There is tremendous success to be found in trying new things in life. All you need to do is be courageous to face the risks and transform mistakes into opportunities to learn. Dr. Sylvia Morris and Dr. Angela Walker sit down with Ruaa Al-Baldawi of RNA Interior Design to discuss how she bravely followed her passions and set aside her fears when trying something, which allowed her to pivot from the healthcare industry, interior designing, and now real estate. Ruaa also reveals her self-care regimen, time management strategies, and valuable secrets in maintaining a positive outlook in life.
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Trying New Things With Ruaa Al-Baldawi
Pharmacist To Interior Design
We have an exciting conversation with Ruaa Al-Baldawi. I cannot tell you how much we’ve been looking forward to this conversation. Before we get into everything, Angela, how are you doing?
I am good. As I mentioned, I had an impromptu weekend. I put my feet in the sand. If I can be at the ocean for five minutes, it’s just a complete reset for me, so mindset is good. I’m getting over a cold, so hopefully can bear with the nasally sound, but super excited to talk with Ruaa Al-Baldawi. This has been so exciting for me because I know a little bit about your backstory, Ruaa.
I’ll let you introduce and tell us what you do but I just think you are like an epitome of what we want to talk about in terms of making boss moves in your life, being courageous enough to do things that serve you well and maybe even serve you better. Also, and maybe things that you didn’t necessarily anticipate to happen in life but I won’t go on and on. I’m just excited to be here and look forward to hearing what you have to say.
Thank you, Angela and Sylvia, for having me. I’m excited to be a part of the show.
Career Journey
The last time we were all together, you ladies were sitting in my living room and I was debuting my new great room with my furniture and all the beautiful accoutrements that our very own Ruaa helped put together was the driving force for it, so definitely making boss leaps. Before we get to RNA Designs and talk it by all that, Ruaa, tell us what you want to do when you grew up?
Honestly, I didn’t have anything definitive in mind. I only knew that I wanted to leave my mark in the world. I wanted to be someone who created something or helped people in a way that made a positive impact in other people’s lives. I love design and creating things and I should have seen that as my a-ha moment when I was younger.
We don’t should here at Boss Leap. It just is and we’re all learning.
I will tell you that it is now. I found my path back to what I should have done and I’m doing it. Not everybody starts out or has the courage to do what they were passionate about or thought that they should pursue. That was me. I knew I loved design and creating things, but when I was younger, I didn’t pursue that. I didn’t think to pursue it as a career. That was due to my parental influence.
Growing up as a Middle Eastern young woman, there were a few number of careers that my family thought were worthy of pursuing mainly because they were stable jobs, paid the bills, let’s say, and so that’s what they geared me towards. Those professions are health care, lawyer, engineer, professor, and dentist. Interior design wasn’t seen as something that was a stable job or something that paid the bills, but now that I am older and I go back and I think about it. There were some defining moments in my life where it should have been an a-ha. “I love this. I should do this for my career when I grow up.”
There’s one that stands out to me. I still remember I was in high school. We lived in this house and the kitchen had a breakfast area and it had this fraying wallpaper. My mom was busy at the time. She has two daughters, a full-time job, and trying to maintain a house. She didn’t have time to think about, what am I going to do with this? How am I going to change it? She didn’t bother with it, but you know my personality. It just kept eating away at me. One morning in the summer, I got off the breakfast table and I ripped the wallpaper off. I ripped it off the wall.
What did your mom say to that?
I was going to say I’ll spare you the details of how livid she was and all the lovely words she was throwing at me that day. Thankfully, my father came to the rescue and said, “She committed the crime. She’s going to fix it and I will help her do it.” We did just that. We went to Home Depot. We rented the equipment. We steamed the wallpaper off. We mudded the walls, sanded, primed, and painted. It took a while because we hadn’t done it, but that’s what we did.
The funny thing is, after that, I looked around the kitchen and I noticed how dated the cabinets were and I asked them. I was like, “Do you mind if I just took the cabinet faces down and painted those? Give them a little refresh just so that the kitchen looks a little cleaner.” After she’d seen, the walls, she was like, “Fine. Go ahead. Do it.”
Is this before YouTube where you could go on and see where everyone else did it?
This is like early ‘90s. I don’t know if YouTube was there then, but it was early ‘90s. I’m going to date myself by saying this, but I still remember one night that stands out. I was sitting on the kitchen floor. There was newspapers everywhere. The faces of the cabinets were there and I had my boombox playing to music. I was just singing along and I had my paintbrush. At that time, I was trying to get creative with what to do with those cabinet faces. They were shaker style, so they had like a picture frame and then they were flat in the center. I decided I was going to do two tone. I picked out like a creamy white color for the border and this beautiful earthy brown for the center.
