We had the good fortune of connecting with Nohealani Sentenac and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nohealani, why did you pursue a creative career?
As much as I tried to deny it or think otherwise of myself, I have always been a creative and I finally decided to stop fighting it and fully embrace it.

For context, my career before I started an interior design business was in marketing. Although my marketing career morphed into the analytics side and eventually grew into operating businesses…I actually fell into the field through being a creative! I started a lifestyle blog after college, which is where I learned website development and graphic design. So I naturally gravitated to an agency when I was looking for a full time job. I loved the graphic design part and the ability to be creative.

My career then developed into the analytics and management side of marketing. As much as I’ve wanted to stifle it (and as much as I AM numbers-driven and love analytics and business strategy!)…I always get drawn to back to my creative side.

I would scratch my creative itch with random renovation and decorating projects here and there, but the itch got too itchy. It was finally time to let go of the idea I had in my head of myself and what I wanted to be…and finally accepted who God made me to be! I couldn’t be more at peace with it and am so glad that I’m finally following my true calling.

What should our readers know about your business?
Although my business is creative…it’s a BUSINESS first and foremost. I provide a service to clients, and those clients expect a certain level of service and professionalism.

Thankfully because of my extensive career in marketing and operations (and my “eldest daughter” syndrome probably plays a part!), I am a highly organized, process-driven person. And that’s how I run my business and the entire client experience. Renovating and redecorating can be an intimidating process to someone who doesn’t do it as a profession, and there are a LOT of moving parts in which a lot of things can get missed or miscommunicated. My goal is to make sure that the client wants for nothing in terms of information throughout the design process. Every single step of my process is well thought out, documented, and executed to the nines. Everything is also readily available to access in the client’s portal – appointment and phase schedule dates, communications, product selections and tracking, questionnaires, invoices, plans, mood boards and renderings, contracts, and so much more. If you follow along with me on Instagram, I go through a lot of the process in my posts and stories.

I think a lot of creatives (that do beautiful work!) do lack the business and process side, which affects the customer experience. And although the end product might be jaw-dropping, the client’s experience with the process left a bad taste in their mouth. This results in them not ending up using that service again or recommending them to friends.

I am grateful that my career in marketing and operations prepped me for exactly this…where I can marry my creativity with my business acumen and organizational skills to give my clients one of the best experiences they can find in the industry.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Mesa, which has everything to offer for a quintessential AZ experience!

Day of exploring: hiking in the Superstitions, cooling off in the Salt River (hopefully spot some wild horses!), and ending the day with a sunset dinner cruise at Canyon Lake.

Food: I may be biased, but I think Mesa has some of the best Mexican food in AZ. Whether it’s a hole in the wall spot, a food truck, a trendy Mexican restaurant (a fave is Blue Adobe), or a James Beard award winning chef’s restaurant in downtown Mesa (Espiritu)…Mesa cannot be beat for Mexican food!

I would also make a point to go for a pit stop in the orange groves to eat BBQ at Jalapeño Bucks and pick out some citrus products at the citrus stands.

Golf: We have some of the most beautiful golf courses here as well with KILLER views…we love Longbow, Red Mountain Ranch, and Las Sendas.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Without a doubt, God gets every last bit of the credit. Nothing in my life has ever happened at the wrong time…every step has brought me to where I’m at now and it’s all been in perfect, divine timing (even though at times I did NOT like the timing!) But looking back, I’m grateful for it anll and I know that it has all been God’s timing. I also credit Him for peeling my layers one by one in order to reveal different things about me to myself that each led me to take the next baby step toward where I am now. One country song lyric always comes to mind when I think about the work God has done in my life: “For every stoplight I didn’t make. Every chance I did or I didn’t take. All the nights I went too far. All the girls that broke my heart. All the doors that I had to close. All the things I knew but I didn’t know. Thank God for all I missed. ‘Cause it led me here to this” – Darius Rucker “This”.

Website: https://sentenachouse.com

Instagram: sentenachouseinteriors

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558920836389

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SentenacHouseInteriors

Other: TiktTok @SentenacHouseInteriors

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