Living Your Legacy

How a Ukrainian Refugee Built a Luxury Design Empire

22 min
Jun 11, 2026about 1 month ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Elena Komlakova, CEO of FKTR Group, discusses building a luxury interior design empire as a Ukrainian refugee in Miami. The episode explores her entrepreneurial journey, the importance of professional teams, strategic location decisions for her showroom in the Design District, and how quality experiences drive business growth and client acquisition.

Insights
  • Physical showroom presence in premium locations is critical for luxury design businesses where clients need to experience products tactilely before purchasing
  • Long-term strategic planning (2+ years ahead) enables entrepreneurs to manifest goals and align daily actions with future vision
  • Building a professional support team is essential for scaling; success compounds when surrounded by talented, focused individuals
  • Immigrant entrepreneurs bring distinct energy and cultural perspectives that elevate local markets and create competitive differentiation
  • Quality experience and atmosphere directly correlate to premium pricing power and client willingness to pay for luxury services
Trends
Luxury design market shift toward experiential retail and immersive showroom environments over digital-only salesMiami River district emerging as premium design and art hub attracting international luxury brands and high-end clienteleImmigrant-led businesses driving innovation and market elevation in luxury sectors across major US metrosPersonal branding and media appearances becoming essential marketing tools for B2B luxury service providersStrategic location decisions in design districts outweighing cost considerations for high-end interior design firmsLong-term visionary planning becoming competitive advantage in luxury markets where client relationships span yearsProfessional team quality and company culture directly impacting brand reputation and client acquisition in design sector
Topics
Luxury interior design business modelShowroom location strategy and real estate decisionsImmigrant entrepreneurship in Miami marketDesign District commercial real estateHigh-end client acquisition and salesProfessional team building and company cultureExperiential retail and customer experience designLong-term business planning and goal settingPersonal branding for entrepreneursUkrainian refugee business success storiesLuxury furniture and finishes marketInterior designer partnerships and B2B relationshipsMiami River district developmentWork-life balance for female entrepreneursMedia appearances and thought leadership
Companies
FKTR Group
CEO Elena Komlakova's luxury interior design company with showroom in Miami Design District
Living Your Legacy
Podcast show featuring Elena as guest discussing her entrepreneurial journey and business success
People
Elena Komlakova
Ukrainian refugee entrepreneur building luxury interior design empire in Miami with focus on high-end finishes
Rigo Tiers
Podcast host conducting interview with Elena about her business journey and entrepreneurial philosophy
Henry
Elena's son mentioned as part of her daily routine and parenting approach to instilling focus and success mindset
Quotes
"When you see it that someone else bowing and have a success, you will understand that, oh my gosh, I am wasting my time. I have to start it immediately."
Elena KomlakovaOpening
"Only like when you have a support, when you have a professional team near you, you can be successful."
Elena KomlakovaMid-episode
"We are the best one. We are representative of high end brand. We are working with so famous and talented interior designers."
Elena KomlakovaMid-episode
"Life is going too fast and we can't waste any minutes, any seconds."
Elena KomlakovaOpening
"Quality experience leads to quality clients which is quality all around you will understand how that works quality is going to be back and ten times fold."
