We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Becky Mocarski. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Becky below.
Hi Becky , thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
The pilot had just come on to tell us we would be landing soon.
I repacked my carry-on, closed my tray, but kept my book out to read for the landing. The woman next to me did the same. I am not sure who started talking first, but one of us commented on the book we were reading and began to chat about our love of books and the best books we had read.
The conversation of books quickly turned to more than that. In the twenty minutes it took to land I learned that she had lost her husband a few years back and was still getting used to cooking for one. I learned that during the Vietnam War she was due with their child any day so he was allowed to delay his deployment fir few weeks to meet his daughter. In those few weeks the war ended and he was saved from going at all. Something she is still grateful for to this day. The tears welled in my eyes as she told me this part of her story.
That day, she was on her way to be with her best friend who had cancer. They had been estranged for awhile due to a falling out between her former husband and her but she was flying to sleep on her couch and take her to all her appointments she needed to go to.
She had a niece that was watching her dog and pet rabbit while she was away. She was in politics and held an office, but we didn’t deep dive into that part of it.
She was lovely. Just lovely and to hear any part of her story made me feel like we were old friends catching up. I exited the plan and laughed as I said ‘Well, Have fun,,,,,, or I guess enjoy what you can with your time together!’ She agreed. She waved and I never saw her again.
I have always had this ability. The ability to talk to anyone and to create an ease in people that lets them tell me their story. I joke that I have a sign on my forehead that says ‘Tell Me. I’ll listen.’ And maybe that’s because I will.
This scenario has played out time and time again. On planes. On trains. In parks. In my yoga classes. I have come to realize that THIS is what it’s all about. It is about our very short time on this earth……together. I have no idea what I will do with anyone’s information. Most of the time I do nothing with it or regale a part of their story to someone else who begins to let me into a corner of their lives.
I could fill pages of the sorrow that I have felt through the years such as when I became lost as a new mom, or got fired from my job, or lost an Aunt to Ovarian Cancer that I became very close to. I could retreat into myself among the confusion and chaos of the world around me and some days I do. Some days I seem to live a life of ‘inward’ living……but then I look up. I close my tray and look around me.
I am in constant awe of the people I encounter every day. I love to hear their stories that always include sorrow, hope, and everything in between. To keep from living inward, I turn outward.
We underestimate what simply saying someone’s name or giving someone a compliment can mean to them. It is so simple really. Optimism takes practice. It takes perseverance. It takes the ability to infuse it into every aspect of your life.
So I do. I try to take the outlook on life that it is the small things that make the biggest differences. I infuse this optimism into my designs as a clothing designer. I bring it into the way I teach a class thru quotes, poems, laughter, and acknowledgement of everyone that comes into the room.
It doesn’t have to be 20 minutes on a plane to feel seen and heard. It could be 2 minutes. We all have 2 minutes……don’t we? Close your tray. You’ll be landing soon, so see what you can learn from others along the way.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
BeMo Designs was started over 10 years ago on the top of my piano. At that time, I had just enrolled in Yoga Teacher Training and became a new mom.
I felt a little lost in this new role and leaned into the creative part of myself to find a little bit of ‘me’ again.
It started as crochet hats. I kept that materials on top of the piano to keep them out of reach of the new tiny hands that were now crawling around our apartment. It grew into a curiosity for using crochet to create fun, unique pieces. Over the past few years the link between my creativity as a designer and love of teaching have melded together more and more.
I create and teach with intention. Each design piece has crochet details to set it apart from the standard pieces you could get anywhere. My yoga classes tend to take on a more ‘conversational’ path. I welcome questions, laughter, and any personality that wants to shine through while we move together.
Confident and Comfortable. Those are the two things I try to instill into each piece, each class, each meditation, and each person I get to talk to on or off a mat.
I am starting to lean more into the yoga side of creating. Allow the designs to simply be the pieces I wear as I build out a You tube channel with relatable yoga classes and fun flows. I love to connect with others and since I have pulled back from doing designer markets I am hoping to step forward into traveling and sharing my style of teaching and designs.
With the launch of new video series will almost always come the launch of a new piece. This tends to happen because when I am moving around on my mat is usually where I get my best ideas! What is about deep breaths and a high lunge that sparks creativity?
I live in Chicago with my husband, my three sons, and my dog Brownie. Most of the time they take center stage because I know one day they will grow up and not need me quite as much. Right now, I discover day by day what will fill me back up so I can stay present with them. Sometimes it is a new design. Sometimes it is a long walk with the dog and a new Crime Thriller Podcast. Sometimes it is a glass of wine while I lay in a restorative posture for my lower back and the Great British Baking Show on TV. Hey, it’s all about balance right?
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I have become more and more open to learning from my mistakes, celebrating when I find what it is people respond to, and being able to step away from something that is not working.
Whether it be when I am teaching or designing, you have to be open to not getting ‘right’ to find out who you are and what you are all about.
In the beginning, I taught so many classes and wasted fabrics because I hadn’t truly figure out what my strengths were and what type of teacher I wanted to be. That isn’t a bad thing. It’s a great thing. It means that you are trying and discovering every step of the way. It can also be exhausting and defeating. Always be willing to look at where you were and where you are now. You can only move forward from there.
I have become more and more open to learning from my mistakes, celebrating when I find what it is people respond to, and being able to step away from something that is not working.
My advice? Be open to doing it wrong, stepping back, seeing what happened and trying again. Be willing to also acknowledge when you get it sooooo right. When the feeling of what you are doing aligns with what you were trying to do all along. It will happen. You just might have to forget warrior II on the right side or sew a pocket to the outside of a pair of pants before you do.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I love connecting with others on and off a mat. Since I design athleisure clothes and teach yoga I am always looking to hear other creatives visions on how we might connect.
Do you play music and want to play a track for a yoga video? Let’s make it happen.
Do you need fun, unique clothes for a photo shoot? I have what you need…..or I can make it.
Would you like me to include your product in one of my photo shoots to share and tag each other? Send me your handle.
There is a quote that says ‘Your light won’t dim because you help others shine brighter. It just means the world is brighter’
Let’s shine.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bemodesigns.com
- Instagram: @bemodesigns
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/bemodesignsandhats
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCadA7EDJKQ_2i2jvdl-WGtg
