How Colors Affect Your Mindset in Life & Business

You guys, I'm super excited about this episode of She Crafts to Thrive because we're talking about color. It's the new year, so you might be thinking about redecorating, changing your logo up, your website, your brand colors, whatever the case may be. That's why I wanted to have this wonderful guest on. Her name is Minaj. She is a fine artist and color consultant who specializes in talking about the color color psychology. Basically, she talks to you and shares with you how color can impact your moods, your feelings, and emotions positively or negatively. It's such a cool concept, and I think we all would love to hear how this affects us because it's affecting us every day. So please stay tuned to listen to Menaaz's story, as well as different things that you may not know about that might be holding you back in your mindset because of the colors in your room. Welcome to She's Crafted to Thrive. I'm your host Nikita Williams, and this show is for all the ladies who are making and creating things that they love. You will hear conversations about the real everyday struggles of juggling life and business while trying to maintain passion and harmony. As women, we have the skill of getting things done, but sometimes we get in our own way. It's here where you'll see that you're not alone. You'll discover that success does not mean perfection. Fear and negative thoughts and challenges are all a part of the journey, and on this podcast you'll find the inspiration and tools you need to have a life and business that thrives. Welcome to the show, Mehnaz. I'm gonna try to say it right. I know we were talking about it before the show, but, um, ladies and gentlemen, this is a wonderful lady. I love her art. Um, as you heard in the intro, she is a color psychologist, which is pretty cool. And you guys know I'm in the middle of redoing my house, so I'm super excited about this for multiple reasons. But welcome, welcome.

Thank you so much for having me, Nikita Williams Williams. So it's Mehnaz, but that's perfectly all right. However you want to say it, I don't mind it. I know it's a little difficult. And yes, I'm a fine artist, and I use the principles of color psychology when it comes to creating my art. And what color psychology does, it talks about how colors influence the way you think, you behave, and your emotions. And if you're redoing your house, you're going to have some really good moments and you'll think about why did you do a certain thing and how can you change that thing?

Yeah. So I just painted my living space, like the kitchen, the living room, my office, the hallway. The guest bathroom. So I'm like, uh-oh. I didn't do the bedrooms yet, so that's good. So I didn't go all crazy. But I was just telling my husband this last night. I was like, oh my goodness, what if I learned something and I'm like, oh no, I just spent this money. But please tell us a little bit about how you got started in this and your story. We'd love to hear that.

Yes. So I have been painting ever since I was a little kid, but it was just as a hobby, and I never considered it to be a career. And I think the number one reason is when I was growing up during that time, all the smart kids, they studied science, and only the less smart ones went to study art. So all I knew was— I mean, not even my parents said that to me or anybody said that to me, but all I knew was that I'm a smart kid, so I have to study science. So I have a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science, and then I went and did my MS in computer science, and then I did an MBA. And after all that, I sat home with my kids for 10 years. And after 10 years, when my third one, she turned 3, that's when I decided it's time I can go back to work. What do I do now? I have this 10 years of gap. Uh, what do I do? So I started painting. And another reason I wanted to paint, or I started painting again, was because during motherhood, there's a lot that goes on in a woman's life. Hormones. And just, you have this new baby, you have no idea how to handle this. You're in a new relationship and everything. And I was very depressed. Also, to add on to it, it was seasonal depression that would come here. Living in the Northeast, 6 to 8 months you're a part of it. So using art and colors helped me a lot with motherhood and with all this depression. And that's when I moved it that this is what my business is going to be about. And just the way it helped me, it can help others. I believe— I mean, I've seen all mothers, they're overwhelmed. They have no idea what's going on. And little things like everybody will relate to, any mother will relate to, is the mess that we see in the house. And we just get used to it so much that it doesn't bother us. But actually, it bothers your subconscious mind a lot. So you know how mindfulness is a big thing these days, and there's many mindset coaches, and even in schools, like, as young as kindergarten, children are learning about mindfulness. So understanding color psychology and using art the right way, not as just as a decor, is all about being conscious about your choices and about being mindful.

I believe that. I mean, if we just look out in the world, like, just like, you know, you feel different. Like, if you just like, if you go to the beach, you feel completely calm. There's a reason why. If you go up to the mountains and it's snowing, you feel all cozy. And then at some point you feel like, man, it's so bleak because it's all white. You know, it makes sense that, you know, color would have such a impact on our, on our minds and our brains. So I think it's really cool that you've discovered that and have like melded that into your beautiful art because your art is beautiful. I love because it's pink. I know, I know. I mean, it's more than just pink, guys. It's like flowers. It's very beautiful. Tell us a little bit more about like your artistic style.

