In this episode we hear from Krystal Lucero, designer, mom, and survivor whose story blends grace, grit, and joy. From navigating motherhood and design to overcoming cancer twice, Krystal shares candid insights on resilience, wellbeing, and staying true to yourself. Her journey is a reminder that the pursuit of getting to better is never complete.
Doug: [00:00:00] Welcome to The Love What You Do podcast. I'm your host, Doug Shapiro. These are the conversations that open doors to what's possible when you love what you do.
All right. You want some warmup? Yes. You want some warmup questions? Yes. Here we go. Yeah. All right. First album you ever bought.
Krystal: Say it one more time.
Doug: First album you ever bought.
Krystal: First album I ever bought, bought, or I guess it was bought for me, was Christina Aguilera. Um, I don't even know the name. It was her first one and my dad was listening into it.
Genie
Doug: in a bottle. Is this Yes. Like the genie in
Krystal: a bottle? Like my dad was listening to it like at a actual. Music store and it was like, this girl can sing and like bought the album for me or the cd.
Doug: Did you ever see her live?
Krystal: I didn't. Did it? Was she with Justin Timberlake? I might've saw her with Justin Timberlake when he like broke off and [00:01:00] then like had had their whole
Doug: Oh, okay.
I was gonna say if it was the Dirty Pop era or No, but
Krystal: I was probably, I have seen Britney Spears like three times.
Doug: Oh my gosh. Yeah.
Krystal: In her heyday and in her. Not when I brought it on Groupon, I definitely, I definitely bought a $20 ticket on Groupon.
Doug: That is awesome. Yes. That is awesome. Oh my gosh. I almost like hold a rib laughing like,
Krystal: you're like getting cramped.
You've been doing this for, is this your third day of filming,
Doug: se uh, second. I feel it. I, I've done that before. Like I legit. Brittany, I had like an internal laugh there that just like Brittany totally Bri, I've seeing
Krystal: her like, when your backup dancers out dance you, that's when you know it's, and she's a Yeah, that was a problem.
Doug: All right. Uh, here we go. Okay. Most memorable outfit, not the Grant Hill jersey.
Krystal: Not the Grant Hill jersey. So I, our most memorable album. Okay. The only reason I remember this is because. It made me feel like different, and I [00:02:00] never realized that. It was like I looked different than everybody else. I was going to a concert and it was like some hip hop concert in HU in Houston, and I had like this sunflower shirt on and a sunflower squirt and whenever they, they were checking everybody going through the line.
They didn't check me, like they didn't scan me. And I'm like, I could have guns, I could have things. And I'm like, so that outfit must have been like, where they're like, oh, she's fine. Whatever. Keep going through the line. So that's like with the seventh or eighth grade, they my little sunflower shirt with a sport, a squirt.
Doug: Yeah. I I You, you don't look very intimidating. No. As it is, I guess. Guess not. Get alone in a sunflower skirt.
Krystal: Yes. But my head, I'm very intimidating, but my five two frame has not changed since probably seventh grade.
Doug: Yeah. You give off world peace vibes.
Krystal: Right. But in my head, I'm like a bull.
Doug: It's a great place to be actually.
Yeah. Uh, okay. Uh, here we go. Let's do career theme song.
Krystal: Career theme [00:03:00] song. You know, I, and I finally watched the movie, but Working Girl like Dolly Parton. Like, or Working Nine to Five. Working nine to five. Oh, for real? Yes. Even though, I mean, I don't think I've ever worked nine to five. I feel like it's, it's always lot longer, but like I feel like that song is a good like working woman theme song, like women empowerment.
And then watching the movie too of course gets you like encouraged and you know. You actually think about how they are fighting the same fight that we're fighting the day that they did in the 80, or whenever that movie was, seventies, eighties, that that movie came out,
Doug: that that is an interesting choice.
And just the fact that you got there so quickly that that's a question everyone struggled with. So you were like, you were ready.
Krystal: Yeah. And I, I, well, and I don't even know, like, it's not like a song I listen to all the time, but like, it just popped into my head pretty quick. Yeah.
Doug: All right. I like it. Well, welcome to The Love What You Do podcast. Thank
Krystal: you for having me.
Doug: Designer at Edwardson. Mohen. Mm-hmm. Um, you are a mom. [00:04:00] Yep.
Sports enthusiasts. Married to a basketball coach. We'll get into some of that too. Yep. Um, and, and you've got this combination of grace and grit. I mean, really, you, you are such an example to me. Oh. For both those things. So I, I'm excited to uncover a little bit of your secrets and
Krystal: you're gonna make me cry before it even starts.
Geez, Doug, I'm, you know, I'm sensitive these days.
Doug: Well, we've, I mean, you've given me a lot of good content, a lot of good prompts, so I don't wanna go there right away Okay. Because, uh, there's other things to explore. Okay. Um. Let's just start off, you sent me a note around motherhood and design.
Krystal: Mm-hmm.
Doug: But I don't have any context.
You're gonna have to fill me in here.
Krystal: Okay. Um, so I, Rob and I were married 11 years, so I was probably in the industry for 13 years before I had children. And I have a husband that, that enjoys what he does for work. And I enjoy what I do for work. So [00:05:00] we never had any conflict of, oh, I'm working late, or I'm doing something late because.
We just did what we needed to do. It was just the two of us and we made sure we ate, but maybe sometimes it was separate. So it was never any pressure to get home or have a certain schedule or, you know, if I have to go to a conference, you know, coordinating. So motherhood, um, the last six years and, you know, I have a 6-year-old and a almost 4-year-old.
