , are things that I feel are important for us to pay attention to and these crazy times.
David Peck (44:35):
Uh, so that's what I feel like there's a lot that we're working on and sort of those systems that we were to kind of bring it back to that we're kind of creating systems that allow us to more easily share those things. , because for the longest time they all lived in my head and there wasn't a way to get them out. , and now that we have the right people in place and we've kind of reshuffled what people are doing in the business in order to allow this to happen. , so I'm very excited about what we're going to be producing both as physical products and a physical space, and then also, , digitally over the next year, because we've got lots of exciting things coming.
Tina Marie (45:17):
You definitely do. And you've also got partnerships and collaborative, , things that you're doing with other creatives and designers as well. Could you speak toward the collaboration of the brand?
David Peck (45:30):
Yeah. One of the things that I've always envisioned, , for our physical space as a store, it's to be a place that felt like an extension of a home and a place where people have felt warm and inviting. , and I think we've created that to a certain extent in the limited space that we have now, but going forward into the sort of new expanded space where we're looking at partnering with different furniture companies and find artists and other local Houston businesses to kind of create a space that tells the story of my friendships. I feel like I have wonderful friendships with other entrepreneurs and other small business owners, , and artists, and that, that space, I think, will be a physical manifestation of those relationships that I've had so much fun, man kind of creating over the past couple of years or 10 years, I guess, since I've been in Houston, , and figuring out a way to kind of bring those to all of our clients in a way that is tangible.
Tina Marie (46:31):
Hmm. And would you say that's where retail experiences are headed? Because we, you know, we have, you know, you're a brand of, of things that people can get from a fashion standpoint, lifestyle standpoint. And typically people have that behavior that they go to Amazon, or they go online and they purchase things and they're not intimately connected to what comes to their homes. They experienced them, but there's, there's not a whole, , identity really behind what is now in our life because we're not retail shopping as much. Could you speak toward where retail's going and how we can connect with that experience again?
David Peck (47:09):
Yeah. I think that, you know, one of the things that has really shaken the fashion industry so much has been the internet and Amazon, and in particular, I think has really, , caused people to look at, , their businesses in a different way. And in some instances they failed, , because the industry changed so quickly, , and they weren't prepared for it. , I don't think that retail is going away. I do think that it's fundamentally shifting and changing. , I think for all of the convenience that's offered by online shopping, especially a place like Amazon, where, you know, if you forget something in the grocery store, it could be there in a couple of hours, if not the next morning, , that's not going to go away. You're not going to retrain people to get rid of that convenience and shop locally. However, I do think that there are things that local businesses, small businesses, businesses that focus on an experience can give that can't be found online in that convenient.
David Peck (48:08):
So rather than trying to, you know, compete with the convenience or the, the massive sales that go on, , in the online retail space, w we would never survive as a business. We tried to keep up with that. , it's not assistance to stay sustainable business model, , at all from my, uh, from any standpoint. , and I think people, especially, it feels like millennials and younger are becoming more intentional about what they have in their spaces. , and I think that's where there's an opportunity for businesses like ours. , you know, we really have focused for the past five years on doing custom evening bridle. That's kind of been the mainstay of our business, but with it always been my intention, but with COVID, it kind of gave us an opportunity to start to look at what did our online presence look and feel like, and, you know, what are the things that we could offer to our customers that they could buy online that still felt like it was an extension of that experience.
David Peck (49:11):
, and that told a story and that had resonance and meaning, and, you know, that customer experience that you can't replicate just with, you know, sort of a big, , thing like Amazon, for instance. , and I think the relationships that we have with our customers and where we focus a lot, , on systems that allow us to keep up with our customers better figure out what are those important moments in their lives and have, you know, a true dialogue with them about these things. , and I think one of the things that we even talked about in our team meeting this week is I think we've been able to do that very, very well in a physical sense in our physical store. And I think people love to come and just hang out. , and it's been a place where people have felt comfortable, like how do we do that virtually?
David Peck (50:01):
And how do we, you know, make our website feel like an extension of that. So I feel like there's so much possibility and there's people are looking for connection. They're looking for spaces outside of their homes to have community. And I think people truly do want to support local businesses, but not at the expense of convenience. And so how do we give them something that they can't get anywhere and experience and a feeling that they can't get anywhere else. , and I think it truly boils down to the relationships. We are able to cultivate and maintain with them and where they feel like we truly care about them because we do. And not because we're just trying to sell them another product.
Tina Marie (50:45):
There you go. And, uh, there's a quote that I love it's, it goes like this, and I'm going to add something to it. It's people don't care about how much, you know, until they know how much you care. And so we could add people don't care about how much, you know, or have to give them until they know that you care about them. Right. And that's what you're doing. So I agree. The retail experience is going to go both online and digital to continue that communication and cultivation of the relationship. And then when they need and want what we have as local businesses, they'll definitely think of us first and come in and experience that because it becomes an extended family as well.
David Peck (51:24):
It's true. Like, I, we were talking about this yesterday and it's, I feel like a lot of the successes we've had, , especially recently is because we truly know our customers and, , we know what they respond to. They don't respond to, , we can, we were like, Oh, what do we create a specific product? It's like, Oh, so-and-so would love this. You know, there's always somebody in mind. , and that's something that we, anytime we create something new, we're like, well, do we have somebody who would love this? Like a real person, not, not some, you know, avatar of somebody it's do. We literally have a person who would buy this and that's where we try to begin every, every design, , because it gives, it gives the item purpose. Then it uses it from the very big, like the design process to the making process to like putting it out in the world. , it infuses it with intentionality, uh, and it, it finds a tongue.
Tina Marie (52:24):
That's so awesome. I love this. I loved our conversation today,
David Peck (52:28):
So it's been fine. Yeah. So
Tina Marie (52:30):
Thank you for lending your wisdom and advice in the sharing of your journey to us so that we can learn how to design the life that we would love to live so many beautiful moments in this short time together, and many takeaways. Thank you. And so people can find you on Instagram, which I highly say, go follow David. You're going to love this follow shop. David Peck, and that's P E C K and then find you online@shopdavidpeck.com. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. And it's always a pleasure to share conversation. You're a delight.
David Peck (53:09):
Thank you. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for having me.
Tina Marie (53:14):
That was so energizing. I have takeaways that will help my life, and I'm sure you do too. To get show notes, bonuses, gifts for you from our guests and more head over to light your life podcast.com and be sure to bookmark this podcast is one of your favorites. I am Tina Marie St. Cyr, founder of bonfire, coaching and creator of the bonfire method. Thank you so much for being connected. Now, my homework for you smon the courage to let your life a little more and go make progress on your dreams today.
