Two Perspectives. One Very High Standard.

Some partnerships are simply too good for only one act.

After working quietly behind the scenes for the past few months, I am very happy to make it official: my husband, Mike Biersma, has joined me at The Agency San Miguel de Allende as a Real Estate Advisor.

For those who know us well, this will probably feel less like a surprise and more like the natural next chapter in a partnership that has always blurred the lines between life, design and business.

Before real estate, we built a Chicago design destination

For ten years, Mike and I built Modern Cooperative, our award-winning mid-century modern furniture and design business in Chicago.

It began as a by-appointment studio, where we spent two years sourcing furniture, developing the brand and building a loyal client base before opening our first storefront in Pilsen in 2012. We later expanded to Hyde Park and represented the work of more than 80 Chicago artists and designers.

Our point of view was clear from the beginning: where vintage meets handmade. We paired mid-century and Danish modern furniture with contemporary design, vintage barware and work by independent makers. Pieces from Modern Cooperative found their way into private homes, restaurants and bars, as well as Soho House and television productions including Chicago Fire and Empire.

Chicago Magazine recognized Modern Cooperative as one of the city’s best destinations for home design several years running. But what mattered most was that we had created something recognizable and deeply personal from the ground up.

Modern Cooperative taught us how to build a brand, earn trust, create desire around design and tell the story behind what we were selling. It also taught us how well we work together.

The same eye. Very different instincts.

Mike and I are both creative people with business minds. We share an eye for design, an obsession with details and an ability to see potential that may not be immediately obvious.

But we rarely arrive at that vision in the same way.

I lead with instinct, relationships, communication and storytelling. I want to understand what gives a home its soul, how to position it thoughtfully and how to connect it with the person who will recognize its value.

Mike brings calm, structure and analysis. His strengths in technology and AI, finances, research, remodeling and systems allow him to see how all the moving pieces fit together. He asks the questions that need to be asked, finds the detail everyone else missed and has an uncanny ability to solve whatever problem is sitting in front of him.

I see the story. Mike sees the structure supporting it.

Those differences are our advantage. We challenge each other’s assumptions, catch what the other might overlook and turn ideas into practical plans.

What design taught us about real estate

At Modern Cooperative, we did more than place furniture on a showroom floor. We created rooms and vignettes that helped people imagine how they wanted to live.

That same principle sits at the heart of exceptional property marketing.

A home is not simply a list of specifications. Buyers may begin with price, location, bedrooms and square meters, but those facts alone rarely create an emotional connection. People respond to light, proportion, materials, flow, atmosphere and possibility. They need to understand not only what a property is, but what life there could feel like.

Our years in design taught us how presentation and context influence perceived value. They taught us to recognize strong bones beneath unfortunate finishes, distinguish a meaningful improvement from an expensive distraction and identify the details that make one home memorable among dozens.

For sellers, that means finding the property’s strongest story and presenting it with intention. For buyers, it means looking beyond first impressions while understanding both possibility and risk.

An eye for design is useful. An eye for design backed by years of business, buying, selling and renovation experience is something more.

We chose this life deliberately

Our connection to San Miguel de Allende goes far beyond our work. Together, we have bought and sold homes, survived renovations and created an entirely new life in Mexico, complete with an off-grid home in the countryside and a slightly ridiculous, deeply adored number of dogs.

We did not simply move to San Miguel. We chose this life deliberately.

We chose the beauty, creativity, culture and community. We chose more freedom, more connection and a little more adventure. We have also experienced the practical side of building a life here: learning new systems, navigating unfamiliar processes and discovering that sometimes absolutely nothing works the way you expected.

That firsthand perspective shapes the way we work with people considering a move to San Miguel. Most buyers are not merely searching for a house. They are searching for what that house might make possible: slower mornings, a more beautiful everyday life, room to create and entertain, deeper community or perhaps enough space for another dog.

We understand that decision because we made it ourselves.

A new chapter at The Agency San Miguel

Mike joining The Agency is not about making the business bigger simply for the sake of growth. It is about giving our clients two trusted perspectives, complementary strengths and one very high standard for how people and properties should be represented.

Together, we bring experience in real estate, design, branding, technology, AI, renovation, finance and business, along with an honest understanding of what it takes to create a life in Mexico.

Mike will also be joining me as The Welcome Table enters its next chapter. We will be sharing more about its evolution soon, but for now, stay tuned. We have a lot of exciting things planned, and this is only the beginning.

We have built a business, renovated homes and created a life here together. We know how to recognize possibilities others may miss, turn ideas into plans and use our different strengths to build something better than either of us could create alone.

This is where everything we have built together comes together.