I was like, “This is what I’m going to do.” Ironically, I did that thinking, this is creative and I did this amazing job. The next year, that was the trend. That became the trend. My mother was thrilled that she was on trend with her kitchen cabinets. We updated the appliances. It just looked great. She loved it. Again, it should have been my a-ha moment. This is what you love. This is what you enjoy. This is what you should pursue. I didn’t do that. Now as an adult, I regretted not going into design but I’m extremely thankful that I got an opportunity to do so later on in life.
Number one, just an observation. I can just see the light in your eyes and as you said, it’s reflecting back a defining moment. Now, that’s huge to me. That’s huge to be courageous enough to do something in your mom’s kitchen but just the process that you went through as a young teenager, I think is powerful and at that moment in time, it let you know that it could be done. Not that you knew that was going to be a career path that you could do but that you could do it. That’s huge.
Healthcare Influence
It’s a testament to your parents and they allowed you after that moment to continue to create. A question for you in terms of what you do now and I’m hearing you say should have known. What do you think your career path up to this point helped you with or can you see in any relationship there? I know you chose an alternative career path before going back into adding design.
It does. With healthcare, you’ve got to be organized. You’ve got to be on top of things. At times, you’ve got to be open-minded and explore different avenues. I feel like that helped with design as well. You’ve got to sit there and you’re also listening. Listening skills. Listen to your clients. Try to get a great idea of what it is they’re looking for, what emotions they’re trying to invoke in their space, what feelings they want people to have when they enter their house, their home, or their sanctuary. With health care, we do a lot of listening to our patients to try to evaluate what’s going on with them and that helped with design as well. That’s one thing that I can think of off the top of my head, that health care helped with in terms of design.
Also, Ruaa, in our conversations when we are in a different a work setting. You’re good at stating the case for why this is important, why this is necessary, and being willing to go against the grain. That’s important when we talk about design and also, when we talk about real estate. Sometimes, people think they know something but they’re completely wrong. You help people to say, “Maybe. Have you thought about this? Let’s consider something else.”
I tend to do that a lot with clients even now. I’ll say, “You gave me an idea of what it is that you like. I’m going to throw some options out there that are outside the box, outside of what you told me.” There’s two reasons I do that. One, you never know what you like until you see it. You might not have thought of something that you would like and somebody throws it out, then you’re like, “I never thought about that. I would love that or that would be great.” Also, to confirm what they do like. If they see something and they’re like, “No, I don’t want that or I know I don’t like that.” It helps reassure them that what they did choose or what they selected or what they stated they liked is what they’re sticking with.
You never know what you like until you see it. Share on XYou don’t know what you don’t know.
Advice To Younger Self
I’m going to ask a follow-up question to what your initial premise was that you felt like you should have known when that experience happened, what your life path might have been. What would you tell your younger self? What would you tell someone that’s in your shoes in 2024 that’s living your experience at home, but particularly you that may have been helpful or just now? What would you tell her just to give her some reassurance?
I’ve thought about that exact topic several times throughout my life, in different stages of my life and my husband and I even had that discussion. The first thing is what I have taken my own advice. When you’re young, you think it all. It’s like what you said and you don’t listen to your elders because you’re like, “They’re old. They don’t know what they’re talking about.” They’ve lived a lot more life than you have and you should stop and listen to what they’re saying.
The first thing is would I have even listened to myself? If I had listened to myself, there are a couple of things I would have said in terms of advice. The first is don’t live life thinking of what’s to become. Live it for now. For today, enjoy each and every day to its fullest. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Once today is gone, that’s it. It’s gone. You’re not getting it back.
You don’t want to end up living life with regrets or saying, what if I had done this or what if I had done that? Do it and see what happens. A little bit along those lines to one great piece of advice that I would give myself is, life is always going to throw you curveballs. It’s inevitable. It’s going to happen. Don’t get upset and scared if things don’t go as you’ve planned. You don’t know what is to come and it may be something that’s better for you. You just can’t see it yet.
Accept the situation as is. Adjust and move forward. There’s a lesson also now that I’m trying to teach my five-year-old. Believe it or not, it’s a very hard lesson for her. She’s very much into winning. “I don’t want to be a loser,” and who gets there first and who does things first. Line leader is apparently very important. You get to lead the line.
Eve is a born leader. I’ve met Eve.