Sure, sure. So, um, the first thing you pointed out I definitely take my cues from Mother Nature, and everybody should. It's so obvious. Even when you're wearing something, what are you wearing? Have you seen those colors somewhere existing in Mother Nature? For example, red and black. In Mother Nature, red and black is a sign of caution. So there are so— it's infinite possibilities when you look what's happening in nature. And talking about this white now, you will connect to this. You just said the white, the snow everywhere. What happens is if looks great. So this morning when I woke up, it was all covered in white. It has been snowing continuously for 5 hours. It's all covered in white. So it looks amazing right now. But what eventually happens is most people go into depression and you're feeling lazy and gloomy. So what's happening is the psychology of white is that it looks unblemished and clear, but eventually it shuts down your emotional noise. So what happens is that we're escaping from what's happening in our life, but actually that doesn't solve the problem. So it's like cocooning yourself. And that's what so much of this snow and 6 months of cold does to us. That's why we need those colors. So we should not be matching our interiors with the outdoors. In fact, looking what's missing and add that. And a great way to do that is to use art and about pink. So pink is used for many reasons. Just like you said, you love it when you are on my feet. Everybody tells me it's so calming, it's so relaxing, and we just go to your feet to calm down. And that is why I'm exactly using pink, because the psychology of pink is that it helps ease tension, it soothes the viewer, so it calms you down. And we talk about pink being feminine, and this is also a big part of what I do to change this concept that if pink is feminine, that's okay. There's nothing wrong with it. We hear this all the time. I don't want this. It's pink, it's too girly. So what's wrong with it being girly? Because if it's girly and it's showing the femininity, That's a good thing because a woman is all about love. She's all about nurture. She's all about giving. But at the same time, today's woman is strong. She's confident, she's bold, she's doing everything. So that's a good thing. If that's the mindset you have, that's a good thing. So bring more pink into your life. You need more love. The world needs more love. And this is what all my art is about. It's soothing the person, the viewer, having the piece of art in your home. And because if you notice, art is the only decor that goes on your wall, so it goes in the vertical direction. Everything else you put in your space, uh, things on your coffee table or a console or a shelf and couches and everything is on the horizontal space. So not only you're cluttering your space, um, by using your vertical space, you have this direct, um, eye level, so you get into eye contact easier and it makes the first impression. So, you know, when you walk out of your room in the morning and you see this piece of art, that's what you see first because it's at eye level. Another thing what it does for us is elevates. It helps our eye move up whenever we're using our vertical space. It, it helps our eye move up, and this creates the feeling of elevation. And us human beings are naturally just attracted to things that elevate. We see this all the time in our life, like tall buildings hot air balloon, like an airplane in the sky. You see an airplane every day, but you get excited. Oh look, you show your children there's an airplane, right? So just anything that elevates the feel, that feeling is good for us.

Wow. Yeah, a lot of what you just said makes sense. Um, like, and it's cool, I was just talking about blush pink for one of the guest rooms because I— the colors in my house now are like the sea salt kind of oceany but not too oceany. It's like a green but kind of with a hint of gray. So it's not— anyway, it's really hard to explain because it's not like just one color. And then the rest of the house, the other part of the house is like this soft mint. I'm drawn to colors of the ocean because when I go to the ocean, it is literally my happy place. I don't have to get in the water. Yes, I'm one of those people that I'm not a big fan of getting in the water, but I just love to go and hear the water and see the colors in the air. And so the other thing I love is sunsets, and there's always these beautiful pinks and these hues of pink that are just, like, amazing, that it's just like, wow. No one says, oh, that's just too— that's too girly. They just say, wow. You know what I'm saying? They just say, wow, look at that beautiful sunset. So I totally agree with you about all of what you just said. It does make a difference. And vertical, I mean, those things are— we have to elevate our eyes to see those things. And, you know, you do have a better— I think elevating your head and your eyes makes you think better. Like, it makes you think more positively, looking like looking ahead. Would you say that's something that that does?

Yeah, the growth. Growth. Yes. Yeah, very cool.

