Episode

Designing a Life, Not Just a Home with Stephanie Martin

Podcast
Beyond the Design
Published
Mar 27, 2026
Duration seconds
2840
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://beyond-the-design.captivate.fm
Audio
https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/d295810c-2723-4ff2-a8d6-39ac86ce8118.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/beyond-the-design-6419672/episodes/designing-a-life-not-just-a-home-with-stephanie-martin
Markdown
/podcast/beyond-the-design-6419672/designing-a-life-not-just-a-home-with-stephanie-martin.md

Actions

  • POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/beyond-the-design-6419672/episodes/designing-a-life-not-just-a-home-with-stephanie-martin/transcription-requests
    Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
  • GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/beyond-the-design-6419672/designing-a-life-not-just-a-home-with-stephanie-martin.md
    Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

Summary

In this episode of Beyond the Design, we sit down with Calgary-based interior designer Stephanie Martin, founder of Stephanie Martin Interior Design, to explore how she built a career around creating deeply personal, timeless homes that truly reflect the people who live in them. From a childhood spent wandering show homes, hunting at garage sales, and redesigning her bedroom every year, Stephanie always had an instinct for spaces—even if she didn’t initially see it as a viable career path. She shares how a detour into business school and a plan to follow her parents into law unexpectedly redirected her toward design when an art history elective lit her up in a way nothing else did. With her family’s encouragement, she switched programs, found her fit in design school, and graduated straight into a brutal recession in Calgary that left almost no traditional jobs available. Instead of waiting for the perfect opportunity, Stephanie created one—pounding the pavement with homemade flyers, door knocking, and offering consultations through a furniture store to slowly build her portfolio, reputation, and confidence. In this conversation, she reflects on those scrappy early days and how they shaped the resilient, client-centered practice she leads today.