Announcer (00:00):
You're listening to the La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast with Monique Ramsey.

Monique Ramsey (00:05):
One in four San Diegans placed into housing are back on the streets within two years. Among the families Humble Design has furnished, that number is 2.3%. Same city, same rents, same crisis. The difference is a bed, a couch, a set of dishes, and somebody who asks what colors you like. Humble Design San Diego has furnished more than 500 homes since 2018, and La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Center has sponsored 14 of them since 2019. Our CEO, Marie Olesen, who is here with us today, has spent the last seven years on Humble Design San Diego's and their national boards and their regional boards. And Laura Lavoie, who's also here today, runs Humble Design San Diego, and she's here to partly say the things that Marie won't. So welcome ladies.

Laura Lavoie (00:56):
Hi.

Monique Ramsey (00:56):
Thanks for having me. So for anyone who's never heard of Humble Design, Laura, if you'll walk us through a day of service, or actually call it a day of joy, as I remember. You do. From the moment the truck is loaded or even what that week is like prior to that day of joy and the moment the family opens the door.

Laura Lavoie (01:17):
I would love to. And thank you so much to both of you for hosting me. I tell people who don't know anything about Humble Design, we're like HGTV for people who actually need it. And it is the most amazing and magical thing I've ever been part of in my life. And what happens is we meet our clients who have left homelessness on Monday. All of our clients, they have a roof over their head, but nothing under their roof. So they're sleeping on the floor. They're eating out of a takeout container. They are stable, but they are not living in beauty. So we have professional interior designers and movers on staff. And our team will go and sit with our clients on the floor of their place on Monday morning, learn about their journeys through and out of homelessness. And then, like you said, it flips into a design consult.

(02:09):
And the designers will ask our clients, "Who are you? What do you like? What colors do you like? What styles do you like? What do your kids love?" And then they'll come back and they shop our 15,000 square foot warehouse that's crammed, filled with donated furniture and home goods. And in two, three or four days, depending on if you're our client on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday of that same week, they will create a custom home designed for that client based on that interview. And then the morning of the day of joy, our team and our volunteers will show up in the morning to an empty house. And four to six hours later, what takes the rest of us, sometimes four to six months or longer to do is done. And the team and volunteers will unpack the chuck. They will wash all the dishes, set the table, build the beds, make the beds, hang the art.

(03:06):
And then at the end of the day, our clients knock on their own front door and our volunteers will open the door. We all clap and say, "Welcome home." And just like HGTV, we walk them through the space, show them the home that is designed specifically for them. And then, like you said, 98% of our clients after their day of joy, they break the cycle of homelessness for good.

Monique Ramsey (03:31):
It's so awesome. It's actually incredible. Okay. Now, Marie, you've always believed that the space around you shapes your happiness and your productivity. When did you first connect that belief to homelessness?

Marie Olesen (03:46):
So I've always really been very visual and I've cared greatly about my home and our office and not only cleanliness, but beauty. And so I happened to be redoing a guest room. And the designer that was helping me asked me what I wanted to do with the things that were not going to go forward into the redesign of the room. And it was some very pretty things. And she said, "Have you heard of Humble Design?" And I said, "No." And so then she began to tell me about this. And we're in the business where people make visual changes to themselves and they enjoy their lives more and they're happier. And so it's not too far a step to go to my surroundings affect me and nourish me. And homelessness is such a huge problem. And as an individual, you feel like, what could I ever possibly do?

(04:54):
My life is so wonderful and these people have need and I wish I could know how to help them in a meaningful way. And so she had me go on a day of joy. And the center began supporting that and it's led to a long and very happy relationship.

Monique Ramsey (05:21):
Yeah. Our very first day of joy, I remember doing that installation and I was working in the kitchen because I love to work in the kitchen and help put things away and organize a kitchen for that person's home. And so at the very end, everybody was in their own little room. And then at the end, you kind of come and you see what everybody else was up to. And in the home that we decorated, there was a little girl's room. And I walked in and in the corner, they had made almost like a little reading nook and they had put this really pretty gauzy thing that they hung from the ceiling and little pillows and stuffed animals and books. And the pillows were your pillows, Marie, from your guest room. And I was like, oh my gosh, here I'm seeing in real time, I know whose pillows those were.

(06:09):
And here they are. And it was just so lovely and they're pink and satin and pretty. And I just thought, what a wonderful thing to be able to. If you're going to take something out of your home, you want it to go to good use. And I think the things that Humble Design does, Laura, I mean, you see it all every week, three times a week, right?