Very cool. So in your, in your personal life, you said earlier, you know, dealing with, you know, having kids and, you know, growing from, from that place. I've read on your website, it was like, yeah, I was— I'm a mother and I was supposed to be feeling happy, but I wasn't. Like, how, how did you— like, how did that come about? How did you recognize that that was actually happening?

I think it was I wanted to be happy and So I believe that your mindset shift happens when your environment is in alignment with that mindset. I wanted to be happy, but my space was very dull and nothing was happening around. And I had children and it wasn't messy because I'm a big organization freak, but I didn't care about— I wouldn't decorate my space so much because my children would touch little things and I didn't want to be running after all the time. Or if somebody else is coming. And it was just simple. There wasn't a lot of colors. The concept of neutral, because even at that time, it's like you want to do neutral because it works with everything and it's easier. And then exactly, I was going to say that go for a color that is easy to clean because the children are going to spill everything. And it was just dull and boring. And that's when I went back, started creating. I realized that these colors were making all the difference. And then I started applying it and I did see the difference. So that's when my environment and my mindset were in alignment. They were both telling the same story. And then that's when I went, got into color psychology and did more research and started knowing about the traits of the colors. Which before that I did not know. So what do I want? Like, the other day my son was feeling— just Sunday, my son was feeling really low. So I was like, go wear a yellow top. So it's the weather outside, and these days the sun sets so early. So what we need is a happy color, and yellow makes you happy. So now that's how I use colors, and that's how I guide my clients, uh, depending on the emotions they want to feel. So we first talk about their emotions and the behavior they want to exhibit in their space, and then we choose a color palette for them. It's not based on what's trending out there, what's modern, what you see on Pinterest. And this is also, you know, this is really good for the environment because once you do the grounding work, you're diving deep inside that what do you actually want from your space? You don't have to change into your, into your decor every 2 to 3 months. I know it has become a big thing on social media. And I am, I am actually against it because it's not good for the environment, and I would rather save that money for my kids' college than spending it on my decor. But you will not feel the need to do it every couple of months or even years because you've done the grounding work.

You know, you bring up such a good point. It's so interesting. Like, these are things that I don't think I thought about until I owned my own home. Like, this is our first house. So we've always been in apartments. So of course, you know, apartments, you don't really, you know, spend the time usually to make it all fancy and pretty because you're like, I'm going to be living in like 6 months to a year, right?

I agree. I'm the same way. We're renting a temporary apartment right now because we relocated from Florida back to New York and I'm doing nothing here.

Yeah, I'm just going to patch those holes. But exactly. So we, my husband and I have always said, man, we have never really made a place our own. Like we've never made it like feel like us or feel complete or cozy like we would like it to feel. So we've been really like, I've been like maybe a little bit obsessive about it. So I'm like, cause I don't plan, I am totally not the person who's like, I'm changing everything every 3 months. Like to me that's insane. But when I talk to other people, they're like, what do you mean you're not going to there's other women and they're looking at me like, yeah, every so often I go and I change this and I change— I get like maybe adding to your current decor, but no, they're like changing it completely. And I was just telling a girlfriend of mine the other day, I was like, I don't have the time to do that. And I don't know why I would do that. Once I've gotten it to a place that I really feel comfortable with, why would I go through the effort of changing it all over again? I feel like that would make my life feel more hectic than anything.

Correct. I agree. I'm the same way. Every 3 months, that's not possible. There's so much going on in your life, work and with kids on the weekends. There's no time for me to go shopping. But of course, social media and brands, that's how they're creating the hype that you need to change it. This is new, this is in season, that's not trendy. And I'm telling you, when you are running after trends, you're stuck in that rut. That's why you need the field to change. But if you do that grounding work, and like you were talking about the colors in your space, I would start with what do you want to feel in that space, and that's how we're going to bring those colors in, which you did because of the sea, the ocean. Uh, you will not need that field to change all the time. And then again, it's not sustainable for the environment. We call it disposable decor because that's what it is. How much are you going to save? And then you know, a little bit different from, uh, the KonMari methodology. Why is it so famous? Like, do you really need someone to come and tell you how to clean your clutter? But the thing is, by guiding and by helping you tidying up your space, you're actually clearing the clutter in your mind, and that sets you free. That makes you feel so good. And this is what happens when you're putting things in a closet like, I'm gonna take this out next season or the season after, and you're not reusing it. It's all cluttering in your brain also.

