S7E12 - Fernando Kabigting
Fernando Kabigting: From Corporate to Creative Life
In this episode of More Than Work, host Rabiah Coon talks with their guest, Fernando Kabigting. They delve into Fernando's life-changing decision to leave his corporate job in fashion to enter the creative industry, specifically floral design. Fernando touches on his experiences from starting in advertising, transitioning to fashion, to eventually establishing his own business that transcends traditional floral design. He also discusses his motivations, personal values, and commitment to sustainable and responsible practices in his work. Lastly, he shares how important it is to see yourself represented in an industry and forging your own way as an immigrant.
00:08 Introduction
00:50 Welcome Fernando
01:49 Fernando's Journey into Fashion
05:04 Transition to Floral Design
07:41 Creating a Sustainable Business
17:57 Reflections on Identity and Business
36:20 Dealing with Overwork & Achieving Balance
Note from Rabiah (Host):
After admiring Fernando’s work from afar for quite a while, I finally reached out to ask him to be on the podcast. In the past, we lived in the same city and I got to see first-hand what a dynamic person he is but getting the chance to talk to him about what motivates him reminded me of the importance of sharing stories and showing who we are. This episode felt like why I created the podcast.
Host Rabiah (London) catches up with designer and founder of FDK Florals Fernando Kabigting (Brooklyn, NY) .
Transcript
Rabiah Coon: [00:00:00] This is More Than Work, the podcast reminding you that your self worth is made up of more than your job title. Each week, I'll talk to a guest about how they discovered that for themselves. You'll hear about what they did, what they're doing, and who they are. I'm your host, Rabiah. I work in IT, perform stand up comedy, write, volunteer, and of course podcast.
Thank you for listening. Here we go.
All right. Hey, well, welcome back to More Than Work, everyone. I have a guest on today that I have known for a long time. actually knew his sister first. We worked together about 20 years ago, which is crazy to think. And then he and I met and we've been friends as well and lived in New York at the same time.
And I'm really glad to have Fernando Kabigting on. And he is a founder and we're going to talk about what he's founded, and what he does. How are you Fernando?[00:01:00]
Fernando Kabigting: I'm good. Yeah, I'm happy we can finally make this happen.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, me too. And where am I talking to you from today?
Fernando Kabigting: I am in New York, to be specific, in Bedstuy, Brooklyn.
Rabiah Coon: Nice. And it's, yeah, in your basement. I'm in a basement because I live in a basement. So that's great. That's great. We're both basement people now. Which we weren't when we met necessarily. So, yeah, so I guess, I mean, I've been following you either when I was living in New York or on online for a long time.
And you founded... a business, but before that you were working in fashion and so let's talk about first about I guess what you were doing in fashion and then how you got to founding the business you have now, which is, I would say in a way related, but not the same thing at all.
Fernando Kabigting: Yeah, no, I totally agree. Well, when we first met, actually, I was in advertising in San Francisco, and I was just making my move to Southern California.[00:02:00] I think I met you at some sort of employee event at your previous company. Anyhow, I was doing advertising San Francisco, actually was moving to L. A. to, to, uh, transition into fashion. And I was working for a company called BCBG in L. A.
I went from advertising to starting a trim and hardware division for this fashion company, where it literally is designing zipper pullers and buttons. I went to the interview, even thinking I was interviewing for a textile design position because I do nothing about buttons or zippers. Uh, but I ended up doing that. And, the story, the reason I'm going back to it is, I actually, went into it only because, it made sense for me because I was already designing packaging labels and packaging for wineries and different companies in LA. So I was able to render three dimensionally.
And so that's how I got this job as a hardware trim designer. Cause I could render three dimensionally. Within a year, took over a [00:03:00] jewelry division. I was hired for one brand and within three months, I was designing for five brands, and, went from managing, one assistant to, I think, three to seven freelancers at any given time um, and basically said no to nothing. And obviously then got everything. And at one point for the first year I was in L. A., I was working from like 7AM to 11PM every day the first year because I was thinking I'll go, I'll go, I'll move to L. A., get into fashion, but I wanted to kill it. I knew that if you made yourself indispensable, you could basically ask for anything you want. And the idea is that I would move from L. A. to New York in a year. But a year came around and I, really just wanted to stick with this division that I created. But also found that I didn't own a fork or spoon or, uh, hadn't even cooked in the apartment I was living in LA and realized I should maybe try living in [00:04:00] LA. And that's with that in mind that the sting in LA actually ended up lasting for three and a half to four years.