It's changed that, so you have to make sure that everything's coordinated around them and making sure they get to school now. And you know, of course when they're in daycare you can, you know, get to school a little bit later And things that I never even thought of before and how that we are able to navigate our relat.
W with just the two of us and then in our careers, and then adding in these little humans. Um, so that, that is the broad scheme of like what [00:06:00] motherhood and design is for me. And I think the last time we spoke in this kind of setting, uh, you know, my, my little was my first little, actually I was pregnant and we never acknowledged that either. I was pregnant with, with one and then I had another. And so, um. It. It was a lot different. And when he was even smaller, but now he's starting kindergarten and that's another full-time job.
Oh yeah. And you wanna be there and you see other moms being able to physically be there. And then I have working mom friends that are like, well, we send him to school so we don't have to be there 10 there in those hours. But you also want to be part of that interaction of them being at school. So six years in, I wouldn't say I'm, I'm good at it.
I mean, actually I take that back. I'm not good at everything, but I am a good mom. I know that that's one thing I am good at. My kids are loved, they are, are celebrated. They celebrate me. They know that I'm here with, that's possible with Doug doing a podcast in Chicago. [00:07:00] Um, you know, FaceTime in the ho let me see your hotel room.
Like they wanna see things.
Doug: That's cool.
Krystal: Yeah. So they, yeah, it's a, it's a lot of juggling. Um, I wouldn't say balance. Juggle
Doug: and this'll be out there for them at some point to watch later in life, which will be really cool when they discover this.
Krystal: Exactly. It's funny you say that 'cause I hadn't watched some of the things that I've done on YouTube before and I, I kind of went back to watch and I was like.
Bo do you know you're on YouTube? And he's like, I am. And so I was like, and mommy, he'll be on YouTube once this all gets produced. So it is fun, like you said, to see that snapshot in time of where we were at that time when he was maybe six months old. Um, or actually, I guess he was 16 months old. And, um, seeing where we were then and now being able to show him now that he's six, like where, where he was and like where I am now.
Doug: So, so I, I mean, I, it's a major change Oh yeah. To go through this. Obviously you had time to experience this other life. [00:08:00] Mm-hmm. Now you're here. Surely there was anticipation at some point, like, is this what you expected? And if, if it, if it wasn't, like, what's different? Than what you imagined it to be like.
Krystal: Well, it's funny you say that 'cause when I do get stressed, I'm like, I asked for this. I want it. Like, you know, um, well I say, you know, but maybe your audience doesn't know. But didn't know. We could have children, didn't know if that was gonna be in our cards. And so when we did get pregnant, it was something we always wanted as a couple together, but also enjoyed our lives as we had, you know, for 11 years with just the two of us, as I like to say, I liked my husband so.
Not when it, when the stress comes, I do say, I asked for this, this was something I wanted. Um, the, what I didn't expect, I guess, would be. This is gonna sound weird, but I still love work and I still wanna work and I still enjoy going to the office and I still want to not, I don't always wanna bring work home, but I wanna finish my projects.[00:09:00]
I thought that maybe I would be like, okay, it's five o'clock. You know, that working nine to five, like, um, that I would be like, oh, I'm out. You know, I'll deal with all this tomorrow. But I still have that thought process of what it is. To work. So I thought that I would be able to just kind of cut things off and like I had a friend that doesn't have children and mentioned, she's like, well, I'm a workaholic.
I don't have kids, or I'm not married. And I was like, well, I, I'm still kind of a person who enjoys work and I try not to say workaholic, but it is a little bit. So I think that's probably one of the things that surprised me, that I thought. Oh, I would have these, my little humans, and then I would just leave everything at work.
At work, but I still enjoy, enjoy my, my work and want to do it.
Doug: That's super interesting. I mean, I, I wasn't expecting that answer, this idea of like, maybe you had a fear that you would lose some of that hunger, you know? Yeah. And it's like. Clearly that didn't happen. It didn and which is great,
Krystal: and I want them to see me working.
I want, like I, we talked, I talked to my, especially my oldest, he is, [00:10:00] um, really into Legos and so we kind of do, that's one of the things that we all do together and I like to like. Tell him that somebody designed this, somebody thought about this. So we talk about design, like if he walked into this space, he would look up and see what's happened in the ceilings.
He would wanna know what these speakers are, he would want, we talk about junction boxes, like we, you know, things like we are looking at the way that things are designed in the world. And so it's fun to share that moment with him and as he grows, um, one of my, um, the owners of our company, my boss, her husband owns a product design company.
And so I will have him. Video, like his creations and tell me what he's doing and I'll send them to her and I'm like, here's a future product designer if you guys wanna, you know, interview him for internships in the future. And so like he's thinking about, okay, I've designed this piece of. You know, this toy, this thing.
And like he talks through it and how it works. And he, I mean, he designs buildings with, um, air conditioning. He talks about the plumbing's, where the plumbing is, you know,
Doug: that's [00:11:00] rare.
Krystal: Yes. Like he talks about where the plumbing is, like infrastructure, not just the, the building he thought talks about like how things are functioning and like, you know, making plumbing.
So those are things that I know from. If I wasn't a designer or in this industry, maybe he wouldn't think about. Sure. But I talked to him about those things too.
Doug: I love that you talked to him about your work. Yeah. I think that's really cool. Yeah. You know, to kind of let them in your world.
Krystal: For sure. For sure.
