Episode #29: Genevieve Gorder
Genevieve Gorder’s soulful style and genuine enthusiasm have made her one of America’s favorite interior designers for many years. She is the founder and director of the Genevieve Gorder brand, a television host and producer, home product designer, contributing author, and global ambassador for home and human rights. Gorder has appeared and been featured in over 20 lifestyle shows around the world. You can find her work on Netflix, TLC, HGTV, Sony Channel Asia, The Design Network and as a regular contributor on The Rachael Ray Show. A two-time Emmy nominee and design host at the Obama White House, Genevieve has built multiple lifestyle collections for home. From rugs, textiles, wallpaper and stationary to a full line of furniture and decor for children with partner Crate & Barrel.
Off Air and internet, Genevieve designs for a diverse group of clients and companies. She has guided many hotels, restaurants, cruise lines, cities and private clients towards their design fantasies. She travels the globe with Oxfam as a Sister on the Planet Ambassador, using her influence to fight global poverty, hunger and injustice using her platform of home to empower women and girls worldwide.
Gorder’s work has been featured in numerous publications, both nationally and internationally. Currently, you can watch her latest Netflix series “Stay Here”, the TLC revival series Trading Spaces, and a new Bravo series airing spring of 2019. She is also a regular contributor on Rachael Ray. Genevieve resides with her husband and daughter in Manhattan.
“I tend to live in the light, and refuse to step into a cave. I do shut down a bit when I’m hurt — whether it’s emotional or physical — and I cocoon in wanting to learn.”
Genevieve Gorder wants to live in the light, not in her illness. What does that mean, exactly? For Genevieve, who has Lyme disease and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, it means refusing to stake her identity in her health challenges. While she has dealt with strange, disruptive symptoms and had to adjust her diet and lifestyle on account of her conditions, she is adamant about remaining positive and not blaming every sniffle on her autoimmune diseases. On today’s episode, Genevieve talks to me about the role that learning plays in her journey with Lyme and Hashimoto’s, how a home can be healing, and how she remains mightier than her illness.
“You need to find those doctors who are also detectives.”
Here are some of the things Genevieve and I chatted about:
Why, after growing up in Minneapolis, a career in interior design came naturally
Having to look put together on television, but feeling like she was dying inside
How Lyme operates, and why she tested negative numerous times before her diagnosis
Her subsequent diagnosis of Hashimoto’s disease eight years after her Lyme diagnosis
Using a desire to learn about a health condition as a positive, uplifting coping mechanism
Going deep into Medical Medium’s research, in addition to talking to other doctors and healers
Choosing not to take daily medication for her thyroid, and relying on diet and exercise more
How her Lyme diagnosis revealed that she wasn’t taking care of herself the best she could
Her realization, after sinus surgery, that her immune system wasn’t as bad as she thought
The challenge of slowing down, and the value of rest — autoimmune disease or not
Why it’s important to her to be a positive example of how to live with Hashimoto’s
Integrating her healthy lifestyle and diet with the demands of her job, including travel
Finding a partner in health in her husband, who also manages thyroid issues
How design elements, like the bathtub in her office, make her home a place that is healing
Her latest show, “Stay Here” on Netflix — and how it breaks the design show formula
“If I consistently say I have a shitty immune system, I’m never going to get better. And so I stopped. I stopped all of that.”
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