And then that's when I moved to New York and in New York, I sort of was able to sort of pull back. And instead of like designing, I don't know, five to 10 product categories. I basically stuck with handbags and was designing handbags in New York, working for at the time, a large licensee company. If it wasn't the largest, it has to be, had to be the second largest fashion company in the U. S. did everything from like Walmart to Fifth Ave, and uh, yeah, I ended up staying in New York. I'm still here now, obviously. That was 2010, Around 2017 is when, for me, fashion became something that just didn't have the same sort of energy or didn't really inspire the innovation that I really loved about fashion. I've always been [00:05:00] in sort of one way or another, it's sort of obvious in some sort of creative field.
Rabiah Coon: hmm.
Fernando Kabigting: And earlier on, I really already knew that I wanted to be in the creative field. And the reason why I went into advertising versus not versus going directly into fashion or floral is because that was what was most visible to me.
You know, like, you know. In my family, there was no one who was either in the military. They were in some sort of medical field. I mean, every Filipino family has like three ancillary nurses. Mine was only now, no different for sure. My only, only thing I knew about creativity was like, you can go into advertising, you can like design back when there were CD covers, you can design CD covers.
I actually went to art school thinking I would design CD covers. And fashion, uh, wise was sort of, as I was getting into the creative industry, trends always come from fashion, whether it's a color palette or, uh, any kind of like that kind of conversation. So I thought I'd go into that, but [00:06:00] 2017, basically the entire ecosystem of fashion kind of, kind of fell apart.
Designers were sort of left to almost fend for themselves. Cause you don't have a sales team that understands who or where those sales, what those sales channels were. Big box stores were declining. Online at the time was already obviously situated, but even that was a little bit hard to measure, especially for some of these brands I was designing for, whether it was luxury. Everyone just knew how to design for like a, I don't know, holiday, Labor Day sale, you know what I mean?
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Yeah.
Fernando Kabigting: I think that was when I sort of like started pivoting and I took a one year sabbatical, and at one point I thought I wanted to work and create my own menswear brand and I was traveling to LA to sort of figure that part out and trying to align this idea of this world of fashion what I knew is a familiar thing that I had been doing for so long to my now like little more friendly with like mother nature, like, you know, [00:07:00] understanding your carbon footprint, things like that. Cause after being in fashion for so long and creating everything from Walmart to Fifth Ave and really seeing where those things kind of like came from like the factories and working conditions of those in China and some of these factors that we worked with, what it takes to create that realistic gold finish on a, on a hardware for a handbag.
The last thing I wanted to do was to not only design that and then not have any responsibility for it, but also to introduce it and have it be like another Fast Fashion. That's just not... sort of contributing to a larger worldview, a larger thing all together. I just wasn't really interested in doing any of that.
And so that one year sabbatical was literally me connecting with everyone and anyone who had sort of like a moment to even have a conversation with me because I was having like literally what that looks like is like coffee dates. And after every coffee date, I would ask the person I was with, is there someone else I should have a coffee date with? Name [00:08:00] three more people. And then on the spot, I would give these people a call. I would text them, I would email them and I would never not have a coffee date lined up. And that kind of led me to multiple different paths. And I always love parties.
My partner, now husband, Go, and I used to always host dinner parties. Like in LA, we would do like a Halloween party, chop down his parents' oak tree. We had this loft in the arts district and tie them up on all of like the pipes and whatever railing and have people go through like a canopy of like leaves. And I love that.
And we would go all out and we'd have a dinner party. Design menus. And I was like, you know, I, let me look into that. What does that look like? , And in the end, it sort of just kind of like filtered through. And I was like, you know, I love the, the organic, the three dimensional again. These experiences that kind of like contributed or created some sort of happiness and joy in someone else's life, whether it's just for three hours or for like, you know, a moment. But when I started to look into that, I started working with some of the designers [00:09:00] who are like putting like the Met Galas, the big New York library, like events, and just really wanted to see are they really DIYing these things? Are they going to Ikea, painting everything and then like, in my case, are you returning it back? You know? And, they were.
Everything was very craftsy. Everything was exactly what it was, but the difference was it was also very corporate and I didn't want to go back into another corporate creative sort of like thing where, it just didn't have the soul, the thoughtful thoughtfulness that I was looking for.
And I ended up working with a smaller on the opposite end of the spectrum, floral design studio. And I never thought of floral like that it has like a voice that kind of stems from like art.