I believe that too, but it’s very tough raising a born leader. I remind myself of that. You want her to be strong, but it’s not easy raising a born leader but she doesn’t like losing. She cries about it. The one thing that I want her to learn, not just at five, but even as she gets older is, there’s no such thing as losing or failure, unless you give up. That’s the only time you truly lose or fail.
For me, I always try to keep in mind the words of Nelson Mandela. He said, “I don’t lose. I either win or I learn.” That’s a great thing to keep in mind and to try to teach the young people. I’ll give you the greatest example. The first time we played Uno. She’s played Uno with her dad and daddy doesn’t love to see daddy’s girl cry. I don’t know what it is with daddy’s and their daughters.
Are you telling us you’re going to beat Eve? You’re not going to lose to Eve, my Eve?
No, sorry. Daddy lets Eve win. Mommy plays by the rules. You got to win fair and square with mommy. I’m not trying to raise a weak woman here. You just said it, born leader has to be strong. I was raised by a strong woman. My mother was raised by a strong woman. You just got to keep it going, so mommy doesn’t let her win. I remember the first time we played Uno. She lost and she was so upset. She started crying and I looked her straight in the face and said, “Why are you crying? What’s that going to solve? Is it going to solve anything? “No, mommy.” “Is it going to do anything for you?” “No, mommy.”
I said, “Let’s stop crying. No point to that. Let’s learn how to win. Wouldn’t you want to do that?” She stopped the crying. She’s like, “Yes, I want to learn how to win.” I said, “Okay.” I’m showing her, you got to skip here. It’s just the two of us. You use your skip. You get another turn. I slowly started to teach her to strategize. The second and third time, she lost. She learned something a little different and I still remember her face the first time she beat mommy fair and square. It was like she won some Academy Award. She did it all.
What she didn’t know is I was even on the inside. I didn’t want to show it on my face. I was even more happy because A) she realized crime doesn’t solve anything. B) she knew deep down she won fair and square like she beat mommy. That was reward in and of itself, but it taught her that crying doesn’t solve anything. If you don’t win the first time, don’t give up. Keep trying at it. Try different things until you finally get there, and she finally did. I was very proud of her.
There’s one lesson that I also would tell my slightly older teenage self and I’m doing this with my nieces and nephews because they’re more middle-aged, more high school age. It’s stuff that I wish somebody had told me and I’d listened to. One is don’t let people put you down and tell you who you should be. Be yourself. You might not know what it is when you’re 12 or 15. You might not even know what it is when you’re twenty. Figure that out and then be that person. Don’t be afraid to be yourself.
I feel like even for us when we were going through medical school and high school, there are a lot of times where you felt like you had to conform to the norm to whatever the popular group did. At times, I did that but then I’d sit back and I’d say, “Why am I doing that?” I would try to be me a little bit and then pull back. I feel like it’s important now more than ever to keep pounding at them with that because we need creativity. We need individuality. We don’t want everybody looking the same and dressing the same. That’s not who we are and that’s not what we should be.
We should be our own self. Something also that I tried to encourage them to do is don’t be afraid to try new things and explore. You won’t learn what you like and don’t like without doing so. Don’t know what you don’t know and knowledge is power. When you try new things, you gain knowledge and when somebody says something about a topic, you’re like, “I did this or I know this.” “No, that’s not true.” You can talk with confidence about it because you’ve been there and you’ve done that.
A few other things that come to mind. Two things. One in terms of a career and one as advice to my more twenties person more on love life. The one that comes to mind for career is find something that you’re passionate about because then when you’re doing it daily, you enjoy it. It drives you and gives your life, purpose, and meaning. You don’t want to go into something where it just becomes a job for you and it’s a means to an end. You don’t want to wake up one day regretting where you are and you’re wondering, how did I get here, what did I do wrong and then feeling helpless like I’m old now. There’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t change it.
Find something you are passionate about. When you are doing it daily and you enjoy it, it will give your life purpose and meaning. Share on XFind something that you’re passionate about. It might be coming back to something you were passionate about, but having that courage to stop and say, “I can still do this. I can go back and pursue this,” and then doing just that. The last piece of advice when it comes to finding your one and I will tell you I took twelve years to find my one.
Some of us are still dating. Twelve years is not a long time of the grand scheme of things.
Here’s my advice. Throw out that list that you have going.
I love my list, Ruaa.
Keep an open mind but don’t sell yourself short. Be patient. I can’t stress that enough. No one is going to be 100% off that checklist that you have. It’s just not going to happen. We’re all different people or individuals. We think. We feel. We act differently. We value different things based on our upbringing. Here’s another key point, Sylvia. What you think you want at the moment is just that. If I were to think back what qualities I was looking for in my twenties, it’s different from what qualities I would think if I had to go back and make that checklist for my significant other in my 30s versus in my 40s.
