Welcome to The Froh Files

If you've watched my videos, you're used to seeing me wearing my "Approachable Professor" hat. We usually talk about circadian rhythms, cortisol levels, and why your nervous system is begging you to rethink that open-concept floor plan.

But today, I’m taking off the WELL AP badge. No buzzwords, no lectures on the hard science of neuroarchitecture. Today, it’s just Erns the human. The gay, Mennonite immigrant who survived a high-control religious group but managed to find safety and joy in Victoria, BC

I’m launching this public blog because I want to talk about why we are here. Transparency builds trust, and I know that before you can trust me with the emotional safety of your home, I need to be a little vulnerable with you about mine.

The Anomaly of Being Here

Let’s be honest: my presence in the commercial interior design industry is a bit of an anomaly. I come from incredibly humble beginnings, and historically, interior design has been an elitist occupation. Despite the glamour you see on television, the reality is that the industry generally doesn't pay very well, especially when you factor in the high-level technical coordination and construction complexities required in commercial and institutional work. To make a sustainable livelihood, you usually either have to be independently wealthy or possess a level of passion that borders on obsession.

My motivation was never the money. If it was, I certainly wouldn't have gone into this specific field! Long before I knew I would find any success, I chose interior design because I wanted to make a tangible, positive impact on as many people as possible. Most people in Canada work in office-based occupations, and I realized that if I could design for the people working for those companies and not just for the owners at the top, I could quietly improve thousands of daily lives.

Knowledge as a Public Resource

That passion drove me through my education. I worked relentlessly, battling my own perfectionism and imposter syndrome to secure the scholarships that funded my Master's of Interior Design at the University of Manitoba.

But I want to be entirely transparent: hearing that might make it sound like I had an easy, golden-paved road through post-secondary education. That is definitely not the case. I was in university for a total of nine years, and for the first four years of my undergraduate degree, I didn't see a single penny from merit-based awards or scholarships. During those early years, I was relying on need-based bursaries just to pay my tuition and keep my head above water while my job paid my rent and groceries.

Even later, when I did reach graduate studies and the funding finally arrived, it wasn't a free ride to luxury. Graduate studies come with their own hidden costs like research materials and traveling to conferences, and I was a single guy living on his own, trying to pay rent and buy groceries. To make it all work, I kept my restaurant serving job throughout my entire education. I was waiting tables, writing thesis papers on well-being, and just trying to survive the week.

But here is the beautiful truth at the end of those nine years: between the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship, and the Manitoba Graduate Scholarship, I did not have to pay a single penny out of my own pocket for my graduate tuition. In fact, I actually earned more from academia at the end of the day than I directly paid in.

Why Now?

You might be wondering, why start all of this right now? The answer is pretty simple, and a little scary. Last fall, I had a health scare. I want to assure you right away that I am totally fine now (I’ll get into the messy details in a future post, I promise). It was a profound wake-up call. It made me vividly realize that there is absolutely no promise of tomorrow.

I knew I couldn't wait any longer to start my mission of democratizing high-level building science and kind design. I initially thought about writing for a publication, but I hated the idea of putting this publicly-funded knowledge behind a paywall. Then, I seriously started drafting a memoir. (That is still in the works! You will eventually hear the stories of the flooded creek, the garden hoe scar, and the General of the Dikes). But publishing a book takes years, and again, my timeline suddenly felt very precious.

Thankfully, I have the world's most wonderful partner, David. He has been running his own successful YouTube channel for over a decade. He sat me down and helped me see that YouTube is the absolute best, most straightforward, and most accessible platform to get this information out to the world for free.

And that is how Froh & Tell was born.

Froh Good

Froh Collective is my way of being the change I want to see in the world. This organization will always lead with kindness, compassion, and equity. Whether it remains just me at my desk forever, or whether it reaches heights I can't yet imagine. "Froh Good" is baked into the DNA of everything we do, right down to our Patreon tiers.

I want to help you design a home that treats you with the kindness and love you deserve, without the shame of "mess" or the pressure of a front-stage performance.

Thank you for being here, for trusting me, and for being part of this collective.

I’m Erns. Stay safe, stay froh.