I just always thought it was a service, right? I didn't realize how you can even monetize this idea of being a floral or floral designer or what that title was. I thought you were just a florist that had like a brick and mortar shop that made bouquets for someone who [00:10:00] just ran in last minute, you know?
Rabiah Coon: Mm hmm.
Fernando Kabigting: And then I was introduced to this whole new world by another small design firm here who had more of a directional sort of like point of view.
They worked directly with clients, created the atmosphere. It was. It was very much the same energy as a fashion company where you really, truly made something that was bespoke, that was catered for like a time in a moment or a special occasion, whether it's a wedding or in my case, I really do a lot of like brand collaborations with some of the companies, I actually designed handbags for in New York, that took more of a 360 approach to the way they worked. They sourced things locally. All the organic materials were composted, things were recycled, most often reused and all of that, there was like a level of honesty in d everything that they did. Whether it's the way in which they were transparent in communicating, how their process and how they work from start to [00:11:00] finish was to their clients, to the way in which they treated all the materials, the way in which obviously then resulted to the way in which they treated their employees and how people were paid.
All these things were all within that sort of thing, you know? Like I'm doing a whole rebranding of my studio now, and I realized that one thing I did that I bypassed, which I should have really just hammered down is really created, in the end, if it is a physical thing, a design like branding guide that then outlines your brand values that then allows you to then anchor yourself and move through your path with those kinds of like pillars in a way.
Long answer to your question, but yeah, that's how it was.
Rabiah Coon: hmm. Yeah. I think it is funny because just now that you're, you're gonna redo that and have a guidelines because I think that those help you just stay focused and just when you're Even if you're not sure about a decision to make you can consult those and like is this aligned with those guidelines and what our brand and or if a client comes to you, you're not [00:12:00] sure about okay well one thing I can ask myself is is this aligned to what I said and if it's not did what I say change or does it truly just not align to me and and it helps, you know
Fernando Kabigting: Totally. And like, obviously it's not a discussion. It's like a, like even a fraction of a second that all of this happened. I started this brand in 2017, but in reality it was November 2017.
At the time we like to take our little breaks and vacations in November to be, uh, to be exact thanksgiving, because, uh, when we would visit my husband's family in Japan, is that no Americans are traveling.
So like, it's a perfect time, like your flights are cheaper. But so we actually went and, uh, went to Japan immediately. As soon as I like, basically got this thing started. And then didn't even really function as a working brand or trying to cultivate our own, like client list, for not another three to four years.
So in reality, we've only really had this brand for less than four years. And it feels like every year [00:13:00] it's a different startup. it's not the same thing. And maybe it's like, it's New York and here we have every, again, major industry that just legends on legends. So we just get so much, like every season is a different it's fashion week.
It's it's tabletop week. Now we're in September, it's peak wedding season, but it's also happens to also be marketing for a lot of design companies. And it's also like the month in which there's a lot of like benefits and galas.
And the reason why I'm bringing it up is that we never had a moment to actually sit down, not only to nail down those core values, but then to also more importantly, revisit what those are every year.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Fernando Kabigting: And then now, I still see the same sort of potentials and innovation within floral that I saw when I first got started. Now I'm actually interested in like maybe adding onto that language on botanicals and maybe going back into like maybe a product offering that's more seasonless. And now we're gonna apothecary.
We created great relationships with all these amazing [00:14:00] local farmers that are women, POC, queer, who I love to, like, champion and sort of, like, work more closely with, who also happen to have, like, these, not the easiest thing, organic, biodegradable, biodynamics, or, like, practices around growing their floral.
And I think that's a huge deal so now we're creating some sort of partnership with them, where maybe we're bringing in these locally grown stems to the city in the form of a subscription program. And then, we have an amazing community in Brooklyn, whether they're makers, designers, artists that have these studios. Some of these studios are pickup location partners where they're like design destinations that you can pick up these beautiful, locally grown flowers. But also allows for these businesses to also maybe have more foot traffic and maybe build a better sort of like a relationship with the community around them.
Cause obviously people picking up are probably going to be from the neighborhood.
I think what, the way in which I've been operating this whole entire time has been like [00:15:00] constant test mode.