There’s something that, God bless my mother. She used to say to me when I got restless. I would go meet somebody and I’m like, “They didn’t meet this checklist or they didn’t meet this checklist. I’m done. They didn’t meet this criteria.” She would say the person who ends up being your one may not be what you want but what you need. Stop and think about that for a second. It’s not what you want because when you put down that checklist, those things on it.
It’s qualities that you’re looking for that you want but go back and look at that again. Are those the qualities that you need in your significant other? If they are, great. Leave them on there but if they’re not, pop them out. Keep an open mind. Allow people to surprise you and I’ll say this, this is very important to me. Let people surprise you. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Don’t make a judgment on that 1st or 2nd or 3rd date. They were probably very nervous. They didn’t know what to say. They didn’t know how to act. Give them some time to be them and let that shine through.
You’ve given us a lot and to pick up on your last point, I have been actively working on grace and the allowing for being more flexible. Not getting caught up in the small things. My intention is to extend more grace, so therefore, I receive more grace because Lord knows I need a lot of grace because contrary to popular belief, I’m not quite perfect. Grace is a important characteristic or something I’m personally working on. Thank you for bringing that up. Angela, we just had a lot to dig into.
I know. It’s powerful. I’m trying to write things down all these nuggets. This is excellent life advice in terms of relationships. Mine has been since high school, so I don’t have that same. The only thing that I would add for women, young women, or women of all ages reading this is know you. Know yourself before diving into a relationship and that’s hard when you’re young because you’re evolving. At 55, you’re still evolving.
In terms of relationships, it’s important to have a partner that allows you to grow and for you to be able to communicate with a partner what you need at different times in life because it may not be the same 30 years later. That can be a challenge. I just think most importantly to know who you are, allow yourself to grow and try to identify a relationship that allows you to do that. Hopefully, you’re doing that together. That’s all I’ll add, but Ruaa, so much good information.
Clearly, there have been people in your life, and I heard you mention your mom, dad, and husband. Anyone else important that you think helped to shape who you are or if you want to go in depth about someone that we’ve already mentioned that you consider the important people in your life? Be it shaping who you are as a woman, in your career and even career changes.
I’ve been very blessed to have a number of important people come into my life. Some of them have stayed and others have left. Going back and talking about some people that I have already mentioned that had shaped the woman that I am. I’d have to say first and foremost are my parents. I grew up, I was very blessed to have parents that didn’t believe in our cultural gender norms for women in the Middle East. They raised my sister and I on the belief that a woman should be able to support herself and her family and never rely on a man for anything, honestly.
My dad used to tell us growing up that the strongest armor a woman could have in life to protect herself was a degree and with a degree in hand, she was in control of her own destiny. He believed in higher education for his daughters. My mother did, too. My sister and I weren’t raised on the belief that a woman’s jobs in the house. My mother wasn’t surely. My parents didn’t focus on teaching us how to cook, clean, and ironing. Not that those weren’t important, but those were things that they knew we could learn later on in life.
They encouraged us to read and focus on our education and supported us emotionally and financially through college and graduate school. In fact, my father had told us that we couldn’t even think about marriage until we were done with schooling. That was mainly because he didn’t want a man influencing or exerting his opinion on our career paths.
He was very adamant about making it a point like, “You need to focus on your studies. Do what you want to do, and then think about marriage.” It’s funny that I say that because my older sister, she’s a year older than me. I still remember when she finished pharmacy school. She had a diploma in one hand and a ring on the other finger. She was like, “I did both at the same time. See? There.” As I said, it took me a little bit longer to get there.
The main reason it took me longer to get there were life lessons and my father being the role model that he was in our household. He was an excellent role model. They both worked full-time. Comes home, they both go change. They would head straight to the kitchen. He was there by her side helping her prep for dinner. She’d make it. He’d help her in the kitchen. He washed dishes. We would do homework afterwards. Saturdays were invested in cleaning the house and making dinner for the following week and he was there dusting and vacuuming. The man was doing it all with her and we saw that growing up.
We also saw him being affectionate with my mother and respectful. We grew up believing that those were the qualities to look for in not just a husband but a father. It made it very difficult, at least for me. My sister found it easier when she was done. For me, to find those qualities in my significant other, I valued them. My mother is the same thing. She’s very loving, affectionate, and very respectful of my father. She loved that he’d let her take the lead, or he didn’t let her take the lead. She just took the lead on a lot of things in family decisions. It was great.