Okay guys, I just wanted to hop in to come in here and interrupt the show real quick. We're talking about colors and business and mindset in our homes. So of course I have to share with you a new product that I have just been introduced to because me and my husband bought a home last year and one of the things we've been doing is filling it with things that we love so that our guests feel nice and comfy and we needed a new mattress. Our first time we had a guest place, like an official guest place for our guests to sleep. So we were really, really anxious on figuring out which mattress would be the most comfortable and cost-effective. And you guys know I am a research crazy bean. We found Allswell Home and it is in our house, in our guest room. And so far our guests love it and they think it's nice and comfy. The perfect thing is that it's compatible with a box spring, platforms, adjustable beds, and it's just overall very comfy. It's like the best of both worlds. Memory foam and coils, like, combined together. It's great for our guests. Now, if you want to know more, if you want to try this out for your home, follow the link in the show notes and they'll let Allswell know that I sent you and it'll help support the show. Also, you guys, you'll get free shipping, a 10-year limited warranty, and a 100-night risk-free trial. So check it out in the show notes. All right, back to the show. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense too. I'm a big believer and I believe what the Bible says, which is keep things simple. There's a reason. Keeping things simple keeps life simple. Simple doesn't mean like plain. It doesn't mean ugly. It just means you discover. I love how you said you've done the groundwork. You figured out what it means to make you feel whatever that emotion or feeling that you're lacking. And then you're good with that. Like, to me, that makes a lot of sense. That's simple. That just keeps things simple, and you don't feel like you're just running around in circles constantly trying to figure out something new and something that you're not. Because I do believe a lot of people are chasing, chasing the trends, like you're saying, and they're trying to be like, you know, Pinterest famous or something. I don't know. But, you know, I'm like, great, Pinterest is great. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Pinterest, right? But I'm looking at it to fulfill what I need, not what the other way around. I'm not trying to find my need in Pinterest. I'm just trying to find what I think would look good for what I need. So if that makes any sense— I don't know if that makes any sense.

No, that totally does make sense because it's, it's just not possible. So that's gonna help you be happy with what you have and what you have put together. You, you're not going to be carried away.

So in— let's say you're a creative person, you have your own creative business. How do you use this in your business? Like this concept of color theory and color, you know, psychology. How do you use it to run your business? I would imagine it has a lot to do with that as well.

Right. So when you go on my Instagram to see what it looks like, it's all very pink. And then A lot of people ask me, they think that I always wear pink, everything I have is pink around me, which is not true. I do wear pink for my branding because that's all my branding is. And when people come to my feed or they are looking at my branding, I want them to feel a certain way. And that's what pink is. It's soothing, it's relaxing, it's calming, it's full of love and nurturing, and that's how they feel. So that's where I'm applying that. And I just want to add here, like, color is so, so important in branding. If we have a lot of businesses listening to us, also so, so important in branding because the first thing that your mind captures is color. So the shapes and the words come next. First thing subconsciously your mind captures is colors. And we see this, let's take an example, for McDonald's, you know, the children get so excited even if you never eat McDonald's. Like, my 4-year-old, she's never eaten McDonald's. Like, I'm done with junk food like ages ago. She's never even eaten it. She's just seen it on TV and anything, and still when she, she sees the golden arches, she gets excited. I want to go to McDonald's. She has no clue what they sell, what happens. So that's because the colors, the yellow and the red, are very strategically chosen to attract. And like we mentioned earlier, yellow is that happy color. It gets the kids excited and they're happy. I want to go eat McDonald's. I'm hungry. And all those things. And those are the emotions they feel. And then the behavior, they start jumping up and down, their voice goes loud, and the sound changes. So this is how they grab your attention. And going into more detail into this, the concept of fast food restaurant is everything happening really fast. So the environment that McDonald's is created helps us move fast. We quickly come in, quickly order, quickly eat, quickly go. On the other hand, let's look at Starbucks. The environment that Starbucks has created is to slow down, really, really slow down. Like, enter Starbucks, you go slowly, you walk through, you place your order slowly, like quietly, everything. And then you sit down for hours and hours and hours. And I want you to notice, anybody listening to us, next time when you go to these restaurants there is no architectural element in there. They're just big boxes, just a big box room. There's nothing going on. It's the colors that is making you feel that certain way. Talk to anyone. I don't think most people— and I've done this poll so many times on my Instagram— most people don't go to Starbucks for the coffee. They go for the ambience.

Yes, getting there. So true.