But now I want to step back and be able to sort of like pick and choose which areas I want to focus on. We're relaunching a website, focusing on maybe creating a journal and putting more words to all these things that are floating in my head and connecting with these people that see some interest in what we're doing. Because I think there's stuff missing out there that... To be honest, it looks like me, a first year immigrant, queer, Asian, Pacific Islander, male. These conversations that can add something or inspire something in someone else, or at the very least give more context to what and how we're doing things. Because I think everything that I do, everything that most people do, is a reflection of who they are. It's definitely more of a portrait of who we are. And I think that needs to be part of the story. And that's kind of reason why we're sort of doing this whole rebranding thing, because even the simple question of, okay, what decision am I making? How am I communicating that to a client? And [00:16:00] then obviously there's other things involved. Like what does that value money number wise? You know, or in my regard right now, like I am trying to create an apothecary assortment of products that will be like candles, uh, soaps and things like that. Super simple enough, right? Not, not to say the most innovative thing, to be honest, it's a bit, uh, like, you know, anyone can do it. Like everyone, everyone's grandmother used to make soap, you know what I mean? But at the same time, I'd like to kind of like put our own sort of like language into it. And then again, going back to those brand values, those core values, what does that look like when you package this thing? Am I using a ton of plastic? So to complete that, like we're trying to push things forward by using plant based inks, uh, rice paste for glue. No plastic. Even delaying certain products such as like, you know, liquid soap, because there's no, to me, there's not something that I'm would want to put out there that now it still has like a plastic pump connected to it, you know?
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
[00:17:00] So one thing you mentioned was just your status as a person of color and you mentioned you're Filipino, which we didn't get into the start and then also that you have a husband, Go, and you're queer and that you're going to vendors or growers for the flowers that are fitting into person of color category or possibly queer and so for you and then also the value of the environment, So for you, like having these things reflect you, I mean, one thing I can say is I know there aren't that many businesses still founded by people of color and then that they're successful too.
That's definitely a stat that you can, anyone can look up, but for you, how did you come to decide that you wanted to reflect those values in your work? Cause you could be a queer man or you could be an immigrant or a child of immigrants or you could be a person of color or any of these things without having that be part of what you're trying to impact as well.
So how did you make that decision?
Fernando Kabigting: [00:18:00] I think it was, it was, it wasn't something that was, "Oh, Hey, I need to do this." Like it wasn't, it wasn't like some sort of epiphany that sort of came upon me. I think we're all individuals and, it wasn't something that I sort of set out to do in a way.
I never thought I would be an entrepreneur type. , I just thought I would always be in this, in this sort of corporate sort of like world and, that sort of thing. To me, it just became organic in a way where, um, I just had the need to say and do what I thought was best. And I, in the end, didn't want to have someone else sort of monitoring that or have any sort of say. Right now, I'm sort of playing with the idea and trying to gather like mentors and folks who could maybe assist with like moving things forward. But also looking it's like the idea maybe getting like an investor or like a business [00:19:00] partner and things like that.
There's things in which other people could contribute to this brand or this thing that I'm creating that could really, really push things forward more than just making sure like the business is ongoing, that it is like, you know, performing well. I think there's something here that could be super important for someone else.
You know what I mean? Like I love the idea of maybe putting together even a children's book that like deals with like this idea of identity and how could that relate to what I'm doing? But for me, coming to where I am now and having that and how that connects with my now identity, in the end, it was something more of a, it needs to be out there.
I don't see it. I can do it. And I'll do it my way, and in a way I know how, with a sense of, honesty. My husband and I take a lot of, like, self empowerment courses. One of the things I'm working with is like this idea of like love and where that all comes from. And everything just really just stems from that idea. Whether it's how you choose the way you [00:20:00] live your life, what will you choose for breakfast to whether you want to go out to go take a run to how you, how you treat yourself and those around you, it all comes down to like love. And that's where sort of everything myself and everything I do for the florals and for X, Y, and Z. And in the end, that's kind of where this idea, like, possibly where this business also came about as well. , I value, what I do, my life, and others around me. And this is the way, to me, I can contribute to not only myself, but to others as well. In a way that has like some full integrity, things like that. I want to be a creative person, but I can't do it for another corporate company that again, um, is just another sort of numbers game. Yes, I am putting out a product out there, but at least with this product, not only do I believe it, but I'm the one responsible for making sure that it is what I think it should be. And then I think part of that is to tell, where it's coming from. And obviously that's who I am, you know. I just actually had a [00:21:00] conversation with my branding manager and, there's always a fine line, like how much of this story is part of what you put out there, you know what I mean? Like I'm a for profit company.