Laura Lavoie (06:28):
Three times a week and sometimes four.

Monique Ramsey (06:30):
Yeah. So Laura, Marie's going to underplay her role in helping you guys over the last few years, but how did Marie and La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Center first show up and what did it kind of evolve into?

Laura Lavoie (06:43):
Marie is far too humble with a lowercase h, and is absolutely all things Humble with a capital H. She's been with Humble Design San Diego since almost the very beginning. We came to San Diego as an organization in 2018. And Marie joined our board in 2019 at the very beginning of our humble story and has been guiding us, supporting us, and shining light and love on this mission since the day she walked in the door. I could probably fill the entire hour talking about how amazing this woman is. I told her the other day, you better let me give you your flowers, Marie, because you are such an incredible part of our organization's story. And the reason that we are so successful is because you have had this vision since the very beginning, not only of the impact of the work that we do on the individuals whom we serve, which is at the core of humble.

(08:01):
We make impact one beautiful home at a time. And also since the moment I met you, you've been singing the song of let's collect the data. Let's gather the evidence. Let's not just show, but let's demonstrate with real numbers the impact that this work has on the community. And that is how we will be able to continue to grow and serve the, unfortunately, way too many people who need our services and the services of the heroic agencies that refer our clients to us.

Monique Ramsey (08:39):
So the impact that you're talking about, Laura, here it is for San Diego at a glance. And this was through 2025. 98% of the people where you've been involved in making their house beautiful, making their house a home are still in their homes, which is incredible to me.

Laura Lavoie (08:59):
It's remarkable. And the snapshot you're showing right now, that's last year, that's 2025. Our aggregate impact is even greater. We did 148 homes last year alone. And today my team is working on home number 681 here in San Diego.

Monique Ramsey (09:19):
Oh my gosh. That's incredible. And I think one of our first years, it was like the 50th home and we all are holding like two balloons of the five and a 0. And that was a huge milestone. But now how many did you say?

Laura Lavoie (09:32):
Today is 681 in process as we're recording this podcast.

Monique Ramsey (09:38):
That's so nice.

Marie Olesen (09:39):
So I just did the math on that. And that 667 families still housed.

Monique Ramsey (09:48):
Amazing.

Marie Olesen (09:49):
And that is what's so remarkable because there's so much recidivism for people going into empty apartments on sleeping bags with no furniture, no kitchen utensils. And suddenly they move into a true home. And there's a lot where there's been abuse and negative family situations. And there's a tendency to go back to the abuser just to have a house with things in it. And so this is solving that and it letting that generally mother and her children go forward. And the amazing thing is we, with UCSD department, what is the urban studies?

Laura Lavoie (10:40):
Yes. The homelessness hub at UC San Diego.

Marie Olesen (10:43):
So they did a study and they're the ones who verified this 98%. But what they also found was that it wasn't just homing them. It was a change in the children's lives, in their socialization, in attending school, in the mom having friends over, in greater use of home meals. Just a plethora of indicators of a normal life for these families. It's very, very touching to see.

Monique Ramsey (11:20):
This shows that before and after. I mean, that's really what it's like when we come in to help do a home. And for anybody listening today, I really recommend you do a day of joy. It's five or six hours and you are transformed afterwards. Not only is the space transformed, but you as an individual are transformed. And it's incredible how they pull together, your designers will pull together that week into something that is just gorgeous. And it's the things that they asked about like, oh, I love the outdoors, or I love peach, or I love whatever that thing is, or my son loves baseball. It's like they hear. And I think that the people who are coming into their new space, they're amazed every time of like, oh, you really listened. I didn't really think like I'm telling you what I like, but I didn't think you were going to do it.

(12:14):
And not only did you do it, but you do it so beautifully.

Laura Lavoie (12:18):
That's the real impact that you're getting at is we're providing a home, not just a house. And this is something we've said for the organization is a national organization. We operate in four cities around the country. And we've known since the beginning that there's a difference between a house and a home. Having a team of PhD experts at a top 10 research university coming back and validating and having. So their top finding was 98% of the people we serve stay housed because of our services. The second finding was having a home instead of only having housing is a social determinant of health and wellbeing. And we had never, I think, articulated our work as a health and wellbeing intervention. I don't think we've had used those words to frame it, but it was a complete aha moment for us. Of course, all of these other things that are happening in the lives of our clients because they are safe, because they are in beauty, because they are seen and heard and loved by their community who didn't know them five days ago.