Doug: Yeah. I, you know, let's, let's get into wellbeing. Okay? Okay. You know, wellbeing as a designer, you, you talked about the long hours. Mm-hmm. You talked about, um, there's, there's deadlines, there's stress, like. How, how is your journey in wellbeing coming?
Krystal: I just laugh because I'm on the journey. I'm on the journey.
I don't think that I've mastered it in any sense, and I feel like it's, but I think it's something that's not talked about much as designers. So we talk about wellbeing for our clients. Like, you know, there's the [00:12:00] well and, uh, lead and things that we are doing for buildings and for our clients in the building, in the spaces.
But we're not doing it for ourselves. Hmm.
Doug: So
Krystal: not even just like our own physical workspace, but like our own wellbeing. Um. Design. I feel like designers have such a burnout. Like I hear designers who are under 30, who are, you know, having these conversations about burn, being burnt out, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I've been in this industry almost 18, 19 years and I've had those ups and downs, but like.
It's a long road. Why are we burning out after five to seven years in the industry? And then you look and you don't see many designers who are over 40 who are still in it. They kind of pivot to some other type of industry, maybe within the same, maybe it's sales, maybe it's facilities, but I don't know what it is about our industry that.
That creates the burnout. And I, and I say, I don't know what it is. I know a lot of things that I was actually gonna challenge [00:13:00]
Doug: that I was like, do we really
Krystal: not know what it is? Or do we, we know, but like, how do we prevent it? Or how do we acknowledge it? Or how do we save, like, it's almost like we need to save ourselves so that we can give, you know, like you can't, you can.
Pour from an empty cup. I feel like a lot of us just pour, pour, pour and then we're empty. But we're still pouring into our clients. We're still pouring into all the project loads and. But we're not filling, figuring out a way to fill back up. And I don't know what that looks like and how we can acknowledge that as a community, as a design community, like as designers.
Like how can we get better at it? Not being overwhelmed, not being stressed out, not being burnt out, burnt out was, I feel like burnt out was, um, not even really discussed. It maybe until like COVID, like I didn't hear that term until more recent in my, you know, recently. So like, what, where did that come from?
Like, did we just know the language now? I
Doug: don't know. Wow. I mean, I, I, I think you're onto something. [00:14:00] Um, loyalty is rare in this industry, right? You've been with Edwards and Mulhouse in a long time.
Krystal: 11 going on 11 years.
Doug: So something must be right about that situation.
Krystal: Mm-hmm.
Doug: You know, like, are there some cues that we could learn from maybe what you, you know, like.
How you've stuck it out and, you know Yeah. How you've built loyalty inside a company.
Krystal: Well, and I, I have really good ownership. Like the, my owners, their moms, they're, you know, women who are under 50. They, they see and they let you be. They let you be like, I've always been very, um. Appreciative of them because I can just be me.
Like I don't have to pretend to be an anybody. Um, if I, they could care less about sports, but I'll come in and talk about a game and they're like, oh, crystal, she's the sports girl, or whatever. And then, um, when I remember a couple years in, I got a birthday card from 'em. They're always good [00:15:00] about like birthdays and it was, um, a hand sketch of a, of Tupac and like, tu uh, Tupac's my favorite rapper.
Um, you know, and so they had. Acknowledge that Tupac's my favorite guy and they gave me a card based on, you know, this, on something that I've shared with them that they got, that I didn't have to hide from them. Um, you know, wearing jeans to the office. Everybody, somebody mentioned about after COVID, people wearing jeans to the office.
I'm like, well, we always wore jeans. So feeling like you can express yourself in the way that you dress and the way you present yourself. I'm, I'm a hugger, you know that too. Yeah. Like. You know, putting me in the front of the client, in the front of the meetings to get the hugs first so they don't have to do it.
So I think that, you know, having people who acknowledge who you are going through, um, things with my family and my health and my son's health, like. I was, I was doing hybrid work before it was a, a thing, or again, a term that people were weren't doing like, 'cause they acknowledged they wanted to keep me [00:16:00] on, but they knew that I had this time in my life.
They were always the, I would say, I would tell my husband, my parents, and then I would go tell Harmony Kathleen about any like situation, oh, I'm pregnant. Oh, B'S having to do with his heart, you know, oh, I have cancer. Oh, you know, things like that. They were always. Probably the third people who, who knew?
Yeah. Um, things. And so I felt open. I feel open enough to have those conversations with them. So 11 years goes has gone by really fast actually. I bet.
Doug: I mean this, the Tupac thing's kinda interesting. Yes. Everybody loves a good conspiracy theory. Yes. It seems like a little piece inside of you that wonders, like, is he on an island somewhere?
Oh yeah, he's gonna come back.
Krystal: He, I think he might be. I think he might be, and he, if he's not, I do believe that, you know, maybe he's like still sending things through the, through the universe that we can still accept. But yeah, he, he might be, he might have, you know, gone away and, yeah, just don't wanna have to deal with all [00:17:00] this stuff.
We, we would love to have him back. I would love to see a 52-year-old, however old he would be now, Tupac, and where he would be in this landscape of.
Doug: Totally. The
Krystal: country and everything.
Doug: Totally. Yeah. You wonder how he'd sound? I, yes. Because he had such a sound. Yeah. Um,
Krystal: wild. I told you my youngest was born on Tupac's 50th birthday.
Right? Oh, no way. Yep. I might have planned that a little bit. No, I'm just
Doug: joking. I'm just, that would be too much. Yes, that'd be too much.