I'm not trying to save the world and be this poster child for immigrants who come to America for queer, whatever. My goal is still in the end to create something beautiful, and this is the form it's taking. And yes, that part of me who basically looks like this with my, with my background and all these conversations can't be removed from that. And I'm not trying to remove any of that. So it is a fine line of like, now, how do you communicate and bring that into the world so that your products still are, or your services are still the highlight and still the forefront of what is happening.
Rabiah Coon: That's great. Yeah, that's really cool. I mean, just, just hearing, I mean, you said you're taking personal empowerment courses, but also just hearing about you founding your business. It wasn't a matter of you even changing industries necessarily at all, which some people do that, but [00:22:00] really just changing your place in an industry.
And it happens to be floral versus other events versus design of textiles, whatever, and zippers and, you know, depending on how you look at it, but really you, you, you're still in the design industry,
Fernando Kabigting: totally.
Rabiah Coon: your position is different.
Fernando Kabigting: Yeah. And like, one of the things that I sometimes bring up when this conversation comes up is that, to go back to what I said earlier, I didn't have like a role model growing up who was like, you know, Oh, Hey, this is so and so. He's like an amazing ceramicist or painter, artist, sculptor or whatever, or things like that.
My parents and family were always creative. I had an amazing, amazing parents, amazing mother who like instantly was like, you're amazing at this. Do what you want to do for whatever education aspect thing you need. Do it. Being immigrants, first generation immigrants here, like, we had to start all over again, and I didn't grow up with everything and anything, but they made sure that we got the education that we needed, we were at least supported. But growing up, and going to school, art school wise, I ended up gravitating [00:23:00] towards designers, artists who were super multidisciplined. They were designing fonts to packaging who didn't see a sort of like label to whether or not they were architects or whatever, who designed everything, furniture, you name it, you know, and I just kind of stuck, I just kind of kept with that.
And the way I see it, whether you're using I don't know, a wheel or you're, creating something with a torch and metal or you're working with Photoshop and Illustrator or just doing an illustration or whatever, they're all just tools. And in my case, I, I love a three dimensional thing.
I've learned that really quickly earlier on, that. I love products. I love learning about people's patterns and human migration and what that looks like. World history and how that relates to like the way in which people live their lives. All those things I think are super fascinating. That then gets like, you know, diseminated into like everything else that we do, you know what I mean?
What that looks like in a sense of this idea of like beauty or this idea of health or, [00:24:00] why is it that men now all wear these tight pants that like 10 years ago, that would be like the most awful thing ever, you know what I mean?
Rabiah Coon: yeah.
yeah.
Fernando Kabigting: Um, and how casual Fridays are like 24/7. all of those things I think are super fascinating. And how technology is now affecting the way in which we all live our lives and how young kids are so exposed to it. Like, I love all those things. And I think it's like that curiosity, I think that's kind of what drew me initially to advertising and then to fashion.
The thing I love most about all of these things is actually the research. The cultivating of things. The trying to understand all the little pockets of it and why these things are and then to be honest, like making those work for a certain person, whoever, you know, And then I think the working in a creative corporate environment just kind of fed all of that.
I had every tool I needed. As a small business person now, not having all those tools, like I have to relearn all those things. I don't have a marketing department, a sales department, you know. It's like, Hey, what were the sales last year? So and so take photos of this, bring it back to me when it's Photoshopped or whatever, you know what I mean?
Like you don't have these spreadsheets right in front of you. I have to like [00:25:00] find all those myself, like create those tools and ways to measure performance or whatever it may be. So, it's really interesting.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot different. And then is there anything you said like nature, but is there anything that inspires your floral design specifically? Cause you definitely use different materials. And I mean, so one thing is your sister and I worked at ProFlowers dot com) ProFlowers. com. So that was, um a very much a corporate, dozen roses slash here's a mix of flowers that always has been mixed together kind of thing.
But you use some, I would say, organic material that's not always traditional, just based on looking at your Instagram. So what inspires you with how you design?
Fernando Kabigting: Yeah, um, I think what I love leaning towards right now is, are things that are more structural or artful. And I love texture. It doesn't even have to be, uh, floral. Everything is a weed until it's made a flower, right, or called flower. Anything can be put on a table and called art or design. And, more [00:26:00] importantly, it's a service in the end of day.
Like, we come in from the back door and we leave the back door. We're not coming in from the front door. We're offering a service. And to me, sometimes what that means, it has to serve a purpose, obviously. I have a call later on tomorrow for a bridal company. They have a theme that's all about, luckily, about Ikebana.
I love me some wabi sabi moments.