Rigo TiersClosing
Full Transcript
When you see it that someone else bowing and have a success, you will understand that, oh my gosh, I am wasting my time. I have to start it immediately. I have a goal, I have a feeling, I have a dream. Life is going too fast. We can't waste any minutes, any seconds. Helena Kupkalova is a visionary entrepreneur, design innovator, and the CEO of FKTR Group. Through her work, she brings artistry and craftsmanship to luxury interiors, creating spaces that inspire connection, beauty, and lasting impact. We have the invasive boutique in the heart of the design district. And I go in through the doors and see how beautiful finishes, textures, and ball panels we are doing. It even inspired me day by day. We are the best one. We are representative of high-end brand. We are working with so famous and talented inter-group designers when you have a professional team near Europe, you can be successful. It spans the globe, like a super-high is called into the eldest, ready to fight for the king. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the farm. It's not over until I win. The Living Your Legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy. That's extraordinary. The impossible. Oh, that is sensational. Open. Chicago with the lead. You said Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream. Welcome back to another amazing episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast. For Insight Success, I am Rigo Tiers. Moments from actually filming her Woman in Power episode, I have Elena Komlakova, joining me today. No, do it for me, baby. How do you pronounce your last name? Elena Komlakova. Thank you so much for educating me and your beautiful accent. It's quite difficult to pronounce this long line of... Your last name? Yeah, but the line of sales that happens to be... Usually when people ask about my surname, I say, I can say it. I can say it. But then when I say about my surname, I say I can spell it to you. So because it's... It's quite difficult. It's quite beautiful. Thank you. Welcome to your podcast of Woman in Power. Thank you. What will we learn about you in your episode? Besides being afraid of your accent and stumbling through the process, which is very normal. I think a little bird told me that you did very, very well. What will you learn about you in your episode? It's interesting adventure, first of all. Of course, you know, I have a huge experience to host the panel meeting and some presentation for our company. But the TV show, it's totally different way. Of course, it's so many narrows. I was boring a lot. But then, thanks for your so professional team. It just to move like in very slowly and comfortable way, you know. It's a new experience for me. And of course, it's interesting how will it will be going through the our tutorial. Correct. How people, if the people will like my story or not, it's interesting. That experience of each person can give you a possibilities. Maybe someone have a feeling inside me that I must do something. It's just for thinking. But when you see that someone else doing in real something and growing and have a success, you sometimes you will understand that oh my gosh, I am wasting my time. I have to start it immediately. I have a goal. I have a feeling. I have a dreams. And why I'm not doing this? I know. And this is interesting story. This is experience because even through I explain about myself, the story of my company or my family and all these details. I also have this feeling inside me that oh my gosh, thanks God. I am not wasting the time any minutes. And even today, early in the morning, I was worrying a lot. And I even said to my husband my babe maybe we have to delay or schedule today's the TV this old scenes with the TV. It really it's really quite complicated for me. It's a new experience. But then I could that no, I'm unstoppable. I have to do this today. Oh, and here you are. I love the energy. A lot of folks sign up for this and they don't understand that there's two things happening. Yes, we are filming a TV show. We are presenting you. But at the same time there's a change happening within our clients, within folks that are casted. We understand that a lot of people haven't done this. They don't understand what it's like to do this. But we enjoy giving this experience to folks like you that deserve it. That say you have a beautiful voice. You have a beautiful message, a beautiful drive. People should hear more of it. And you'd be very, very honored and surprised who gravitates towards that including myself, Kofi and people on the staff. So you deserve to sit in that chair. Thank you. Thank you so much. And my appreciation for your episode team without their support I don't think I can imagine how it can be happened. And now I am really happy and so excited and I feel more power. And after today I have a new goal. I have a new vision and a full of energy. Amazing. I love it. It's like you to be sure give for the people the energy, the dreams come true. And it's like a new breeze for the life to make it more comfortable, more successful, more experience and a lot of people can, you can share your experience with a lot of people. Of course. Now we have spoiled you. Don't you wish you could just take a saw with you in your pocket and your purse and be like, oh, I need my crew. I feel like this. Yes, good, great. But now you're on a mission. Now you have to build your tribe. You have the ability to be surrounding yourself with people that really inspire to help you and help you send. So it doesn't take much just a camera and a microphone and start speaking. People will listen. It's a big professional team. Oh, gosh. Only like when you have a