Krystal: It just happens. It happens.
Doug: That's funny. Um, well, you talked about. Your personal situation and how accommodating Edwards and Mulhouse has been.
Krystal: Mm-hmm.
Doug: For listeners, you know, who haven't, don't know your story, you know?
Yeah. Um, when I said grit and grace, a lot of it is because, you know, on the outside you are so composed and you are. You know, you can, I can tell you love what you do. You know, you love what you do. Mm-hmm. It's visible in you. Um, but there's a, [00:18:00] there's a grit side to you because of, you know, you've beat cancer twice.
Krystal: Mm-hmm.
Doug: You didn't know you could get pregnant. You got pregnant
Krystal: Yep.
Doug: B'S born with, uh, with a heart condition. Mm-hmm. You know, and had immediate surgery. I mean, the things that you've gone through are not small things. Yeah. And so. Uh, I want the opportunity to learn from you about that, so, um, if you would, if you would go there.
Yeah. If that's okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. To hear about kind of what you've learned about maybe those two words.
Krystal: So, I. I am also stubborn enough too. So I think that is part of the grit and the, and the grace, um, is adding like that little stubbornness to it too. And like being able to go through these things.
'cause I, sometimes I forget and I think that my mind, I, which is good or bad, but like I, I'm present, I'm present in the moment. So when I had mentioned to somebody [00:19:00] before that, I'm like, oh, I haven't been through anything. And then they looked at me and they're, and they listed the things that you just said, and I'm like.
Oh yeah, I guess I have been through some stuff and oh my
Doug: God. Yeah,
Krystal: there's some, been some things. So I think that it, it almost like a. A stubborn mindset of like, I'm gonna keep going. Like, okay, Bo, we're going to, we're gonna deal with this with Bo's. Heart condition. I've gone through cancer. I, at that point, I, you know, I had cancer the first time, um, when I was 27 and Bo was born when I was 36, I think.
And I was like, okay, God gave me this child. To deal with, to deal with his heart condition, because I've had to deal with my own, my own struggles with my health, so I can be there and understand the things that he is, is having to go through in, in a certain way. You know that okay, I, you know, I have my scars, I have my, he's gonna have his scars.
We could talk about that. And we do, we do. As a 6-year-old, we, him and I have the conversation about scars and things we have, but [00:20:00] then turning around. Me having cancer again when I was Bryant, my youngest was 17 months when I got diagnosed the second time. And it was early enough where I didn't have to do, um, chemo or radiation.
Um, and, and I don't like to say just had surgery, but I had a, a double mastectomy, which ended up being a whole thing because I had a little child that I was still nursing. Um, so I had to like have a bunch of different surgeries, but now like. I see the things that Bo and the strength that he showed at five months old, having open heart surgery twice in a week and a half, um, that I am like, okay.
If he can do it, I can do it. Like I can do this. Um, and so I don't know if it's a secret. I think it's almost just being present in the moment, um, and being grateful. I'm so grateful. Like, I'm great. I wake up in the morning and I thank God for waking me up. Just getting, being able to get up and move. Um, even though sometimes I'm dehydrated, I need to drink all my water.
Like, you know, it's like things that I do [00:21:00] do, but I'm just grateful and thankful and it's not ever, um. A handicap, I would say. Hmm. Um, and having, and having employers too that are supportive and that aren't like, okay, you need to be back at work. I was the one that wanted to work while I was trying to navigate these things.
It wasn't never pressure from other people. So. I don't, I, I have no secrets except that I just do it and, and just being present and again, being a little bit stubborn to just say that I'm not gonna quit. Like having babies isn't gonna make me stubby in a designer. You know? I'm gonna be a good mom too.
Like, so it's just like that. Not no quit in me,
Doug: there's no but. There has to be like, I, there's you, you have a joy inside you. You have a joy for what you do. Mm-hmm. You have a joy for your family, for your kids, for your husband. I feel all of that, you know, like when we, when we talk about random stuff like you talked about Yeah.
Yesterday, you know, [00:22:00] there's a joy inside you. Um, was that born, was it role modeled for you? I think so, yeah. Let's go deeper there because I think there's something special there and.
Krystal: You know, it's funny you say special. 'cause I don't feel like it's anything special. Like, I feel like I, I do kind of feel like I was born with a little, I mean, you have kids, so you understand that.
You're like, okay, I did this and this, and my kids are still doing something different. So I think it was like, my parents always let me be who I, I am too. Like I never, um, had like, you know, like super strict things. I always felt like I could go ask them questions and it'd be, it could be yes or no. Like, it's not gonna affect me if.
It's no, well, it's gonna affect me 'cause I'm gonna probably want to go there, but, but like, I, I can't get something if I don't ask for it. And so I don't know if I just, I, I've always had probably a little bit of people pleasing in me too. And so maybe it's part of that or I don't know. I don't know how I got to where I am.[00:23:00]
And also just trying to be present and authentic. I don't ever want to have like. This, you know, obviously we have surface level conversations in our industry and everything, but I want to be true to me. Like I don't want to try to be anybody else. And so I think that if it, if you're true to yourself, then it shows, it shows.
I think people, and you're one of my friends that I feel like has always seen that. And I always, I've said this to you probably a hundred times, why do you wanna talk to me? Who cares what I have to say? Like, so it's always very, uh, I'm very appreciative of you giving me platforms to speak, but I don't necessarily have any like.
I, I'm just talking and I feel like I'm having a conversation with my buddy, you know?
