A Brooklyn Collaboration: Values-Driven Business in the Built Environment
Welcome to Working Together, a podcast where we delve into the art and science of collaboration within the built environment industry. Hosted by Drew Lang, founder of Brick & Wonder, this podcast explores the stories and strategies behind successful collaborations that drive innovation and shape the built world around us.
In this episode we spoke with two people whose values and brands aligned in the construction of a Brooklyn condominium building 350 Butler Street. Bill Caleo is a real estate developer and the founder of the Brooklyn Home Company, and Rachelle Louis is the Luxe Business Development Lead at JennAir Appliances.
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I think about it like dancing. When you first start dancing with a new partner, you step on each other’s toes. But when you watch a couple that has been dancing for 10 years, it’s the most beautiful thing… the collaboration and the way they move, it’s in sync. If a collaborator makes a mistake, the first or second time I try not to blame them, I try to look within myself, how do we stop stepping on each other’s toes?
– Bill Caleo
Meeting each other as humans and forming a connection, you really want to work for each other. You love the team and so you want to do everything you can to work with them. And so the client pushes the transaction part, not me.
– Rachelle Louis
I think people have to connect. And even though a product is an inanimate object, to me, even brands have a soul. Does my brand connect with the soul of what you do, and your product, or what you’re putting out? Do they make a perfect match? Because we want it to feel authentic, not just beautiful.
– Rachelle Louis
It was all about building the team, and the collaboration. And it’s unusual to get a creative person, like an interior designer in a room with an engineer, they think so differently. But when they want the same things, it’s a wonderful collaboration: you watch the fire, and it’s a really interesting process.
– Bill Caleo