We were very blessed and very happy. I’m very blessed to have found my husband, Saad, since 2015. He is the most supportive and giving husband an amazing father to our daughter, Eve. He has taught me patience. Before him, I can’t say I was the most patient person in the world. I had my goals. I knew what I wanted. I was going to get there and that was it. I was focused.
You were not alone with that one, but okay.
When I didn’t get there, I got frustrated and upset with myself. He would just be there and say, “Why are you so frustrated with this? There’s no timeline. Don’t set a timeline. Try to enjoy the path, the road that you’re on. Enjoy the moments.” I channeled myself back and try and do that. He also is the voice inside my head that’s my filter before I speak and act on emotion at times. He’s a lot more mellow than I am. He is very much a let me pause and take in what you said then respond. I am more, and I’m sure you can tell. I’m more acting on emotionally. Why’d you just say that or why’d you just do that?
I always tell him if there was a poker game going on. He’d be that winner with the straight face holding the perfect card. I’d be sitting across from you and you’d be able to read it on my face. I cannot keep poker face, but going back, he has just taught me so many life lessons. Additional things he’s done is to appreciate the silence or the silent times in our marriage in general. Before our daughter, when we were married, there were moments where there was silence.
For me, being more extroverted, I always had background noise. It just seemed awkward, but for him, he needed that to channel his thoughts, to sit with his thoughts and think about things. It was only after marrying him and after our daughter where I’m like, “Oh God. When can I have five minutes of peace?” I learned to appreciate what we call quiet time. In terms of growing and everything, when I decided to go back and pursue design. Eve was just a couple of months old and he was very supportive.
I would go to work, come back, and eat dinner. He would bath her, feed her, and get her down for the night and I was in class. I was studying and he never complained. He had to do it all, at some point, for me to be able to focus on me and focus on this new career path that I wanted to pursue. Even to this day, honestly, with both my businesses, the interior design and we started real estate. He is by my side at every moment of it. He does the photography the before and after photos for the design.
He does the real estate photography. He does my social media and manages my marketing on top of working a full-time job. I don’t hear that man complain one moment, which has been amazing. The last person, and you’ve heard me talk about this person as well but is the most important person in my life is my daughter, Eve. She challenges me daily mentally and physically.
She unknowingly forces me to evaluate the person I am and the role model I should be for her as she discovers who she is as a young woman and what she wants to become. As a parent, I constantly find myself saying, “Am I a good role model? Am I doing the right thing? Am I saying the right thing? How is she interpreting it? What is she going to replicate? She pushes me to try to be a better parent and a better person for her and for myself.
I can completely relate to being the mom of two girls. It can shape you, if you weren’t already committed to certain principles or patterns in life. I have to say, it sounds like you had dynamic relationships in terms of true partnerships with your parents and a very supportive father, which can be helpful in terms of trying to raise a young girl and having the support of the male figure in life if that person is there and the female figure. Trying to make them strong, caring, and flexible as you mentioned. All the things that you think a strong woman should be but it changes as you are the parent versus what you thought how you would parent a child when you’re in that role.
I can relate to what you’re saying as it’s a daily thing, like, “If I do this, will she think that? How will that influence her?” It sounds like as I said, you have great role models, which is helpful. You’ve lived enough before having a daughter where you already knew some of those things for yourself, which can be more challenging if you were someone that’s younger. Anyway, I could go on and on. Sylvia, what are your thoughts?
Career Transition
Let’s shift gears a little bit, Ruaa. I know that you are the principal designer for RNA Designs, and you became a realtor. You have your real estate license and you just sold your first home. Probably by the airing of this, you will have sold many more homes. Tell us how did you make the transition from primary health healthcare to interior design and now real estate? On your website, you talk about how you help people express their true self at home. Ruaa, how do you express your true self at home?
For me, it’s through home decor. As an interior designer, I strongly believe that a person’s home should speak to who they are and what they love. If you and Angela were to walk into my home and I know Sylvia, you have.
It’s gorgeous.
Ruaa would come through as modern, clean lines, organized, minimalistic, and I would probably say artistic. I’ve got splashes of color and accents throughout the house, so colorful and hopefully, most importantly, comfortable. For my house, I’ve got a lot of large couches, deep-seat couches, and walking room. There’s a lot of warm colors in there. I try to bring in different fabrics that you can touch when you sit on them. My rugs are almost silky. When your feet touch them, you feel like you’re walking on air. For me, it’s through design. That’s how I come out. I hope that’s something that shines through for anyone walking through my house.