Doug: Yeah. I, I wrote down a, a couple things, so, I mean, you feel that way, but I'm getting things out of this. Okay. Even just like, uh, when you said you're a people pleaser, I related. Mm-hmm. I'm, I'm wired that way. Um, and I'm gonna go back to comment.
You said, you know, you can't pour from an empty cup. Mm-hmm. But there were no real. Big strategies on how to keep [00:24:00] filling that cup. And we were, we were talking about wellbeing, right? But part of it, part of it is almost like, um, you know, like some people, if you're wired as a paper pleaser, pouring into someone else's cup in some ways fills your own.
Krystal: It, it really does. I, I do believe that too. Like, I can go to, like, I can be tired and not wanna go out and then go to an event and just be like hype. Um, I coached B'S basketball team this year. Nice. And 13 kindergarten boys. It was, it was a wild time. But after that first practice, it's like, you know, seven at nine, Robert's getting back for, or it is like eight and the boys are in bed and Robert's getting home from his practice.
And I just wanna, I'm just hyped, I just wanna talk about all this basketball strategy for my kindergarten team. Um, and he's like, are you okay? Like, I was like, how do you do this every day? I don't know. I'm just did this one Thursday, you know, evening practice. And so like, I think other people do fill my cup.
And, and you, you're probably like this too, is that we feed from other people's energy [00:25:00] around us.
Doug: Totally.
Krystal: So even if it's like, it can be negative, and so you really have to try to like, um, one of my coworkers who is my, I call her my reverse mentor, when you talk about not picking up the bag. So when I say the negative, if there's negative energy, I kind of feed off that too.
And I'm like, Ooh, that affected me. But when it's positive, it's good. But the bag thing is, she's like, it's not your bag to pick up crystal. Ooh. Keep it there. You can look at it. You can see it. It's pretty, it's maybe, maybe it's not that great, but. Don't pick that bag up. You could, but you can hear, 'cause I'm naturally a person that people just talk to.
Like, just for whatever reason. I, I say I have a, a face that says, Hey, tell me, tell me all your things. I can get deep fast.
Doug: That's funny. Uh, that's, you know. She, Cheryl tells me the same thing. She's like, I have a sticker on my forehead that says, tell me your life story. Yes. Mean, she's like, I can't get on a plane.
Yeah. Without someone telling me their life
Krystal: story. Libby said the other day when we were on the plane just coming up here and, you know, in line in the [00:26:00] queuing line, and the people are like telling me I have a good interview, and Libby looks at me. She's like, do you know them? I'm like, no. I just met them like five minutes ago.
That's fine. And so, yes, definitely have that sticker too.
Doug: So, uh, we share love Yes. For that game with the bouncy ball and the net. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. Um, i, it means a little more to you than it does to me just because it.
Krystal: Because my husband gets paid to do it.
Doug: Your husband gets paid to do it. It's how you met your husband.
Yeah, right. Actually, that's kind of a fun story. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So that's a story of, uh, of luck, but also maybe persistence, you know? Yes,
Krystal: yes. And so we're like the true like love and basketball kind of story. So in college I refereed basketball, um, high school basketball games, and he was coaching, um, at a local high school, naked urges.
And I had. To go and referee his game. And in the first game time we met was at a scrimmage and he actually helped me referee the game and didn't think anything about him. I'm like a 19-year-old girl, [00:27:00] like not focused on my job. Then I ran into him again, um, maybe a year later out at one of the one nightclub in Nacodoches that there is.
And he gives me three phone numbers, like three. Like, he's like, oh, you're that referee. Like here's all my numbers. And I'm like. Okay, this is weird. He gives me his office number with extension. Its cell phone number. 'cause the cell phone towers don't work Very great. Nacodoches. And then his apartment number, so he's like, I had to give you all three 'cause one of my cell didn't work.
You know, this is like 2003 or two. Yeah. So I didn't call him, I didn't call him. I lost his number. He, he swears I crumbled it up and threw it away, but I didn't, I just lost it. I'm sure it's in that pair of jeans. Yeah. Like stuff like in the pair of jeans. So I'll lose the number. Then I have to go back and referee his ga a game that I had got scheduled in the, in the spring.
And I walk in the gym, I'm like, oh, that's that coach that I never called. And I'm like, oh, damn. Like, like I should, [00:28:00] should've called him. He's cute. Like, why didn't I, why didn't I do that? So right away I just. Asked. I was like, Hey, I remember you giving me your number before, like, why don't you give it to me again?
And of course he's, you know, he tries to play hard to get Yeah. But he's like, well, I already gave it to you once. I don't need to do it again. I'm like, well, I'll call you this time, I promise. And that was, man, 21 years. Like I still don't, can't believe I have a niece that's, wow. 21. So I kind of remember it 'cause of her age, but 21 years ago that that happened in.
I am a crazy basketball wife, Doug. Like I embarrass myself sometimes and I now, I don't think I've told you that I now have clients though, that have kids playing on the other teams.
Doug: Oh my gosh.
Krystal: And they're like, Hey, I saw you at the game. I, I didn't wanna bother you. And I'm like, oh, bother me. And I'm like, oh shit.
What did I say? So I really have to, now that I, I thought my kids would. Uh, calm me down during basketball games, but they didn't, and now I'm just trying not to embarrass myself. Yeah. In front of clients. That's the key. Trying to embarrass [00:29:00] yourself.
Doug: You know, I've, I've been to one of your husband's games.
Yes. It's not some small thing. It's, it's huge.