Rabiah Coon: Mm
Fernando Kabigting: So what does that look like? And then now we're moving into that, you know what I mean? And right now there's a huge trend on, little vignettes that incorporate fruit, you know, where these fruit are actually seen more as shapes. It's like a beautiful mound of grapes that creates a beautiful little pyramid. Then maybe a couple of flowers come popping out, you know, but the flowers are more than a gesture. So when we started thinking about these flowers or whatever it is as materials, there's no rules to anything. We're doing something for the Whitney Museum where they wanted something that was large scale but that just sort of captures a moment [00:27:00] and we're creating basically a canopy of fabric and then we're shooting up air so that kind of moves like as if like you're in some sort of like windswept sort of like
Rabiah Coon: Mm hmm.
Fernando Kabigting: beach or something, you know what I mean?
And we're adding flowers to it. There's like lighting components to it like all these different things to it. It's a little bit of everything. And in the end the inspiration does come from nature because i'm not trying to: A. Fool anyone to think that they're, that these things are like, you know what I mean, growing in this museum lobby.
But at the same time, there is beauty in nature. I think all beauty comes from nature. And we have this philosophy in the way in which we design, our arrangements and flowers and materials that, there's the old way of like designing where it's this perfectly symmetrical thing. Like it is perfect ball of hydrangeas. To me that's just like we teeter on this idea of creating structural abstract shapes using floral to like this idea of bringing in more of this, I guess, sense of nature, this asymmetry, [00:28:00] this sort of wild, cascading, rambling thing.
The idea would be like, when you look into a hill, if you look at a hill, like on a beautiful spring day, you'll see patches of yellow, white, red, orange, or whatever it may be, but it's not like this perfect symmetry of yellow, white, red, it's like, you know, patches of it. And you kind of want to capture what that is and be like, I find inspiration that it's like, they're sort of like grouped together in a beautiful sort of way that shows the way in which they, um, are maybe capturing light or sun or how, uh, their growing conditions may be based on where, like, like those kind of like little moments, you know what I mean?
Rabiah Coon: hmm.
Fernando Kabigting: People take that to extremes where they only arrange flowers based off of where the window is positioned. That's the way in which they would like. Or like sunlight, you know what I mean? Like, you can get super poetic and even more extreme about it. That's certainly the case with us if that's what the event or the brief calls for. But [00:29:00] at the same time, I'm not so precious with that value, you know what I mean? But nor am I disrespecting it by not taking into consideration the way it ends up after an event is done. Because there's so much waste in the industry.
Rabiah Coon: That's really cool. . And so one thing, one thing I, you know, you mentioned, and I almost nodded at the time because it just was so normal sounding to me, was that you were working these crazy hours in LA of seven to 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM Certainly when I lived in New York, I was doing 12 slash 15 hour days, depending, and, and that was normal.
And I, I, I feel like first of all, the, the newer generation that's starting to work isn't even going near that. But second of all, like, it's something we all had to learn our way out of, but. Um, how is it now? I mean, you're running your own thing, but has your quality of life changed now that you've been out of corporate, but also, doing what you want, and, do you have any goals for just kind of how that continues to look?
Fernando Kabigting: Yeah, it's a really good question. It's a lot of things. [00:30:00] A, I think it's something I was ready for. The biggest difference is, is I'm choosing things for myself, and creating a life that I want to create for myself versus when I was like younger, whether it was the 23 year old me working in advertising, to the 27 year old me that like, you know, jump into fashion or things like that is that, I'm choosing and creating a path that is not rooted in what success looks like outside of myself. I'm not trying to like, you know, constantly chase for another six figures, sort of like salary or whatever it may be to prove that I'm successful.
Nor am I trying to live a life or be something that sort of feels like someone else's idea of what this idea is. You know what I mean? To be, again, all these different identities that we've already kind of went over. The goal now is that it's not necessary to minimize the hours that I'm working because now that [00:31:00] I'm my own business person and, I'm managing, others and so on and so forth, it's, it's more of like a, how do I continue doing what I'm doing, not to necessarily minimize the hours I'm working, but how do I, how do I continue this, more fulfilling sort of like life in a way that does, yes, have like a monetary number to it, because you have to be real about that, but that also allows me the opportunity to like, you know, take two weeks, a month off every, every quarter? We just accepted the possibility to take the trip to Finland that the Finnish cultural Institute actually sponsored. There's no way that would ever come about, you know.