Your home is beautiful. Your laundry room is my favorite room. Everywhere else is cozy and warm, but your laundry room is spectacular. I remember the journey with you working with me, with my great room and selecting the fabric and the color. What I appreciate is my house is a reflection of me. When I look at your website, not every photo is RNA design meaning a particular design aesthetic because certainly, sometimes on some of those shows you know who did it by their color pattern and fabric. I’m like, “Who want’s to live in the house like that unless that’s you?” I want to thank you for helping my find my boho contemporary chic. Is that what I am?
I would say that, yes.
I just have to second that. When I walked into Sylvia’s house, I’ve been known her for forever. It just looks exactly like her. The wall that you did with all the picture and the art is a work of art. The colors and the comfort is just amazing. Clearly, you are walking and you’re calling now. Can you tell for those in the audience that maybe thinking about making a boss leap or making a pivot in terms of career and not quite sure how to navigate what that felt like, what were some certain steps that you took? It sounds like you’ve got your partnership, so maybe conversations with your partner but did you journal? Did you do pros and cons lists? How did you make the changes and navigate?
I was fortunate because the time that I decided to make the change, I had transitioned from full-time pharmacist to part-time pharmacist. We’d had our daughter Eve and I wanted to do something more. I knew I had a little bit more time, and I sat and thought with myself. I said, “What is it that I am truly wanting to do? What do I love?” I had a lot of time to think about it.
When I went back and thought about how I grew up and as I said that the moment in in our old house. I said, “I want to do something a little different from pharmacy. I want to go back to something I enjoyed and see if I can have a career out of it?” My husband was said, “It’s the best time to do it now because if it doesn’t work out then you can try something different. If it works out, I’m here for you for whatever you need.” Thankfully, it did work out but it wasn’t easy. At the time, believe it or not, one thing that pushed me to start down the business pathway was we were building our own house as well. I’m not giving out names, but we didn’t have the best of builders.
That’s a whole episode in itself from what I understand.
That is a episode in itself. We didn’t have the best of builders and at times, I didn’t feel like he was being honest with us. There were shortcuts that were being taken that probably shouldn’t have been. I found myself scrambling at night. Eve’s down and I’m like, “I’ve got to go read on this topic that we’re about to start.” As a part of the project in the house, I need to make sure that I understand what’s going on and what they’re doing to ensure that they’re doing it right because again, you don’t know what you don’t know and you don’t want to speak to what you don’t know.
You do not know what you do not know. You do not want to speak about what you do not know. Educate yourself on the topic before you start to question it. Share on XYou got to educate yourself on the topic before you start to question what’s being done. I’m scrambling like, “We’re doing framing. We’re doing sheetrock, install cabinets, and insulation. Saad is now an expert on HVAC, if you ask him. All the knick-knacks that go with it. It was a huge learning curve and by the time I was done with it, I didn’t even say this but we ended up releasing our builder from the build. I ended up having to scramble at one time having seven subcontractors in the house at once.
Let’s be clear here. You were basically acting as the GC or the project manager for the building of your own house, correct?
Correct, at one time because we had a limited time for construction to be completed and this was during COVID. Our contract was for six months on the build and it had already been two years. The bank was like, “You’ve asked for this construction loan. When is this project going to be done?” It got to a point where he wasn’t doing any more work. He said, “I need to get paid in advance. I need more money.” We said, “No, we’re not giving you money for work that hasn’t been done. The bank doesn’t even release money until they come in and make sure that the work’s been done.”
When we realized that it was time to move on, I said, “I’m taken design classes. I have an idea of what I’m doing. I can do this.” I was like, “You can do it.” I took time off from work, sat there and scheduled subcontractors. I was present on site one after the other. It’s funny the neighbors always say like, “We haven’t seen any progress in the house in a couple of months. All of a sudden, there were like 70 people on site. Guess the builders finally finishing.” It was Ruaa finally finishing because she was fed up with two years of not having a house.
I had the subcontractor for the cabinets. We purchased all of the fixtures in the house. I picked out handles for the cabinets. I went in, did the courts and the shower people. He had a good deal of the work and up to sheetrock done but we had to figure it all out from there then going through with inspectors. What if we fail and asking them how do we fix it and calling the electrical inspector and saying, “What do I need to pass this inspection?” Believe it or not, we failed plumbing.
I had to go back and figure out what to do. We were failing HVAC and I had to call and try and figure out, how do we get this to pass inspection? What needs to get done? I’m extremely thankful that those inspectors were tough but were extremely helpful. When I called them up and asked questions, they answered. They were there. One of them had even said, “I can swing by and take a look and see if there are other things that need to be done.” They came.