Krystal: It's fun. And it's fun and I mean, all the players are my, like, those were my babies before my babies, like
Doug: right.
Krystal: Those were my guys. They're 6, 8, 6 10, you know, like all these big guys. And you know, Rob and I are like five two and five seven, like, and so we are lucky to have all of these players and people around us, and they're, they're amazing.
They're amazing.
Doug: I, I have to ask you a question about empathy because mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, design is a lot about empathy. You were a ref? Yes. Are you easy on refs? No.
Krystal: Come on, give these guys a break. I'm not Doug. I am not. I'm not, and I don't, I think about, well, I'm retired, so I expect more from 'em. You know, like I expect more from the referees, I think because.
I was a ref, and now, so I thought it would be in
Doug: reverse. I thought okay, because you were, you're gonna be like, [00:30:00] I, I could see how they could miss that. No, no love. No.
Krystal: And now that I'm wearing glasses, if I don't have my glasses on, I'm like, I could see that without my glasses on. Like I, and now since, you know, it's, it's Austin and same rotation of refs, so I definitely have a relationship with them at this point too, that they.
Probably get, let me get away with a little more than maybe some of the other people can get away with.
Doug: Have you, have you ever been tossed?
Krystal: That's the rule. I can't get tossed is, that's Robert's rule to me is that I have to, to contain it enough. I definitely got into it a little bit at the end of the season on a no call layup that would've put us in overtime in the playoff game.
And yeah. And so the referee's like, okay, that's enough. And I'm like. You're right. I go, no, it's not enough. The game's over my season's, I say my season, their season's over. Of course it's enough 'cause we're going home, hanging. And, and I will say for that game, um, I kind of mentioned it to you last year, [00:31:00] last week, last night.
Um, because we lost early in the, in the playoffs this year. We actually got to go up to Kansas for the first time to Allen Field house and talk about design, like, you know, one of the first big basketball arenas. Oh wow. No ac like bleacher, like straight up Kansas, you know, basketball and got to see the rules of basketball.
They, um, you know, speaking of design, they had this little walkway where they, um, had all the rules and this is exterior, so it's big scale. All of the rules of basketball written like across this little. Metal panel.
Doug: My gosh. Like almost like the 10 Commandments or something, you know?
Krystal: Exactly, exactly. And then the way that they had the rules of basketball displayed, it was like in a little like lockbox, like a little, little screen box.
And it was a little, I'm not gonna say underwhelming, but it was a little like, ah, like, you know, underwhelming in a sense. It wasn't like dolled up, but it was just a box on a wall with a little speaker that would. Have the words of [00:32:00] the, of basketball, of, of the rules, like read to you. It's just, it's kind of, wow.
It's kind of amazing being it, I got the chills. Like tip the tip. I got the chills when the game started.
Doug: Dang. Yeah. That's awesome.
Krystal: I think you would enjoy I would,
Doug: I would. That's, that's like for me, yes. For me, yes. Um, okay. That was, that was kind of a fun exploration. I had to ask that question. I actually, I knew I was gonna ask that question.
Krystal: You knew No, never been tossed, but been real close.
Doug: Um, let's, let's, uh, I, this is just a fun question. If you were gonna host a podcast Okay. And it couldn't be about design or basketball, let's not go there. Okay. Like, what, what would your, what would your podcast be about? Like, what would do you wanna share with planet?
Krystal: So going into that wellbeing. Um, I think that, trying to figure out, because you've asked me some questions that I feel like I've circled around because I have no answer for 'em of like, okay, well why am I wired to continue to push through [00:33:00] when I've had cancer twice? My kid, my kids had to deal with heart surgery and like what, like what is internal in me that.
That I could actually get out and share. So I think something about like wellbeing, health, like ways that we can refuel. Um, 'cause as I say that I've been in this industry 18 years. I don't know why I have it. I mean, obviously I've gotten sick, so I see my burnout is me. Like my cancer is obviously part of my health and my burnout.
Like my body reflects those things. Like, I think I need to figure out how to get past those, you know, how, what, what we need to do. And so I think having like experts in here that, you know, study or I say in here, in our podcast, in the podcast, that study like wellbeing, study, like the mind and, uh, neurologists and all the things to figure out like, well, what, what is it that, you know, makes people tick?
So something about wellbeing and health would be
Doug: I like that. I like that. It's just, as you were [00:34:00] talking, I, I sense that. You feel an incompleteness to you? Yes. No. Like I don't have a
Krystal: definition. Or like
Doug: you want Yeah. You want to bring some or answer definition to like who, why you are, who you are mm-hmm.
And all of that. Right. That, that is a constant journey, I feel like. Right. Gosh. I mean, every good poet writes about Yes. You know, I don't know that you ever get there.
Krystal: Right. And is that I know. Yeah. Is that just what it is? Is it just a journey and it's like. There's not ever, um, an answer, a complete, because think about it, we are designers.
We're, or I'm a designer. You're in our adjacent a design adjacent. We have a project that we start from the beginning. We program, we do sds, we get to dds, and then we have CDs, and then we get into construction, construction administration. The building's complete. Like there is a end to the project, you know, somewhat of an end.
And it's like we, there's never like really an end to, I guess our journey of [00:35:00] life and like figuring out in different seasons of like, 'cause we change, we evolve as we grow and learn and all this things, but there's never like a end to that. Journey. There isn't. Yeah, there isn't. And and maybe as a designer and we, or a project based industry, we wanna see that kind of end.