(13:33):
They'd never even met. And now a team of people who have given their money, they've given their time, they've given their amazing, I'm talking about my designers right now, superpowers to come and create this unbelievable thing for them. It's transformational. And that's the thing that makes the difference. It's not just the product, it is the process together that makes it happen

Marie Olesen (13:59):
And you've heard the phrase, you heard me when you're trying to say to someone something that I communicated to you, you actually heard me. And this is so representative of that. And frequently, these people have not been in a situation where anyone was listening, let alone then taking that information and creating an environment that showed love and respect for them and their family. And so they're stunned. When they come in, they're so amazed. And one of the first ones that we did, a boyfriend came along as a volunteer to help hang pictures and so on. And so we had a little circle at the beginning and talked about what we were going to do. And then we had a little circle at the end, "How do you feel about this?" And he said, "Well, I didn't want to come. I wanted to stay home and sleep. But what I've realized through this is I need to get a life." And that was so stunning to me because it basically said you can't just think about yourself all the time. And great richness, emotional, social richness comes from doing something for others in need. And being able to actually witness the impact of your commitment is very, very wonderful as a donor and as a volunteer.

Laura Lavoie (15:38):
Can I tell one more story in that vein? 

Monique Ramsey (15:41):
Yeah. Sure.

Laura Lavoie (15:42):
Last summer, I don't know if everybody remembers, there was that tragic plane crash in the military housing complex in Murphy Canyon. And we got called in on emergency. Can you help us? There are two families that lost literally everything in a moment. And so most of our clients have experienced a long journey through and out of homelessness. And in this situation, it was in one second they went from having everything they had to literally having nothing. And so we were able to come in and do those homes. And because it was a military complex, we had volunteers from the United States Navy working alongside our team. And we did our closing circle like you were just talking about, Marie, at the end. And one of the service members said, "I joined the Navy so I could help people. And today is what it's all about for me." And then of course we all cried.

(16:40):
And I'm kind of crying now just remembering hearing this man say this because he's not even from San Diego. He was here on his deployment, got to do this as part of his, I don't want to say everyday work, but it was what he was assigned to do for the Navy that day. And he came away having given a home to a fellow service member and feeling that it reflected his calling to serve. It's pretty powerful.

Marie Olesen (17:11):
That's very nice.Very nice.

Monique Ramsey (17:12):
Incredible. I want everybody, because I think one of the typical questions people have, okay, you come in with all the pretty things and we're going to turn this from a shelter to a beautiful home that they can really use and thrive in. But how does that family or that person get placed in the housing? And how does Humble work to make that happen? Or do you make that happen?

Laura Lavoie (17:38):
Our tagline at Humble is togetherness to end homelessness. I should be hashtagging that. And we are so fortunate here in San Diego. We have almost a hundred agencies that we work with. This went way up after the UC San Diego study was published who are authorized to refer clients to us after they have gone through the programs of our partner agencies. So it is the heroes and the angels at the agencies who are walking alongside our clients through the beginning and middle of their story. They are the ones who help find the housing. We're not in the business of finding housing for our clients. So like I mentioned, all of our clients have a roof over their head, but they don't have anything under that roof. So we work in partnership with all of these agencies all over the county who are supporting the people that we then get to step in and become part of their story as well.

Monique Ramsey (18:37):
Now, Marie being on the board, tell us a little bit behind the scenes of what's Marie doing? What does that mean to be on the board and what does she bring to the table, the board table?

Laura Lavoie (18:48):
Well, as I'm sure everyone listening to this knows, or if they don't, they should know. Marie is a force of nature and a force for good. And we have been so blessed to have her wisdom and her heart sitting at our board seat first here in San Diego in the early days. And you mentioned Monique, she did a tour of duty on the national board. And then we were very excited to have her back on our San Diego board starting at the beginning of this year. And I remember like it was yesterday, I've been at Humboldt for five and a half years. And Marie was one of the very first meetings that I had at your practice actually. And she said to me, "Everybody who gives you a piece of furniture can give you their money and their time and their hearts and everything else they have to offer.

(19:45):
And the furniture is a welcome into the mission." And I never forgot that because she's right. She's usually right about most things. And it's true. Everybody has something that they can give. And for so many of our community members, for me even, the first thing I did was when I found out about Humble Design before I even worked here, I said, "Oh my gosh." To my husband, "We have a dining room table. We're going to give it to Humble Design." And then I saw it on an Instagram post and I was like, "Look, look what we did."

