simple shui x alejandra brady

our next SUPER SHUI STAR is equally divine as she is dazzling. blending her impressive design experience with modern-day shui sensibilities, she inspires her clients to feel both invited and well-informed on making palpably positive changes in their spaces! and with a new book coming SOON, this star is just starting to light up the sky. so, if you aren’t already on your way, make a beeline into Alejandra Brady’s world!

S/S: how did you get started in Feng Shui?

A/B: truthfully, by accident. i’d been working in the design industry for 15 years at the time and was burned out with the clients and projects i was attracting. the one exception was a client who was very energetically attuned, and she pointed out things about myself i hadn’t realized. i started doing research and went down the energy rabbit hole. along the way, i came across articles about Feng Shui. it fascinated me. in October of 2017, my client called and said she was having a well-known Feng Shui consultant, Karen Rauch Carter, come to her house for a private consultation. she asked if i was interested and said we could go to each other’s consultations so we could help each other implement whatever changes Karen suggested. i jumped at the opportunity and hired Karen as well.

when Karen got to my house, one of the first things she said to me was, “you will be doing this as a profession soon.” i remember laughing and thinking, “let’s keep going. i know there is a lot to cover here today!”

a little backstory to put things in context: my husband and i had gone through some financial strains back in 2000. we’d bought our dream home and completely gutted and remodeled it. i had flown to Market in High Point & NYC and bought only the very best furnishings for it. the tech bubble burst and before we moved in, my husband told me it was not a good idea to keep that house. we still had the home we were in. the result of that was that i had to keep all the furniture i purchased for a dream house we didn’t get. the new house was more than double the size of the house we were in. the scale was not quite right, but it had cost a small fortune, so we felt obligated and kept it. then, my parents passed away and i inherited heirlooms along with items that didn’t work for me. again, guilt set in, so i kept everything for almost another 17 years.

what Karen helped me see is that the energy was stagnant and dead. it was not helping us move forward. my husband reluctantly agreed to donate our entire master bedroom and start over in there. the shift in our home’s energy as well as the energy between us was palpable once i was done redoing the room. he was then totally on board. we started working on room after room until the entire house was done. some rooms were redos and some didn’t cost a penny. in his office, we just shifted the desk into command position and that was enough to change the energy. we donated and gave away all the furniture that no longer worked for us. we even donated our wedding china, since we had only used it about five times in the 28 years we had been married.

the shift was so significant, i knew i had to incorporate Feng Shui into my design work. i wanted to do for other people what Karen did for us. the house not only looked beautiful, but it felt light, bright, balanced and harmonious. when people came over, the first thing they would comment on is how good the house FELT. that was the best compliment i could ask for.

i reached out to Karen and asked if she would take me as a student, and she did! she was the one who said i would be doing it from the day she met me. i spent the next year and a half studying and training full time for my certification. i have never looked back!

S/S: what inspires you creatively?

A/B: normally, my answer would be travel. i have always had wanderlust. i love to travel to other cultures and see how people live, eat and interact. i love to look at beautiful things, whether in museums or on city streets. with the current COVID situation, obviously travel has been severely restricted. i have not been able to go very far. i have learned to turn to Mother Nature for my inspiration. flowers, trees, mountains and oceans all have such a beautiful and harmonious balance to them, and that is what i strive to bring to my life and my work.

my husband was suddenly able to work from anywhere, so we decided to go on an “adventure.” we sold our main home of 25 years in Tampa and moved into our vacation home in Sedona a few months ago, and we now spend at least part of everyday outside. i find that if i sit quietly and ask for inspiration for a particular client or situation, the answers come. it may be in the form of a mental picture or a whisper or a song, but the answer i seek comes.

S/S: what do you find is the biggest misconception people hold about Feng Shui?

A/B: i find the biggest misconception is that people don’t know what it is and they are, at least in many of the encounters i have had, afraid of it. i explain to people that energy is all around us, whether we “believe” it or not. when i was studying, i reached out to many of my good friends to offer free consultations, as i needed “in the field” homework assignments. almost all of them replied in the same basic way. “oh, i don’t DO that. i don’t believe in Feng Shui.” it was as if they thought it was a type of religion. i tried to explain to them that the type of Feng Shui i practiced, BTB, had absolutely nothing to do with any belief system. it was all about energy and how to use that energy to help create the best life possible. still, it was hard for them to understand and to accept.

now that i’ve chosen to only work with clients who are interested in combining design and Feng Shui, the biggest mistake i see people make is that they create clutter for themselves by over doing “cures.” many feel that if one item is good, then many would be better. i like to show them how items can do double and triple duty, so they are creating the balance and harmony they seek – without the clutter and added expense. it is all about being very intentional and thoughtful with the items selected for each space.

S/S: if you could leave people with one Feng Shui action they can take today, what would it be?

A/B: wow, one is hard! i am honestly torn between buying fresh flowers or cleaning your front entry! both immediately uplift and change the energy of a space. as with all Feng Shui actions, the intention to change the energy of the space is the most powerful part of the cure. if i must choose, though, i would go with the front door. it is the mouth of Chi, and it is where you invite positive energy into your home. and then, i would go buy some fresh flowers! xo