But I guess like some people will talk about even like getting older. Like I have a birthday next, actually next week. Um, and. Like, I'm like, I'm happy to turn 42, I think is how old I'm gonna be 42, because that means I'm here. I'm not, I haven't gotten to the end, like I haven't died. I haven't, like I'm here.
I'm here for a reason. I'm here. Yeah. So I love getting, I love birthdays. I love getting older every year.
Doug: I love that it's, I almost feel like the way you talk about getting older, it takes you back to that phrase like, you asked for this. Yes. This is good. This is good. This is what we all want. I want, we wanna be.
Alive and alive means getting older.
Krystal: Right, exactly. That's like part of that journey. So yes, the, I love that you [00:36:00] can sense that I don't have a completion, like a definition or whatever. Like I, I'm still searching for something because it is like, when you ask the question, well, how'd you get that? I'm like.
I don't know. I can't pinpoint like a certain time in my life that like put me to being the person I am. I'm just me.
Doug: I kind of like this idea of like never being complete. Yeah. Like we are like the grata Amelia, you know? It's like we're always, it's always being worked on. It will never end. Right. Um, it's kind of interesting.
That's a fun way to think about things because. Maybe you change from like, searching for an answer. Mm-hmm. To just, you know, like building, you know, it's, it is like a different mindset. Enjoying the ride mindset. Yeah. It's a, it's a totally different mindset. Um, is there a change you're seeking, like
Krystal: a change?
It's, it's
Doug: in anything.
Krystal: I think for me it is feeling like the health, my health and wellbeing side of, of my life. Like knowing that, [00:37:00] you know, I can get up and do a workout and I'm not, you know, I'm not playing basketball anymore. She hoops. My body just doesn't do those things. I either, no way, I don't do this, but like figuring out like I'm a competitor though too.
So like figuring out, I mean, do I go to pickleball? I don't know, but I think there's things that I need to like. Figure out in that sense of like how to manage the work that I love, my family that I love, and then like adding in that health and wellbeing side. So I think that's where my mindset, like this time in my life is like kind of where I am in, in that, in the journey of our, our life is.
Doug: I love that.
Krystal: Figuring that out.
Doug: I love that. You know, I, I feel like that's what we all, we're all trying to. You know, that's the journey that we're all on. Right? And then it changes, right? You're. Kids grow up, they leave. You know, like that's a new journey, right? Yes. It's like, it's kind of cool. It's kind of cool that it's, this isn't the only one you'll be on.
Krystal: [00:38:00] Right.
Doug: You know?
Krystal: Right. And we have it, and we've already been on a few, you know, like being in our twenties with, in thirties, even with no kids and living that, the life downtown, you know, Austin? No, that's like
Doug: the easiest one you'll be on. Yes.
Krystal: That was our, that was our easy button. But knowing, but then too, you know, I, I was 27 when I got.
Cancer the first time. So knowing that as, um. 27-year-old that, you know, lost my hair and, you know, my career kind of had to pause a little bit. I was, um, so I do sometimes see like people who are 18 years in the industry and like them navigating different things in their career. And I'm like, oh, well maybe if I would've not taken that, like a little bit of a pause 'cause of my health would, I've been in those situations.
But I guess that's kind of the, the pivot that we talk about is that. Maybe the I'm where I'm supposed to be. Like, I do feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be. You know, it's, it's you. You see, sometimes you, the grass isn't always greener on [00:39:00] the other side either, or it's green where you water it. I feel like there's some people, like you see that there's some people who, no matter where they move or go to when they're always seeking something, that they'll move and then they'll still bitch about the same things that they bitched about at the other place.
Yeah. And so it's like, okay, so if I move is. It's almost like you have to work on what you, what, what's making you upset or whatever it is. Before you can just take, take your suitcases and go to the other spot. Like why, why am I like that? Like do some work inside first.
Doug: I like that. Um. You said suitcase.
It just took me back to that comment of like, that's not your bag. That's not your
Krystal: bag. Don't pick it up. And, you know, and, and this designer, she's, you know, 26 years old and I always, like I said, I always call her my reverse mentor. And it just, I appreciate having those relationships 'cause Oh.
Doug: Yeah, we'll let that guy pass.
Krystal: Honestly, I think I'm 27 2, and then I [00:40:00] realized, I'm like, oh wait, I'm 42. Like, I, like, I, I almost feel like I was frozen. Like, you feel this, I feel the
Doug: same way. Right? Like there's times. I could be the oldest person in the room, but I don't feel that way at all. No. Like I feel like a kid and like, well, I don't know.
You know, like Yeah. You just, it's an like, I feel that.
Krystal: Yeah. So that's what, what's your age that you froze at?
Doug: Oh my gosh, what age did I freeze at? Like in mid twenties? I, yeah. So 27.
Krystal: Yeah.
Doug: You know, 'cause like I had this feeling of like, you're in situations where you don't know what to do.
Krystal: Mm-hmm.
Doug: And, um, and so.
Even though I'm in situations I've been in before, you would think I know what to do. There's still those feelings of like. Mm. Like, oh, there's somebody that's way smarter than me or, or capable, that's gonna know,
Krystal: right?
Doug: And then sometimes you look around and you're like, well wait, that's me. Maybe I'm that person
Krystal: now I'm that person.
And then I appreciate, you know, the designers in our office, like, you know, asking questions that [00:41:00] because maybe. Well, even like, I know we do a lot of healthcare projects. So we have a designer that was working on an imaging for breast cancer, and so she, or even, um, NICU for a hospital and she's asking me, okay, as a mom, like, how did you feel when Bo was in the NICU and you had to navigate going through these spaces or when you were getting imaging done for your breast cancer?