Exactly. So you see, what happens is Starbucks is playing again very strategically. You go there for the ambience, you sit down, and that's what drives the sale. I mean, you're spending hours, you're going to buy something, then you're going to buy lunch and whatever you do. So that's how they're attracting their clients. And it's all in the colors. It's all in the colors in their environment.

So they're green, Starbucks is green, like their color is green and white and like those really kind of like brown tones and blacks and Right.

Like, that's the greens in their, um, in their logo is again connected to nature. It's more like, it's not organic, but it's, of course, it's more expensive stuff, it's cleaner stuff. That's what the green in the logo is, uh, is giving the signs to us. And the colors in the room, they're like dark and they're cozy. And notice they have very high ceilings, so don't try to implement that in your home because your space is going to get— look very dark. They have very high ceilings, so they can implement it. The idea is to cocoon you, and that's why you spend hours in it, like 7, 8 hours people spend there. So I went to college in New York City, and we used to sit for 5, 6, 7 hours with our laptops outside in Starbucks. They have good Wi-Fi to attract you. So it's that color and the undertones in that color that's making you feel a certain way. It is also very essential, again, for businesses listening to us, um, wherever you work, your office you have office space or in your living room, your work is going to be really affected by your environment, what colors you have going on. You want to feel productive. There are colors that are going to help you feel productive, motivated. You know, there's a fine line between feeling calm and relaxed and then feeling so calm that you're lazy. So you want the stress-free calm for your office and you want the lazy thing for your bedroom. So there are minor changes. And I think one, one thing that's really important that I've not mentioned— I'm saying all these things that color is affecting you. How is that happening in your brain? So, uh, we know that color is not the property of the object we see. So when you look at an object, it reflects a wavelength of light back into your eye, and your eye sends that signal to your brain. Your brain interprets it as a certain color.

Right.

And all of this processing in your brain happens in the same part where our emotions are processed. So this is why when you see a color, your brain triggers an emotion. And whatever emotion you're feeling, like the weather outside right now at this time, the colors is making you feel lazy and gloomy and gloomy and down. And then your behavior is dependent on that emotion.

Right.

You feel gloomy and lazy. You don't want to get out of bed.

You don't want to get your chores done.

So that's how it's all affecting, and that's how the science connects to it. Mostly color is seen as a decoration, which is not the reality. So if you start using it purposefully and using its power, it's going to change your life. It's going to completely change your life.

I kind of believe that. I kind of definitely believe and see that. I mean, I feel it. Like, I don't know if that's just like my personality where I'm very drawn to different colors because in my head, I am a very observant person and most people are annoyed by my observantness. They're like, please. I'm like, I'm sorry, but I am very emotional too. Like, it's so funny because over the years I never thought I was emotional until I did the work and was like, Wow, I'm so emotional. I'm like really emotional. I'm really like sensitive about things. And I remember a lot of things based on what I remember seeing and feeling. So I'm really good at like directions and finding places because I take it all in and people are like, you must have a photographic memory. And I'm like, no, I just feel and remember things like consistently. And so when it comes to color, there are like, there are times in my life where I don't remember all the details, but I remember the room and what was in the room and what it— what was happening in the room and how I felt when I was in the room because it was there and I knew how. So when I see those colors, like for example Burger King, I don't like Burger King that much. But every time I pass it, it has a feeling for me like they're going through like a change right now. Like a lot of the Burger Kings are changing what they look like on the outside. They're becoming more modern looking. Like, I don't know if that makes any sense. And so they kind of have that, you know, I don't— they have yellow and red too. It's the same thing, right?

Fast food chain restaurants.

Exactly.

There's Pizza Hut. Domino's has blue and yellow, Chick-fil-A, all of these. You can name all of these because they're for that class, like the children or the youngsters. And these are the colors that attract them first and triggers those emotions. You see, like, they're consistently using fast food, using those colors. Yeah, that's what it does.

So for years, I would go to Burger King chasing a feeling, and it has nothing to do with Burger King. And I didn't realize this until, like, the last 3 years I was away I was in Florida. So we were in Florida just 3 years ago. We just moved to Atlanta. We just moved back. Oh, okay. Okay. And so my grandmother, when I was a little kid, they have a janitorial business and we would go sometimes at night when I was like a teenager to help her with her cleaning and stuff. And she loved Burger King's french fries with their onion ring sauce or something like that. That's what she would love to do after we did our cleaning. She would love to eat it. And I mean, we were very close and very close to each other. And I do not like Burger King. Okay. I don't like it. I hate it, actually. But in Florida, I was away from my family. I was away from everything I knew. And I found myself wanting Burger King. And I'm like, why do I want Burger King? Every time I would see that stupid sign, I would be like, oh, I'm so excited. And I'm like, Nikita, why are you excited about Burger King? It's like, yuck. And I'm like, Well, one, yellow is one of my favorite colors. I'm like, that's one reason. But I also attach that to that happy feeling of seeing my grandmother. And so it makes complete sense that the colors and emotions connect. Like, it makes so much sense.