support, when you have a professional team near you, you can be successful. Absolutely. I appreciate this, but this is all about you. What is your day to day hustle today? You wake up every morning and what do you work on? What is inspiring you today? Every day starts the same way. I wake up early. I have to prepare my son to the school. My son, Henry, he's very emotional and every morning we are talking about he asked me, mommy, what is my schedule for the day? What I have to do and what are you waiting for from my day? I explain to him that you have been successful in your lessons, in your communications with the other children and you have growing day by day. You have to be focused of the every things and every person who is around you and that's how we start the day. Then of course I drop it off at school and go directly to my office. Beautiful showroom. We have the M.A.S.S.S.Boutique in the heart of the design district. Actually it's five minutes from the design district in a little river district but it's like, it's inspiring every day. When I go through the doors and see how beautiful finishes, textures and ball panels were doing, it even inspired me day by day. Of course during this I have 30 minutes through my road it's I-95 you know, it's boring the traffic jam but I turn on in very high loud my favorite music. Pitbull and Bon Jovi it's my life. Pitbull and Bon Jovi. It's my favorite remix. And I'm listening to it and dreaming and every day I'm lucky that I spend 30 minutes on my way to my showroom because I'm dreaming about men's fast. What I have to do, not this day, the next months, the next year because I have a lot of goals, a lot of aims and this is my time when I can hear my lovely music and dreaming and schedule that after a few months I have to be there. After a few months more I have to move into this state to this state to this state and that's like a plan not for a week, not for a month for a couple of years because you know I'm too focused to go in fast. We are limited of time that life is going too fast and we can't waste any minutes, any seconds. Oh yeah, people talk to me, what are you doing? You're thinking, well I'm thinking about a conversation I'm going to have three months from now because I'm going to start the conversation in 10 minutes and I know the objections and then if I do this it's going to all lead to things that are going to transpire in three weeks or three months. Huh? Yeah, you don't do that? Of course. You have to think that way. There's multiple voices, multiple things happening in your head. If you don't have a plan the clear plan in your mind how is it that you can do this? Yeah, because you're actually manifesting the plan in real time and the universe is working for you the things that aren't happening to you, they're happening for you. So once you understand that philosophy how energy works, you would be quite surprised that you can start shifting massive amount of energy around you in your sleep and you wake up and you realize, wow, how did this all happen overnight? Well, hello. You are the magician of your own reality. And it doesn't matter if you were born and raised in Miami or in Kiev it's all the same energy. Just different cultures, different ways of communicating. Please, be honest like I know you find your language barrier difficult but this is Miami like it's a beautiful city to live in and the Miami River, that entire neighborhood wasn't there 20 years ago. I was born and raised here. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Our basil pool. Oh my gosh. That doesn't exactly. We are involved to our basil. Of course. The Switzerland Jazz Festival I lived in Lausanne for a year. I went to the real Swiss Jazz Festival. And it's now during the year it's a couple of so future ones. It's a basil and F1. Yeah, I know. That's the only Eastern European you get in Miami where just the two very things of F1 is first. And keep special hearts. Of course, of course. And I attribute that to folks like you that have come from a different energy and brought it to Miami and now Miami is actually a beautiful, extravagant, gorgeous place to live and boy has it taken it a very long time to get there. Talk about the energy that's here in Miami and how you're cultivating it. I love the fact they're calling it a show room because it is a room that is showing you in a place in Miami that happens to be in Miami River which is a centralized place of art and excitement. And who's it like to run a showroom? It's the best decision what we turn because from the beginning a lot of our friends and people what are around us they said oh my gosh why we want to spend so much money to rent the showroom. It's like the most high price for tenant in this area why you are not focused on something like Fort Bludderdale or Hollywood and so on. No way. We are the best one. We are representative of high end brand. We are working with so famous and talented interior designers and so on. We don't have any other choice because people here will not waste the time for the traffic in the jam. And you know a lot of people are coming and stopping by in Miami District, in Design District because they are visiting the furniture company, some fashion brands and so on. And we are just a few minutes from there and when the designers arrange a meeting and the schedule for the client, of course they involved us to these things because we are too close. And this is some important things because you know if we are talking about what product we are representative and what we are hand crafting, it's about the feeling you have to touch it to feel, to see because there are simple samples showing you nothing. And the people have to come and see