Like how, and so those are things that I'm able to, because they. Thank God, haven't experienced some of those things. Um, but I'm able to share. So it's like, oh wait, I do have historical knowledge that just because of my age and my life and the, um, you know, that my life experiences that maybe they don't have, and so I'm totally.
I'm lucky to be able to share them with our, our design, like in design too. Um, I will say I, I've worked and I'm working currently on a heart hospital and then I, I don't know if I've done breast cancer, but I was like, can we, can I work on a spa? Like can we work on projects that can Little heavy. Yeah.
Because don't touch so close to in basketball facilities. [00:42:00] I've done sports and Sure. And you know, basketball and stuff and so I'm like, I love all that. But like I need to work on something that is just a little chill. That's
Doug: funny. Uh, what would be the dream thing?
Krystal: Dream project? Yeah. Oh gosh. That, you know, I, so I, I did, I have happened to be asked this question kind of recently, and it, and I, as I say, I don't wanna work on anything that has to do with cancer heart.
It actually does have to go back to a cancer situation. So whenever I'm at MD Anderson, I'm. Even. And now at 40 something, I'm one of the younger people there and I had this recent doing surgeries. I've had to stay at hotels and things to get ready for the surgery. And I feel like there's no, like, they're like, you know, everything's very se separate.
So it would be some kind of hospitality facility for young adults that are having to go through cancer treatment. Um, almost like a SoCo house. Like fill, like a [00:43:00] members only like of course, a membership that nobody, we don't want anybody in, but like a vibe, like not just a sterile hotel room or hospital room.
Like something that pe uh, cancer patients could like enjoy and, you know, go do their treatment, come back, chill out on, you know, some kind of like lounge and, you know, sip a mocktail and you know, a wellness kind of retreat for Yeah. People who are going through some kind of treatment,
Doug: somebody needs to hear this.
Krystal: I
Doug: know.
Krystal: I'm partner. Let's partner. Let's figure out, let's go. Let's figure it out. Let's make this happen. Because I'm like, MD Andrew has so much money. Let's figure out like how to, and there's so many old ho you probably haven't been around that area in uh, Houston Medical Center, but so many old hotels, it's like close to Reliant where they play football.
And the Astrodome, maybe we could turn the Astrodome into, 'cause like it's literally a building that sits empty.
Doug: Is it really? Yeah. I didn't know that. The
Krystal: Astrodome and it's the eighth Wonder of the world. Did you know that?
Doug: Wow. I know. It was the [00:44:00] largest unsupported structure, dome structure. It's,
Krystal: I definitely grew up going to baseball games there.
Astros games. Wow. Yeah. So, we'll, we'll figure that project out, Doug. Um.
Doug: Okay. Is there a question maybe that you hope I'd ask you today that I haven't got to?
Krystal: I don't think so, but I mean, you know, I can sit here and talk and about life. Well, let's do this. I mean, do you just, I like about life
Doug: as soon as you said, you know, you know, grew up going to the Astros game, I just thought, is there like a memory, a childhood memory that you just loved?
To tell, like a story you love to tell?
Krystal: He, well, it's, um, I always think about my parents and not being blown off about being a designer. So I was a Barbie girl. I'm a tomboy through and through, but Barbie was my girl. And so I would, um, design, um, if we like picked up a Barbie dream house. I noticed she didn't have a restroom and so I like designed out a paper like a restroom.
And my dad, oh, it's a [00:45:00] story my dad likes to tell about me becoming a designer. And so I designed, um, a toilet and a restroom, like, and he always tells I had the flip top, like, you know, like the toilet flat with paper that I would just put together. That's awesome. And so he, he's like, oh my gosh, this girl is like thoughtful.
And that's how I, I see that in my son a lot too. Totally thoughtfulness of like design. And so he always likes to tell people, like, of course I encouraged her to be a designer. Like she was already doing it, you know, at seven years old. Thinking about how her Barbie was gonna navigate through her Barbie dream house without a restroom.
Like, how's that gonna happen? Um, and then he also was an outside sales for building supplies. So I was that kid too that grew up with all of the swag and like I had all the, all of his, um, calendars. And every year, you know, you get a new calendar. I would always have my, my calendar that my dad's come company would give and tape measures and pens.
And so we were definitely all into his like su supply. Like I, I [00:46:00] don't know if my sister did, but we were all into his like supply, so he was supposed to get to his clients. We
Doug: were that kid, those kids. So, so those, those memories, I mean obviously I, you received an incredible amount of support with your Oh, for sure.
Uh, pursuit of this, a design career. Mm-hmm. It's kind of funny, the, the Barbie toilet, you know? Yeah. I'm, how is she gonna go? I wouldn't even think about that, but that is really funny.
Krystal: I'm like, how's she gonna go to the restroom? Come on Barbie.
Doug: I mean, it, they made a conscious decision, I guess, to leave out the restroom.
I maybe they were, you know.
Krystal: Maybe. Maybe. But I mean, she has to get ready and stuff too. So with all the movies, that's
Doug: so good. That's a good memory. Um. Crystal, I, I loved interviewing you. You, you are such a, a, a love what you do role model. Oh, thank you. And, um, I always appreciate the time with you.
Krystal: Always appreciate you having me and I'm grateful for the time with you too.
Doug: Thank you.