We're creating more opportunities where we're traveling for work and for pleasure, you know, um, but then how does that look if we are spending a month in Japan in January, which we're trying to make happen and still, uh, sustain and, ensure that our clients needs and services or whatever are [00:32:00] met, you know?
And then how do you align that with everything else?
So in the way it's just, trying to create this lifestyle. One of the things that we were doing to kind of illustrate this whole conversation is adding this idea of like measurement to things without like taking away the spontaneity of things, um, and kind of live within like your calendar.
Like if you imagine your month and you sort of uh, organize your calendar like it was like all the major food groups, in a way, where like blue is all work, the yellow is like your time for travel, red is like this idea of like romance and date nights and things like that with your partner. Who knows what other colors you can add in there, whether it's, I don't know, sitting down to make sure finances are in order, things like that.
And if your entire calendar for the month is full of just blue, then you don't have any sort of like, I don't know, pink for health and wellness, and you're haggard. You're you don't know the last time you had dinner with [00:33:00] your family you got God forbid there's no sex in your life, like all these things. You don't even like no wonder your marriage is failing.
No wonder like things are happening Don't know that I think like it's just more like intentionality that is rooted in your commitment to have an amazing life for yourself that's
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Fernando Kabigting: truly yours. That like the spontaneity is yo you're taking a month two weeks off every quarter. The ugly things that happens is that you put all these weird words, like planning into it, and then it just takes like the fun out of it. But in reality, it's all in the communication. It's on what you're creating, and it's all in this intentionality and how does that then look in action?
Then for me, like, yes, I am, uh, my own, I'm a founder and entrepreneur. And right now, like I was telling you, I'd love to get a business partner, but how do I do all that with or without a business partner, with or without an investor, not having to feel like I'm doing it by myself?
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Fernando Kabigting: you know, how do I build a community around it?
How do I, is it more coffee [00:34:00] days? I don't know. But in the end goal for me, like in the next 10 years, I'd love to be able to still have this energy, still have this excitement that I have, the way in which I'm talking to you. Still have this casualness, but just still being able to like, Be professional in front of someone, all these amazing things, and then be able to like maybe live in New York, which we really love. And then maybe be able to like have a beautiful little country home in Japan, but still be able to go to Milan and be in Miami for Basel or whatever it is that we want to do. You know?
Rabiah Coon: Awesome. Well, cool. No, that's, it's just great. And it's great to have to hear about what I've been seeing and just to, to hear about what you've been doing. I think people listening will definitely take note, especially of the calendar thing. I think that's super important to create balance in a visual way and tangible way.
So though that edged on the like periphery of advice, possibly, one thing I like to ask every guest is, do you [00:35:00] have any advice or mantra that you'd like to share with people or an idea that you just would like them to take away from you?
Fernando Kabigting: Think one thing that, I've really adapted or adopted, um, and it's little through all the years and years of just like, you know, working on myself and the self development course and things like that we're doing. And we take courses with Landmark Education, and I think we've had this conversation about them in the past.
And one of the tools and there's things around it is this idea of being your word, which is a lot harder than most people think it is. And then at the same time, being your word and having it happen, it's like the hardest thing. And I think, um, being able to sort of make that be the way in which you operate.
Like, um, if I say that I'm committed to this idea of love and honesty, that's in everything that I do. And that's a practice that I take on. Obviously life is just full of like breakdowns, if something comes up, comes up, clean it up,[00:36:00] don't leave any crumbs, basically like make it happen.
It's not easy. You have your days where days you're not feeling so hot. But all there is to do is to get into communication with those people who are waiting for answers or whatever. Yeah, being aware and just taking action in what you're committed to with integrity and things like that.
Rabiah Coon: So, uh, the last set of questions I have is called the fun five, and it's just five questions I ask every guest. So the first one is what t shirt do you have and still wear? Like what's the oldest t shirt you have and still wear, put it that way.
Fernando Kabigting: I'm a big purger. And I don't, I like, I like change. And so there's not a physical object that I would necessarily keep. I'm a, I love photos. So I would, if anything, if there's anything that they keep around, I like photos, especially the ones that, are me and my family when prior to our moving to the U S because I think it's such a beautiful thing to see, where, where we are.
And I'm super close to my family and super proud of what we've done. But yeah, I think that's the one thing. Something [00:37:00] sentimental wise, is I don't like, and especially, you, you'd think I, being in fashion, I'd have like, all these things around, but I don't. I don't have any of those sort of like, attachments to things necessarily. My husband goes the opposite though. He has like, an entire t shirt collection, awful ones from college, like, wish those would all go away. Um, yeah, anyhow.
