Falling In Love & Designing Her Dream Life 5000 Miles From Home
Seeing Other People
Ilana Dunn
4.5 • 608 Ratings
🗓️ 2 September 2025
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
I'm joined by my friend, fashion designer and founder of Maison Des Nus, Balim Tezel. We talk about what it’s like to build a life from scratch—moving to the U.S. for college, creating a chosen family in NYC, and launching the brand she dreamed of since childhood. Balim shares what dating for the first time in her twenties taught her about herself and what she was looking for, how she unexpectedly met her boyfriend Vinnie, and how his steady support helped her navigate the isolation of being far from home, especially during the four years she couldn’t leave the U.S. while waiting for her green card. Follow Maison Des Nus @maisondesnus on IG & @maisondesnus on TikTok Submit your questions or share why you and your partner are cohosts for life at speakpipe.com/sop
ALL links here (dating coaching, profile revamp, marathon fundraiser, and more!)
Get $10 off your Nutrafol subscription at nutrafol.com promo code SEEINGOTHERPEOPLE
Stock up on the best elevated essentials + get free shipping & 365 day returns at Quince.com/seeingotherpeople
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This podcast is brought to you by Podcast Nation. |
| 0:08.0 | Balam, welcome to seeing other people. |
| 0:10.0 | Hi, I'm so excited. |
| 0:11.7 | Finally, I'm here. |
| 0:12.7 | Okay, I feel so bad that this hasn't happened sooner for you, for us, and for everyone |
| 0:19.3 | listening, because this should have happened four years ago. |
| 0:22.3 | I know. I mean, we met like seven years ago, I think, at this point. |
| 0:26.3 | Was it? Yeah. I was in college. It was pre-COVID. Yeah, junior year. Yeah. So it should have |
| 0:32.2 | happened early. But honestly, it's better that it happened now because I think I can talk about |
| 0:35.8 | everything more like maybe without crying or getting stressed about it. So I think it's better that it happened now because I think I can talk about everything more like maybe without |
| 0:38.4 | crying or getting stressed about it. So I think it's better. There's so much to get into. I think |
| 0:44.6 | you are somebody that so many people can look up to and can also like relate to. You have done, |
| 0:50.5 | first of all, like you are crushing it. You started your own business. You are the coolest person in |
| 0:56.5 | the world. An incredible fashion line. You also are not from here. You're from Turkey. Yeah. And you have |
| 1:04.9 | created such an incredible life and home and like chosen family for yourself here in New York. You're going to make me cry. I'm |
| 1:11.8 | going to cry too. No, like, I'm, I mean, I'm so proud of you. And like, I know you're so proud of |
| 1:15.9 | yourself too. Yeah. But it's easy to look back and be like, oh yeah, like I did all that. But it's like, |
| 1:20.3 | no, like you did all of that. Yeah. I think, I mean, you know me. |
| 1:32.8 | I'm just like, oh, it's fine. |
| 1:34.6 | Oh, that's fine. |
| 1:35.6 | No, it's not a big deal. |
| 1:36.9 | Yeah, it was like four years, but whatever. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ilana Dunn, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Ilana Dunn and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.