how it will be in their own space, how beautiful they space can be when we will be involved to create some interesting things. That's why for sure we might have the big space. We actually have a thousand or five hundred square feet and it's not enough right now. I know. We have to find the biggest space because we are growing too fast and of course when the people are feeling the atmosphere when they can see in real how beautiful things they can have, that's work immediately. That's why you know the cold phone calls it's good for some kind of business. They are private meeting of course it works introduction but if you don't have your own space how can you push your business? Especially when you sell as the experience. Maybe it's a different type of business but we are talking about what we are doing and you have to see and feel comfortable it's like a new quality of life you know what I mean. It's like you are going, you are working in the TV industry and if you have a beautiful space but you didn't care about how you can control the sounds, the reverberation of the sounds it will be not comfortable for your guests when you are chatting and talking and the sounds is hitting your hearers it's not worse. When the people are coming it's also from my own experience and see a beautiful atmosphere but at the same time they feel comfortable and they didn't hear any noisy, any sounds with you take your focus that's work that's why you are the best that's why we are the best we have to show what we can do the quality, the options and the people see how focused we are on our business and you know it's like when you go to the new presentation or brand opening for some new car brand it's like something in the box you have a feeling but before you can see how it looks like it can be bad it can be good but when you open the box and you see in your own eyes you have your own impression and say ok I will buy it and it's the beautiful part as Mark or I will buy it later it's my dream the beautiful thing about marketing is it's all about setting and setting and about the experience of how it made you feel that responds to a purchase and that's the trick it's beautiful but is that beauty going to respond to equal money sign like how am I going to generate that desire for you to be a part of this journey and have you pay in to ascend into that experience and the important things that we can make a good money on this if for example the women like the beautiful things like atmosphere design furniture, dress a lot of the scenes they can create the space for their own homes for the other people they can establish their own company and be really successful just hear your heart and not waste your time we have to work hard day by day it's not a habit without this it's not like a prison from the sky it's like wow wow if you build a spring it doesn't work that way even in this case you will cut your own feeling that it's a little bit boring I have to realize myself I have to be famous successful and inspire the people I love how you inspire the people I was going to wrap this up and go quality experience leads to quality clients which is quality all around you will understand how that works quality is going to be back and ten times fold it's all about that experience even here in our studio if you go to studio one and two you walk in and open that door and hit you with production a slate, your chair every cable is tangled in a certain way it goes beyond what you can see it's about what you feel here because there is so much beyond this there is this and this there is this spirit behind me all the frequencies it's like a big family you know how many people involved in this without these people and the supporting and their professionalism you growing step by step slowly and so on but when you inspire the people you will have a great team very professional very talented and the team will support you everywhere and you can grow fast and you can inspire the other people do something like this and have a lot of fun doing it and that's the tricky part because you will enter a phase of flow where you are having so much fun that it's almost selfish Elena my love thank you so much for your time and energy I hope you had an amazing experience here at our showroom where can people find you and learn more about you of course we have a social in instagram we have a FKTR group you can find us we have four pages but the main is the FKTR group I can show you in the screen we have it on the graphics we have a website and we have a facebook page but facebook page is not working here in the local market that's why it's more focused on the ukrainian market and also we have a partner and representative in Astana in Kazakhstan through the facebook but here of course the main channel is an instagram page and the website I'm sure I'll run into you and some funny art basil after party of course we just launched then your advertising we collaborate with the very famous interior designers and the gallery and join us and you will find so many experiences it looks professional interesting and we are focused on this way right now beautiful, Elena help me out here Elena what is your last name again? Comcalovar and I am Ray Gutierrez really Gutierrez I'm Gutierrez I have a big friend one of our important clients and he is the design team and the owner is Katie and Ruben Gutierrez and our other clients I just did yesterday the lunch in Blond with her it's Caroline Gutierrez oh wow well tell them that their long lost cousin says hello yeah maybe it's their relatives well tell them I said hello Elena such a pleasure and honor we're gonna wrap it up here for Insight Success this is Elena and I'm Ray Gutierrez you