Monique Ramsey (20:19):
It's so nice. It's so nice to be like, "I gave it. It's going to have a whole new life."

Laura Lavoie (20:25):
And you get to read the story of the family who is going to give it its next beautiful chapter and know that you had a part in that story. And so when I met Marie, she told me, "Whatever anybody gives you is the beginning. It's not the end." And again, she said, "And we have to measure it." And so she's been helping us to keep those two central truths at the heart of all the work that we do. And we are a small, scrappy, but growing nonprofit. And when I was hired, we were doing one home a week. I was hired to take us from one to two. This was back in 2021, post pandemic sort of. And so we did that. And then it was kind of exponential from there. We went both from two homes to three and got this study done by UC San Diego.

(21:23):
And last summer, we tested out the operations of doing four homes. So we know how to do that once we have the funding and the resources that we need in order to do four. And all of it is because Marie has been sitting there at the table. She's the little angel on my shoulder. I hear her voice all the time in my mind saying, "Make sure that you have the data to support what you're doing. And when somebody gives you their dishes, they're giving you a piece of their heart." And that's how we've grown.

Monique Ramsey (21:59):
Well, and I think that one most expensive part for San Diego at the beginning, it was just having the space for a warehouse. And you were a little bit constrained by. I mean, I've seen you through three or four warehouses now, but I mean, it was little. So how much can you bring in to even be able to furnish a home? And Marie very astutely said to go get big donors, big, big donors. And San Diego is a small town. We're not Detroit or Chicago where you've got some global brands. We're little. And so how do you prove that this money that you might be asking for is really going to go help without that data that she's asking for, which was amazing to have that on paper.

Marie Olesen (22:46):
So I want to talk for a second about what people can do. And so obviously you can give the pillows that you're replacing in your living room or your bedroom or whatever. But you can also say, "I want to give pillows to arrive at the warehouse every month from Amazon."

(23:14):
And so you can say, "I want as a business or a family or a person," and we've seen it all, a person giving a birthday to themselves. We as an organization support these days of joy. People can make larger donations that would enable 10 of them to be done. So it's sort of like, what's your ability to give? And how do you do so in a way that builds this organization's impact? And for us, we started with that it was MyPillows. Then it was the center doing a day of joy, then days of joy, then years of days of joy. 

Monique Ramsey (24:04):
And it's so fun. It's like an amazing time to be able to bond with your coworkers in a different way than you ever have. And also to be able to just see this positive impact in your own community, which I think is sometimes we give money to an organization, but it's like you never really see what happens. And this, in six hours, you're going to see what happens and the actual, the joy on the faces of the people there. And a lot of times there's kids and they're so excited about either their books or their computer or all the different things that they might be into a gaming system. It's very cool. And Laura, what would you say for people out there? How do they get involved in a day of joy or they get their work involved? How do you recommend that people start?

Laura Lavoie (24:59):
I recommend people start wherever their heart is to begin with. All of the information about getting involved is on our website, humbledesign.org/sandiego, which I'm assuming we can put on the screen.

Monique Ramsey (25:13):
We'll put in the show notes too.

Laura Lavoie (25:14):
You can also please follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Humble Design San Diego. Every home we do, you'll see the befores and afters. It is really like HGTV and it's incredible. You're right that there's no substitute for coming down and doing a home or volunteering in the warehouse. You can come down and work with our team in the warehouse. We're in Logan Heights at 19th and commercial and we have volunteers every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday who help our staff to prepare for all of the homes that we're doing on any given week.

Monique Ramsey (25:54):
Yeah, here they are. Look at them. All those happy faces.

Marie Olesen (25:58):
Don't go quite so quickly because really look at how good those houses look. These pictures are being taken in an apartment that's been redone by the volunteers. And I think HGTV for the homeless is actually a very good statement of what happens. And so much love and thought is given to the children's bedrooms, the mom's bedrooms. There's a lot of heart.

Monique Ramsey (26:28):
How happy. Look at her face. That's so sweet. Oh, what a cute quilt. I love that quilt.

Laura Lavoie (26:34):
That quilt was in somebody else's guest bedroom two weeks prior.

Monique Ramsey (26:39):
Wow.

Laura Lavoie (26:40):
And was destined to belong to this amazing client of ours.

Marie Olesen (26:46):
I think that I - Oh my gosh.

Laura Lavoie (26:49):
Go back. Oh,

Monique Ramsey (26:50):
So this is, you guys took this dresser.