Rabiah Coon: And, uh, if every day was really Groundhog's Day, like it seemed during COVID, especially where everything was the same, what song would you have, your alarm clock play every morning?
Fernando Kabigting: fOr a while I was actually just, uh, streaming, like the soundtrack to Spirited Away. Like anything that allows you to sort of like dream or, a little sense of like playfulness. I think it's something I would love to, yeah, just have that be it. I don't have a thing for music to be honest with you for a while, I was actually, I love YouTube videos. And I would actually stream and just keep things like [00:38:00] movie soundtracks.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Fernando Kabigting: Movie soundtracks are phenomenal. Like transformers, like all these weird sort of like movies,
like. They're so heavy, like so much energy, they're jam packed and just all you get is like constant energy every three to like two to three minutes
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Fernando Kabigting: So for a while, I was actually streaming as I'm working movie soundtracks.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Oh, that's cool. Okay. And then coffee or tea or neither?
Fernando Kabigting: I have Tea and I have coffee.
Rabiah Coon: So both. Okay, cool. Alright, can you think of something that makes you like, laugh so hard you cry? Or just something that, just cracks you up when you think about it? That makes you laugh?
Fernando Kabigting: Nothing at the moment, to be honest with you, like it maybe goes back to some images or photos that I keep around from from whatever. But I'm like everyone else like I love a good meme Like, all I do nowadays is send my husband, like, cute photos of dogs hitting balls or whatever. I never really [00:39:00] keep things for too long. For a while, my, my thing was everything is temporary, you know? Like, so therefore I was always, it was easy for me to just move on to the next thing.
Rabiah Coon: And then, who inspires you right now?
Fernando Kabigting: We just went on this trip, uh, to Finland and there's, this amazing woman that I met who has been in charge of everything from the Guggenheim to META and things like that. And, love seeing her energy and like, you know, where she's taking her experience and talents and how she's putting that towards something meaningful, whether it's art or something like that, but then at the same time, I love Jonathan Anderson from like the brand, the way they.
I love multiple sort of like designers and florists that are international and the way in which they approach things. I took this Ikebana course in our last trip to Japan, and I really loved this Ikebana instructor, uh, master who had this beautiful approach to design and floral, sort of the same way we kind of talked about earlier, how he will take something from nature.
But then he's [00:40:00] not then putting himself entirely into it to like control it, but he allows it to sort of have its, its presence, its energy, it's even the way in which it's moved, like, you know, the way in which those branches have moved, those roots have moved. And then he's bringing that beauty indoors versus trying to like, almost capture it in a way.
There's this beautiful sense of, uh, honoring it in that regard. And like, you know, um, right now I'm, I really, uh, my mom passed away seven years ago, or a little more than seven years ago, that's been seven years now. And, uh, she's been a friend of mine lately, and like, uh, uh, maybe it's because I'm trying to put words to the things that are most important to me, and being inspired for the fact that, her and my father came here with six kids and started over again, you know, went back to school.
They bought a house in a year, like craziness, stuff like that, you know, like, and all I can think about is like flowers. I mean, not to say not to make [00:41:00] things significant or whatever, but I think that's, uh, yeah, something to sort of honor and also be inspired by.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Oh, for sure. Oh, that's cool. So I guess the last thing then, truly, like I said the last one was, but this is the last thing, where do you want people to find you online and if they want to work with you or just learn about you or the business or anything, where should they
Fernando Kabigting: Yeah. So, uh, Instagram is F D K underscore florals (@fdk_florals), with an S. The website is fdkflorals dot com (fdkflorals.com).
Send me a note, an email, a smoke signal. Let me know if you want to talk about flowers or something special.
Rabiah Coon: Cool. Alright, well thanks Fernando. This has been a lot of fun. It's been good just to talk to you in this way and just to reconnect, so thank
you.
Fernando Kabigting: My pleasure.
Rabiah Coon: You can learn more about the guest and what was talked about in the show notes. Joe Mafia created the music you're listening to. You can find him on Spotify at Joe M A F F I A. Rob Metke does all the design, for which I am [00:42:00] so grateful. You can find him online by searching for Searching Rob, M-E-T-K-E.
Please leave a review if you like the show and get in touch if you have feedback or guest ideas. The pod is on all the social channels at at More Than Work Pod (@morethanworkpod) or at Rabiah Comedy (@rabiahcomedy) on TikTok. While being kind to others, don't forget to be kind to yourself...