Yes. And let me add to this, Nikita. This happens to everyone. You're conscious about it. Not many people are conscious about it. You figured it out. It happens to everyone. So our choices of colors are not rational. It depends on 3 things. It's about our experiences in life, number 1. Either, like you just mentioned, it was your experience in life which attracts you to certain colors, and when you think of it next time, you will figure it out. The second thing is our culture. What colors have specific importance in every culture? So it's a lot about that, what your family kept saying about it. And the third thing is color psychology. That's what affects subconsciously. Your mind knows, you know, your subconscious mind is a huge, huge thing which we ignore all the time. It knows a lot more and it's bothered by things. And that's where color psychology comes in. So these are the 3 reasons why you have a preference for a color. And it's just not rational. It's not like because it looks pretty. No.

Wow. So if you were to give advice to someone who's decorating their office, you guys, this is so like different from any of the episodes we've had on the show. I love it. I'm so excited. If you— let's take me, okay? I mean, why not? If you have a blank space and you're looking to create a productive yet calm but fun kind of space, what are some colors that you should start thinking about to put into your space?

Okay, so you want to stay away from the colors that are too soothing. And one color that you really want to stay away is a gray, which is a mix of black and white, again, which is seen as very modern, which is coming, uh, is all around. But what gray does— gray is actually one of those colors that has no positive traits. And, uh, somebody might disagree with me because they'll say it makes me feel calming. So what happens is it's again about cocooning yourself. It's about, uh, shutting down the emotional noise. But over time, if you're stuck in that gray too much, instead of calming and relaxing, it will make you lazy and it will drain you out. And you'll notice that over a period of time. Um, so we have 11 main colors, and each color has a very different trait, so it cannot be replaced by another color. And it depends on the saturation of the color. So if you're seriously considering to do this, I would suggest to sit down with a color psychologist and work on it. We talk about your emotions, the behavior you want to feel. We do a personality test which helps recognize what color palette you're going to fit into it. And once you have that color palette, you can take it with you anytime you're shopping for your office, for your home, anything. You just take out the color palette and you see if that color belongs there. Is it is that color going to support your feelings or not, the way you want to, the emotions you want in this space to feel. And it just helps, it just helps with, you know, easing the process out and then your home working in your benefit. I'm going to give you a few options here by saying that red is a physically stimulating color, and depending on the saturation of the color, how much, uh, on one side you have a very saturated red and the, on the other side you could have a softer red, which would be more like pink. So that's— pink is going to be less physically stimulating, whereas a red is going to be really physically stimulating. So I have mothers come in a lot of time and say, like, my child is overactive, he's very hyper, what's going on? He's not sitting and doing his work, so I need to give him more exercises to do, or he's eating something, like he's eating sugar. But besides these things you need to think about. What's going on in your space? What are the colors in your space? How is that affecting your child? And then blue is a mentally— it's related to your mindset. So we see this again all the time. We are on Zoom right now. Their logo is blue. Facebook is blue. IBM is blue. All of these brands that are related to IT, computer science, it's all blue because that's what the message they're conveying. So blue is going to be your color for mentally stimulating. Again, how much, um, depending on the saturation. Yellow is your emotional color, and green is about balance, balancing between all of these colors. So that's how you will be choosing what do you want to feel in your office space.

Wow, that was so like, like I, I got some knowledge laid on me there. Like, yeah, I I need to think about that because I am attracted mostly to blues and greens, like in a space. Like, it's so funny you said gray is like a nothing feeling. Like, I know technically gray would look really good with what I have going on in my house, but I hate the color gray because I feel that what you just said, I feel like, yeah, but what is like nothing? It's like this.