Laura Lavoie (26:52):
And then in the warehouse, I think this was done by our, in the summertime we have teenagers who come in, high school students who come to volunteer. It's called the Humble Teen Collective over the summer. And I believe that that dresser was transformed by one of our teen volunteers.

Monique Ramsey (27:13):
And look at that fun lampshade. I'm digging this whole thing. Her aesthetic is so fun.

Marie Olesen (27:20):
You know what's so amazing? Until we had the UCSD study, I was extremely happy with just seeing the family's reactions that day. That was enough for me to know that this was a worthwhile. But then finding out the impact on the children attending school, having friends over, having family meals, which I suppose I should have figured out, but I really didn't. And then to know, oh, how precious that's too.

Monique Ramsey (27:54):
His name is Felony, our faithful dog Felony. Look at how cute he is. It's Darling. I think you told me, Laura, or maybe it was. I heard it when we were doing an installation day where the mom said, "Now my kids can have friends over because you can have a shelter, but that doesn't mean you want to ask your friend to come to your house to play after school." And that is something I had never, ever thought of before. 

Laura Lavoie (28:24):
That's life changing.

Monique Ramsey (28:26):
Yeah.

Laura Lavoie (28:27):
For the entire family. I would imagine that you have lots of moms in your client list. And as a mom myself, that's one of the most profound findings from the study. We had known it anecdotally, but to hear the research team come back and say that kids who were honestly afraid or ashamed to have a friend over before Humble Design came and made their house into a home, we're now having play dates. And the impact that that has on a child to have a social life and a space that they're proud of and have their community come and be part of their story. It's incredible. I'm cheating. I found the number. 73% of the parents who were part of the UC San Diego study reported that their kids had play dates after receiving our services.

Monique Ramsey (29:31):
Oh my gosh, that's so neat.

Marie Olesen (29:33):
That's amazing, really.

Laura Lavoie (29:35):
Effect of the most simple thing that we all take for granted. And the other thing, the research team could not proclaim this because we haven't been around long enough for them to evaluate it yet, but one of their predictions is that our services will be protective for the children of our clients and help them to break the generation cycle of homelessness, which every time I say that out loud, I stumble over the words and I get emotional because if you think about what that means for the next generation, homelessness is such a complex, it's a negative cycle. And being able to interrupt that cycle and turn it into a virtuous cycle where children of our clients will have a different future because they have a home. If you think about that too long, your head explodes in a good way. Right.

Monique Ramsey (30:36):
No, exactly, exactly. And here, I mean, you're getting to see all these smiles on the volunteers. It's so fun to be like -

Marie Olesen (30:43):
And to see the quality of decorating and the beautiful things. I mean, this is really nice stuff.

Monique Ramsey (30:50):
Yeah. Look at that. That's amazing.

Laura Lavoie (30:52):
Our designers and movers are incredible. 

Monique Ramsey (30:56):
Yeah. They really are. And it just comes together so quickly. And when I used to be back in the day, in Junior League of San Diego and they had different committees. And one of the committees you could be on was a done in a day. So there's certain people who like to do like, I want to come in and I want to see the impact at the end of the day. And other things take months and months and months or years of working on a project. And so this reminds me of those done in a day kind of things where you get that feeling at the end of like, oh, I feel so rewarded. And if you're artistic, you guys, I mean, you have people come to the warehouse and help paint things or tell us what that is, if a person is an artistic kind of being.

Laura Lavoie (31:46):
Every child we serve gets next to their bed a piece of art that has been created for them with their name or their initials and something that they love. And it's absolutely incredible. So maybe a little boy loves superheroes. And he's going to come in to his bedroom. Most of our client's kids have never had their own room before. They've never had their own bed before. They're sleeping in the back of somebody's car. They're sleeping on the couch of a relative. They're in a shelter with 30 other people.

(32:22):
And so they'll come into their room and it is amazing and it's totally overwhelming. And then they'll see their name next to their bed and they've never had a bed before and they kick their shoes off and they climb in their bed and you see the joy on their faces. See, there's one right there. Kylie. Kylie loves pink and unicorns. And you see this transformation happen for the kids. I used to watch the kids. I don't watch the kids anymore. I watch the parents because you see this look on their face when they see their child having this response. And it's like somebody has taken a thousand pound weight off of their shoulders. It's all they've ever wanted to give to their kids. And now they have given it to their kids.

Monique Ramsey (33:10):
That's incredible.

Laura Lavoie (33:11):
And they know that their kids' lives are going to change starting at that moment and you're watching it. So it's not just done in a day. It's done in a day for good.