Once the house was completed, I was like, “I’ve got my design certificate under my belt. I just finished a good portion of my house. Why can’t I start a business and do this? I can do this on my own.” I sat down inside and I was like, “I want to start a design and decor business. I’ve learned a lot. Why not put it to you?”
It was going back and seeing that silver lining. We were in a very bad and stressful situation, but you always try to think positive like, what did I learn from it? What did I gain from it? It was extremely stressful. I was crying a lot. I was like, is this house going to get done? There was a silver lining in the end. That silver lining was it pushed me to say, “I’m capable of this. Why can’t I do this for other people?” I love it. I’m passionate about it. I can be creative with it. In 2022, I started RNA Interior Design.
That is amazing. It’s such a fantastic story. Several things came to mind but the quote. I’m sure I’ll butcher it from Nelson Mandela, is that, you don’t lose. You either win or learn. During this process when you got declined on the plumbing, etc. You were learning and what better experience outside of a classroom than to have hands on experience? While you’re experiencing it, even though it sounds to me to have a young baby, and all that would be overwhelming.
Self-Care
Out of it you realized, I’m passionate about it and I love it. I can do this. That’s powerful. I think many women would get some motivation from what you have shared. That’s awesome. I do have a follow-up question because it sounds like you are doing a lot and a lot of meaningful work at home and in your business. Tell us a little bit about your self-care regimen. What do you do to regenerate, continue to stay motivated, and stay as positive as it sounds like you are?
I would say the main thing is I time block between three professions. I have a daughter, and household responsibilities. Saad and I have a shared calendar. I always try to plan things to a certain extent ahead of time. If I want a SPA day or mani-pedi day or a lunch with my girlfriends or dinner with my girlfriends or date night, grandma and grandpa are going to come and babysit and we’re going to go have some one-on-one adult time. We put it down on a calendar. We plan and it gives us something to look forward to.
When you get busy in your hectic day-to-day and you’re scrambling around. At the end of day, you’re like, “Where’d the time go? Why didn’t I get to this? Why isn’t there more time?” I scan my calendar and I’m like, “I forgot a mani-pedi coming up. Great.” You have stuff to look forward to. I also try new things. It’s one of the things I tried to do with myself.
I do Pilates. I just signed up to start beginner meditation classes at a monastery down the street from us. I like to try different things and that also helps me figure out what I like and I don’t like. I always try to keep things, I say spicy. You need a little spice in life but I strongly believe that in order to be productive and to be the best version of me, for my family, I have to take time to take care of myself. Not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well.
In order to be productive and be the best version of yourself, take time to take care of yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally. Share on XDid you come to that, this regimen because that’s all the things that I have not necessarily perfected? Particularly time blocking because as a physician, my time was already set to the things that I had to do. I wasn’t as good at your stage having a young child allocating time for myself. Do you think that came naturally? It sounds like you have always been a very organized person. Did you do that when you were younger or is it something that you learned later in life?
My husband does have a very type-A personality. Aside from our shared calendar list, I have a to-do list and I love when it goes ping. It gives me this like warm feeling on the inside that I’ve accomplish something in my day. When I was younger, I did. I planned things ahead of time. Things got a little hairy when we had the newborn at the time because you’ve got to find a new balance. Things aren’t the same when you’re single, even when you’re married. There’s still a lot of time to do things that you want to do.
When you become a parent, it’s like, “We can’t just plan a weekend getaway and go.” I’m still breastfeeding. What are we going to do with the baby? It was at that time where I realized, if I want to take care of me, still want to get things done and feel like I’ve gotten things done then we have to plan ahead and I have to time block. I have to force myself to do what it is I time-blocked because you can time-block to go for a mani-pedi. If you don’t put yourself on the car and go do your mani-pedi. You’re not doing it then you’re not taking care of yourself.
It’s not just time-blocking, but doing what you time-block to do. I realized with when things got a little more hectic, that If I didn’t time block, then things that I needed to get done for me to stay mentally and physically happy and healthy wasn’t going to get done. Days are hectic. A lot of times, you’re just trying to go through your day trying to get things done. You get to the end of day and you’re like, “How did I forget to do this? Why didn’t I do this?” When I time blocked, I found time for it.
Episode Wrap-up
Ruaa, you have left us with so many pearls and you embody Boss Leap. You have been making Boss Leap moves personally and professionally. We’re are so thankful that you were able to share all of these pearls with our readers.
Thank you for having me.
You are welcome. Some of the take home points that I was jotting down, time blocking, authenticity, the importance of being yourself, living for today, and not being afraid to try something new and not being afraid to, my word would be pivoting and when or learn. I hadn’t heard of that quote from Nelson Mandela. That is going to stick with me. Angela, what take-homes do you have?