You will feel it over time and So you want to have some undertones to it. You want to have some color mixed into it, but also you want to be careful how much you're using. So proportion is a huge thing. What color you use, what proportion, placement, proportion. So it's not like a 2-minute thing that you can quickly go and pick up. It plays a huge role. And why it's so important? Because it's triggering all these emotions in your mind, and life is already too hectic. And like you were saying, you go to the beach to relax, but that's It's not possible every day. Where you're living, your home is where you need to have the right colors because that's where you spend most of your life. Yeah, that needs to be changed. Yeah, you can't always— nobody can always take a vacation and change their ambience all the time.

Yeah, that's true. Wow. Well, this was very educational and very cool. Like, it's— I mean, I think it's pretty cool that this is part of what you do, like, for a living. Like, you paint beautiful portrait, like flowers and decor, and then you teach people how to make that work for their— like, what a career. Like, what a job. That's so cool. There's always so many things that I get to learn about amazing women like you that are doing things. I'm like, man, who would have— if you told me when I was in kindergarten that this would be a thing, I would be like, I don't even understand what you're saying. That's so cool.

Well, see, I used to say I would empower women, and this is my way of empowering women because it's such a necessity in our lives. Just imagine if we were in a black and white world, what would you do? I mean, I tell my daughter, my 4-year-old, to go pick a banana. She knows which banana to pick, not the green one, the yellow one. But what if we were in a black and white world? So it's so basic, so important, and it's such a necessity, and it can make a huge difference. So, and we just take it as secondary.

Yeah, we do. We take it— we definitely take it for granted.

Definitely.

Yes, we take a lot of things for granted. Let's just be real. Like, a lot of things that we love and are like, oh, it's so wonderful, we take for granted. And we definitely do. Well, how can we find you on like all the things? Do you have any cool things happening in your business that we should know about? So let us know.

Yes. So everywhere on my website, Instagram, Pinterest, it's Mehnaz Khan Studio. And I'm sure you'll add it in the show notes.

Yeah, I will.

There is no spelling mistakes. I'm the most active on Instagram. You can ask me any questions there. You can send me an email on my website. My artwork is available on the website, and I have a free ebook, which is amazing. And it helps you do the grounding work. It takes you through— it's a 3-step, simple 3-step strategy which takes you to understand before choosing your colors what sort of feelings and emotions you should be going for, and then how should you evaluate your space, what elements you should be looking at. Like I mentioned that Starbucks has very dark walls, but you cannot apply that to your home because of the architectural elements.. And many people confuse that a lot of times because when you're in a hotel, you really like the ambience of the hotel, but can you bring it into your space? No. So considering that and then finding an inspiration, and what are you feeling, those emotions in that inspiration. And then I send you a lot of emails and one-off which helps you how to use that inspiration to pick out the colors and Nikita Williams will be really interesting. When I help clients pick out colors for their interior, paint is the last color we choose. And when we are designing the palette, paint comes last. So that's where many people go wrong. They choose paint as the first color, and that's where they mess up. You need to have your palette first before you enter a paint store, because just imagine, go to a paint store, you'll go crazy. I go crazy. I work in this field. I go crazy. I would never go and choose my paint color there. And I'm sure you have heard this, that light changes everything. Yeah, paint is hot and change everything. So that's one thing that everybody talks about. The second thing is what colors are going around in your space. It's not only the light that makes the paint look different in your home, it's all the other colors in the paint store. And what colors do you have in your space? You see color because of the other colors existing. Um, an example would be if we are looking at a screen right now, we're reading something, you see the black writing because there's a white background. If the background was also black, would you see the writing? No, you're seeing the black because of the white. So this is why that color looks really different in your space. Happens so often with people that they bring something and you have to return it because it looks different because of the other colors going on in your environment. So once you have that color palette and you'll work according to that, you will not be making those mistakes. You'll have less returns. And again, the paint would be right.

I think this will be very helpful for most people who are creating brands or decorating their office. I just think it's such insightful information that you have, and I just love that you're sharing it with the world and people, and it's just really cool.

Yeah, I'm glad to share it.

Where can they find your ebook, your free ebook?

Yes, we will put the link of the ebook in the show notes, and they can sign up there. That's the easiest way. And then everything else, Manas Khan Studio.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

All right, ladies, that's a wrap for this episode of She's Crafted to Thrive. Thank you so much for joining me. Please share with your friends and be sure to like and subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. In the meantime, check us out at sheescrafted.com to check out the show notes for all the goodies and things that we talked about, and there'll be links there for you guys. So in the meantime, just remember, you are crafted to thrive.