Monique Ramsey (33:22):
Right. And I think that's the other thing is you feel like if you, at least I'm this way, if I do it, I want to do it and be done and know that it's not going to get undone three days later. And that is something that's wonderful that you could say like a year later, these people are still in that same home that you created for them. And I think you guys, you stay in touch with the families, right?

Laura Lavoie (33:47):
We do. We get to follow up with them. And every Tuesday morning we have our all staff meeting. And the last thing on the agenda is our client services manager, Claudia, will read a testimonial from a client whom we have served, who she has gotten to speak with. And it's the best moment of the week every week. And we get to hear not only are they still housed, but what has the impact been on our client's lives to have this home? Can I read one?

Monique Ramsey (34:21):
Yeah, please do. I was going to say.

Laura Lavoie (34:23):
And this is from a client that La Jolla Cosmetics served. And she said, "I felt really special. And I thought, I cannot believe something like this exists. I had gone from having nothing to getting my family back. The furniture was the missing piece. I felt safe and comfortable with my kids in our apartment. Then stable enough to return to school. And now I'm graduating. It feels good to give back. I donate to you and refer people to you. And I tell them, these people are amazing. Just call them."

Monique Ramsey (34:58):
That's incredible. So that was one of the families that we -

Laura Lavoie (35:01):
That's one of the families that you helped us serve. And what I love, I love everything about that. And I had to actually cut out a couple of other pieces because she was rhapsodizing and it was very long. But at the end where she's saying, "I give my own belongings and I refer my community to humble design," that's what we're trying to do. It's the virtuous cycle where the gift gets bigger with every person that we bring in. And to bring it back to you, Ms. Marie, take your flowers. You brought so many people into, I call it the humble verse, who would probably never have encountered this mission were it not for you. And because they trust and love you when you tell somebody, "Go check this place out." They do. And we're growing because of it. Monique, did we get to talk about Marie's award yet?

Monique Ramsey (36:09):
Please do, because there is a big honor. She's a pretty humble VIP, but tell us about what you guys do every September and what award Marie's getting.

Laura Lavoie (36:21):
So every September, we have our annual fundraising event. It's called Welcome Home. It's super fun. It's not a sit down dinner. It's a cocktail party reception. And then there's a program where people can support through silent auction, live auction, Raise Your Paddle. And this year, we are having it at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, right down the street from the practice and from a lot of people who love Ms. Marie Olesen. And we are launching, it's called the Humble Impact Award, first annual. And the inaugural award is going to an individual organization or company whose extraordinary commitment of time, talent and treasure has helped Humble Design welcome people home and change lives for good. This award recognizes leadership through action and the power of community driven generosity. And Marie is our inaugural Humble Impact Awardee. I saw her very recently and discovered she had told nobody that she is winning this award.

(37:33):
And I said, "Great. I'm going on your podcast and we're going to tell everybody."

Monique Ramsey (37:37):
We're going to tell the whole world.

Laura Lavoie (37:38):
We want people to come. Tickets are on sale. It's definitely going to sell out this year. So again, humbledesign.org/sandiego to get connected to the event website for tickets. It's on Thursday, September 24th at 6:30 PM. Again, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla. And we will give Marie her actual flowers along with her metaphysical flowers. And we want everybody who loves this woman and in whose lives she's had an impact to come and join us in celebrating and thanking her for the really immeasurable impact that she's had on our mission. I truly mean it. We would not be where we are as an organization without Marie.

Marie Olesen (38:32):
Oh, thank you. Well, you deserve every bit of growth and awareness that it's possible to have because you're doing something that's so important, so impactful in an area that's such a dark cloud for everyone. And I don't think there's anybody who's enjoying their home and their life and their leisure who doesn't think about homelessness and just feel badly about it, but feel overwhelmed. There's no way I can possibly have any impact on that terrible societal problem. And in truth, there is an organization that enables you to have a personal relationship that's dealing with homelessness at the individual level and amazingly successfully. And so it's a very, very special organization.

Monique Ramsey (39:30):
It really is. And Marie, did you ever expect that when Shannon was redesigning your house that six or seven years later, you'd be getting an award?

Marie Olesen (39:45):
No. I have done a lot of volunteerism in my life. It's a personal commitment. And for many years I was involved in the arts and La Jolla Music Society and I was on the globe board. But it's at one point, Dr. Olesen, my late husband and I, decided that there were many people to help the arts and there were many fewer people to help in the social services area. And so that we would change our giving. And we did that a number of years ago and we've done that through scholarships. And then once we found Humble, that was just very much within our hearts and with what we thought the mission that we wanted to do with the blessings of our life. And so I don't know anyone who's become involved who isn't enriched by it. And so you don't always in your giving think, "Oh, well, what am I going to get back?" But this is something that does give back.