I’m going to copy you but, again, I have to write notes as I go. The top one was the Mandela quote, is that, I don’t lose. I either win or I learn. At this stage in life, as you said, you can live life with regrets or you can realize that we are humans. We will make mistakes, but it’s what you do with those mistakes. You either count them as a learning experience or you mull on them for the rest of your life. It does you no good whatsoever. As my youngest will say, “When you know better, you do better.” That’s I think what mistakes are for.
Enjoy the moment. I am trying to be intentional about enjoying this. Waking up with some certain things and meditation is one of those things, Ruaa, that I have incorporated kin the recent years. Sylvia mentioned it to me about three years ago, have you tried mindfulness? I was like, “What do you mean?” I have done a lot of investigation and prayer meditation or things that work for me. I see that you’re doing some mindful things for yourself.
I have to commend. You’re at a young stage when your daughter is young. You will do very well having already adopted those things, those self-care things. The last thing that I have taken from you, Ruaa, is fortitude. It sounds like you were born with it. Some people are born with it and some people will adapt, evolve, and gain some of that fortitude but you had it when you were young. Clearly, it has guided you.
Certainly, there have been a lot of people in your life that have helped to shape that but it sounds like you have maintained your mental and your physical power and that fortitude to continue to do what that you’re able to. Truly, an inspiration for those that are going to read this. We can’t thank you enough for your time and I’d love to see your house.
I know how to get in touch via Sylvia, but I already know what you’ve done with her house. I, quite honestly, will maybe calling you up soon here at mine. Can you tell us how readers can reach you? I’d certainly think you’re going to have a lot of interest just with the things that you’ve shared with us through RNA Design.
The best way to reach me would be via the contact info on my website, RNAIDesign.com but I would also love it if they could follow me on Instagram and that would be @RNAIDesign. Angela, you will soon be invited to my house to see it as well. I’d love to have you over. Also you Sylvia. I’d love to have you back.
That was just a shameless little dig just to get myself invited, but I love design. I love what you’ve done. Thank you so much. Sylvia, do you have anything?
Again, thank you so much, Ruaa, for joining us. We have had Ruaa Al-Baldawi of RNA Design. You can follow us online at BossLeapPodcast.com. Please drop us a line to let us know what you’re interested in next, and thank you for reading.
Thank you both, Angela and Sylvia, for having me. It’s been a pleasure. I hope to be able to sit down with both of you ladies. Sylvia, as you say, break bread soon enough.
For all of you out there, we wish. We want you to live well and evolve well.
May you be well.
Important Links
- Ruaa Al-Baldawi – Facebook
- RNA Designs
- @RNAIDesign – Instagram
- BossLeapPodcast.com
About Ruaa Al-Baldawi
Ruaa is a self-taught designer, creating custom luxury designs and décor for residential clients. After working for years in the healthcare industry as an Ambulatory Clinic pharmacist, she re-ignited her lifelong passion for interior design after designing, curating, and decorating a new construction, one-of-a-kind custom home in Atlanta. She obtained her certification in interior design and décor (Through Emory Continuing Education with Interior Design expert, Lee Anne Culpepper) and founded RNA Interior Design, launching her career in 2022.
Her favorite style is modern, clean, minimalist, comfortable, and functional. However, she is able to integrate various design styles and a range of colors and textures to create balanced, individualized interiors. She believes that the design and décor of a home should mirror a person’s daily life without compromising the individual’s artistic style. She listens to, connects, and collaborates with clients through the entire design process to deliver their dream space. She aims to create homes as unique and expressive as the people inhabiting them.She is known for giving honest, straightforward, and data-driven advice when it comes to design and real estate.
With her design and décor background, she brings a higher value to her clients on both the buying and selling sides. to become and help create the look and feel of a home you will love walking into every day.
For her buyer clients, she is able to help them stay ahead of track and allow for a smooth buyer experience by guiding them to obtain pre-approval and have a focused idea of what they want in a future home. If there is a part of the house that they do not like, she is able to help them turn it into a space they love.
For her seller clients, she is able to prepare the home (assist with repairs, etc.) and stage it, if needed, to ensure that the house looks exceptional before it hits the market and that once under contract, the house will quickly and smoothly pass through the inspection and appraisal process to closing.
Ruaa lives with her amazing husband and daughter. Ruaa enjoys Pilates, dancing and singing along to songs with her daughter, landscape photography with her husband, creating new design and décor ideas, helping friends remodel or redecorate their spaces, hiking at local and national parks in the US, and traveling internationally with her family to explore new cultures.