Monique Ramsey (40:47):
Yeah. And every time I've told somebody about it, including this morning at the dentist, I said, "Wow, I got to run home, put on my makeup for my podcast." And she's like, "What are you talking about?" And so I told her all about Humble. She's like, "Oh my gosh, I have stuff that I need to donate. Can I just donate?" And I told her what to do. And it's like that stone and the ripple effect from the stone hitting the water. And I'm thinking about Dana. So the very first year that we were involved, we were doing on the radio, there was a disc jockey, I guess for lack of a better word, on I think Star 94:1 or something. And they were Dana and Jason in the mornings. And she, every Tuesday, I think, would go and feed the homeless.That was her thing. And when she heard about what we were doing with Humble, they're like, "We want to get involved." And so we did a big fundraiser that year.

(41:39):
They had a giving drive right before Christmas. And it was like, now we're going to furnish the dining room. And people would call in and they would make donations to help. And then we're moving on to the living room. And so I think we raised that year almost $20,000. But I think isn't she still involved now, Laura, in Humble?

Laura Lavoie (42:01):
She has a different name now. Dana was her radio name. Now, Laura Chez, she is the executive director at an organization called We See You San Diego, which is one of the almost 100 agencies who can refer clients to us. And so she's working in the space on the front lines with her team and her army of volunteers. They are an incredible organization as well. Their organization has referred several clients of ours, including one who was featured last year on the Kelly Clarkson Show with our founder, Treger. You can Google that and find those episodes, which was pretty amazing.

Monique Ramsey (42:46):
We'll do that and put it in the show notes for everybody. 

Marie Olesen (42:48):
Put that in the show link because it's really amazing.

Laura Lavoie (42:52):
And then Laura also was the narrator of the documentary film that we commissioned in 2024, the same year as the UC San Diego study. The film is called When a House Becomes a Home. And you can Google that and I'll put that in your show notes too. Yes. Yes. That is a 50 minute documentary telling the humble San Diego story for of our clients, many of our partners and our funders. And it's really beautiful. And she was the narrator of that.

Monique Ramsey (43:26):
And what made me think of it was yesterday, preparing for today, I was listening to a clip and I'm like, "I know that voice. Whose voice is it?" And finally I'm like, "Oh, that's Dana, but Laura." But it was funny. I just was like, "Oh my gosh, I forgot." But it's like one thing, you never know that one thing that you tell to somebody or they come along on a day of joy and then it turns into something. And I think we had Las Patronas, we're a big sponsor for Las Patronas every year. And we got them involved on one of our days of joy kind of during the pandemic. I remember us all sitting around outside with our masks on, on our lunch break and got them involved. And I think you guys are a beneficiary. Did you get a -

Laura Lavoie (44:12):
We got a truck from Las Patronas. And that was a gift that fell out of heaven because that was right after the flood, that devastating flood also in 2024. 24 was a big year for us. We had just moved out of our previous warehouse into our current warehouse the day before the flood. We got out everything we needed. Everything that was left, we lost. And our truck was totaled. And I have pictures of Dennis, our warehouse manager, in water up to his armpits trying to rescue the truck. 

(44:51):
And we called Las Patronas and they said, "Guess what? Our grant cycle just opened and they granted us the money to buy a new truck so we were able to keep operating." And we were connected with them, yes, because Marie's brilliance. She said, "The practice is going to sponsor a home. We also sponsor the Jewel Ball. And why don't we do this all together and bring the women, the amazing women of Las Patronas, we adore them, to come and do a home with La Jolla Cosmetic." And that seed was planted in 2022. And in 2024, when we needed our community to show up for us, they did.

Monique Ramsey (45:35):
Laura, tell everybody, if you're looking around your house and you're thinking about decluttering or changing some decor, what do you recommend that they use as their test of like, is it good enough for humble or not? And what kinds of things-

Marie Olesen (45:48):
And is it the right size? Right.Because we're doing apartments.

Laura Lavoie (45:53):
Thank you for that, Marie. Yes. Our standard is please give us things you'd be proud to give someone you love. That is what we want you to think about as you're looking at what you'd like to donate. Marie is right. Most of the clients we serve are moving into smaller apartments. And so we can't take huge furniture. A California queen bed won't fit through the doorways. It's math. It just doesn't fit. And so just remember the scale on which we are operating for our clients' first real homes. On our website, there's a link to sign up for a donation. All of our donations are by appointment. Either you can drop off at our warehouse down in Logan Heights if it fits in your car or if it doesn't fit in your car, our truck can come and pick up. We're usually two to four weeks out at least for scheduling a pickup because we just have so many people who want to be involved.

(46:57):
If you go back, that one. Well, click on that too. That's how you can donate money, which is - 

Monique Ramsey (47:03):
Oh this one here, donate?

Laura Lavoie (47:04):
You're on the donate money page. I'm never going to fight you about being on that page. Okay. But if you click on donate furniture on the left hand side. Oh, donate furniture. Yes, I see it. It'll pull up our form, fill it out. Our team will contact you. You'll send your address and the items you want to donate, photos to make sure that we can use them. And then our team will reach out and schedule a donation appointment. 

Marie Olesen (47:32):
So I want, just for everybody's psychological preparation for donating is Humble is not solving your extra stuff problem. Humble needs nice things that are gotten to them in sort of an orderly way. And again, things that you would like. So if you're moving and you're whatever, some things may work for humble and some things may need to go to Father Joe or someone else that can handle a wider range of things. But if you give it to Humble, you can have the satisfaction of knowing it's going to go into a home. It's going to help end homelessness for a family, including children. And so to me, it's worth that extra sorting effort to figure out what do I think could be really useful for what they're doing.

Laura Lavoie (48:36):
Thank you for that PSA, Marie. And I would, again, encourage folks to check out our Instagram and Facebook pages. And you'll see the just absolutely beautiful homes that our designers create with the items that are donated with love from the community.

Marie Olesen (48:57):
It's truly amazing.

Laura Lavoie (48:57):
It's amazing.

Marie Olesen (48:58):
I mean, the quality, you just can't believe it. And then it nurtures that family and then it changes their life. It changes the trajectory of their life. And so anyone who says that decorating is an inconsequential activity, it's not true.

Laura Lavoie (49:19):
They just have more homework to do. And I invite you to come and volunteer with us and see for yourself. It's truly life changing. And it's the stories that for me are what are the most amazing. And the stories of our clients are absolutely astonishing. Things that most of us can't even imagine experiencing and overcoming, that's core to the families and the individuals that we serve. And they come out on the other side determined to make a better life for themselves and for their children. And they're not going to settle until they have done that. And so being able to be, I like to say we're an inflection point in our clients' stories. They are the ones, let me be very clear, it's our clients who are changing their lives. We're not changing their lives, but we are giving them at the moment that they are ready to start this new chapter, the beautiful, dignified, personal foundation to do it.

(50:23):
And we're holding up a mirror literally, but also figuratively saying, look how beautiful you are. Look at what you have done. Go do more. Tell us all of your great stories from here on in.

Monique Ramsey (50:37):
Yeah. That's amazing. Well, thank you both for this little Humble hour that we had. And for everybody who's listening, we'll have all the links that we talked about in the show notes and probably even more because we have a lot. We have a lot of things that we'd love to share with you. And if you want to get involved with Humble Design, go to humbledesign.org.

Laura Lavoie (50:58):
Slash San Diego.

Monique Ramsey (50:59):
Slash San Diego. I was going to say, or click on cities, go to San Diego and then you can get involved. And I highly recommend it. I really do. It's a fun way to make an impact in just a few hours and you'll find yourself hooked, just starting to tell everybody.

Marie Olesen (51:19):
It's addictive in the very nicest way.

Monique Ramsey (51:22):
Exactly. It is. It is. And you'll feel good. And so thanks everybody for joining us. Thanks Marie and thanks Laura. And we'll see you next month at the big awards ceremony. I can't wait.

Laura Lavoie (51:35):
September 24th. Get your tickets today.

Monique Ramsey (51:40):
It's going to be lovely. Thank you. All right everybody. 

Laura Lavoie (51:43):
Thank you so much.

Announcer (51:48):
Take a screenshot of this podcast episode with your phone and show it at your consultation or appointment or mention the promo code podcast to receive $25 off any service or product of $50 or more at La Jolla Cosmetic. La Jolla Cosmetic is located just off the I-5 San Diego Freeway in the XIMED building on the Scripps Memorial Hospital campus. To learn more, go to ljcsc.com or follow the team on Instagram @LJCSC. The La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast is a production of the Axis, T-H-E-A-X-I-S.io.