may 22, 2017

Meet This Minnesota Interior Design Firm

Meet The Team

Last fall, we shared a blog post introducing our team. Fast forward- our team has grown to 9 now and we thought it would be fun to have you meet our team and share a little more about everyone on our team!

About Us

Our St. Paul based interior design team has a cumulation of 50 plus years in the interior design industry, 12 years in sales and business development and over a decade of business management. Despite being a young group of talented women, our team has an impressive resume.

Meet Bria, Principal Designer & CEO

I have been designing since 2004. Starting off in Kansas, then moving back to Minnesota in 2006, I wake up every day knowing I get to go to work doing something I love! Not only do I love the interior design aspect, but the business side of running a design firm is even more exciting to me. I love coming up with new ideas and figuring out ways we can make our business better for our clients and more profitable for ourselves. I’m an entrepreneur at heart, always dreaming of new ways we can expand our business.

Here are a few fun facts about me:

1. I attended University of Kansas for college before heading off to get my Interior Design Degree.

2. I managed Ethan Allen and Thomasville showrooms for 4 years in Edina and Woodbury Minnesota, starting when I was 25. I had 16 designers working under me at a very young age! Talk about life lessons on how to manage a business. I’m forever grateful.

3. I’m a new mom of a fluffy Golden Retriever named Hunter {#hunterthegoldenhammel}, mom to Brooklyn (1) and Louie (4), some of the sweetest kids I know {I’m biased}, and wife to husband Charlie, the man who has believed in me ever since the day we met.

Meet Kari, Business Manager

When we first introduced Kari last fall she was our Design Advisor, working part time for our team managing all of our accounting while working for other design firms in the area as well. This winter she has joined our team full time, and we couldn’t feel more lucky to have her. Not only does she manage all of our accounting, but she manages our team as well.

Here are a few fun facts about Kari:

1. She graduated from Alexandria Technical College with an Interior Design degree.

2. In her free time, she is the owner and beauty editor for her blog, Fab Over Forty 

3. She has been in the design industry for  30 years!

Meet Katie, Project Manager

Katie, having been with us since before her college graduation, is the lead designer on many of our projects. Her specialty is new construction, and her secret is her sharp as a tack memory. There are not many item numbers, project codes, or product sources she doesn’t remember. She has her hand in every project we work on, whether it is helping the other designers keep on track, answering questions when I’m not available, or leading the design with one of our assistants.

Here are a few fun facts about Katie:

  1. She graduated from Alexandria Tech with a degree in Interior Design.
  2. Born and raised on a sugar beet farm in rural Minnesota {now we know where her work ethic comes from!}.
  3. Loves to travel, her favorite trip being one to Rome to visit her best friend.

Meet Lindsey, Designer

Lindsey has been on our team for a little over a year now. Starting as an assistant designer, now a lead designer on many of our projects, Lindsey is known around our office as the idea girl. She is always coming up with new ideas on how we can do things differently to be more efficient, more accurate, and help with our bottom line.

Here are a few fun facts about Lindsey:

1. She graduated from North Dakota State University with a degree in Interior Design.

2. Started her design career as an intern in New York City the summer before she graduated.

3. Proud mom of her fur-baby, Berkley.

Meet Jess, Stylist

Funny story about Jess… she was our fabric rep for Schumacher for a few years when I first started this business. For years I have admired her style and poise. It turns out we have a lot of mutual connections and at a wedding this fall we both attended, we finally discussed the possibility of working together. I knew Jess would be a perfect addition to our team. She has a great love for styling interiors… including accessorizing spaces once they are complete.

A few fun facts about Jess:

  1. She graduated from Augsburg College, with a degree in Studio Design & Marketing.
  2. She is the mom of two adorable children Charlotte (Charlie) and Jack.
  3. She has over 10 years established in the interior design industry.

Meet Jamie, Business Administrator

This winter we posted a job posting for a business admin and expeditor. Don’t know what an expeditor does? Jamie basically manages all the product from the ordering phase all the way through the delivery phase for our clients. This is a BIG job as there are a lot of moving parts to this business and Jamie is on top of them all. We received a call from one of our clients a few weeks after the posting went up, wanting to refer her nanny to us, because she knew she would be the perfect fit. How generous is that? Willing to give up her nanny because she knew this would be the right place for her {we are so blessed with our clients!}.

  1. Graduated from Metropolitan State University with a degree in Business Administration.
  2. Favorite travel destination: Maui, Hawaii {just recently went on her first trip there and can’t wait to go back!}
  3. Loves coffee shops and concerts of all kinds.

Meet Corina, Design Assistant 

Corina interned with us this spring while she was wrapping up her senior year at the U of M. She came highly recommended by a few people I knew, which is always so helpful when making hiring decisions! Corina’s sweet, outgoing personality is a hit with our clients. We are so excited to have her on our team now full time as of last week!

A few fun facts about Corina:

  1. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Interior Design.
  2. She lived in Sydney, Australia
  3. Doesn’t know how to whistle {are there a lot of people in this world that don’t know how?}

 Meet Tyna, Design Assistant 

Tyna came highly recommended by the head of the Interior Design program at Alexandria Tech. I’ve always had great luck with Alex Tech grads {Kari, Katie and now Tyna!}. What really made her an easy hiring decision is that last year, Katie went back to talk to the design students at Alexandria Tech and when she came back from that day there, I asked her if she had met anyone that could be a potential hire for us and she mentioned Tyna, but said she still had a year left in school. Well here she is now so obviously Katie was on to something! We are so excited to have Tyna on full time now with us as an Assistant Designer.

  1. Graduated from Alexandria Tech with a degree in Interior Design.
  2. Spent a semester living abroad in Ireland studying archaeology.
  3. Loves to read, she is a self proclaimed book nerd!

Meet Michele, Graphic Designer and Marketing Coordinator

Michele just joined our team a few weeks ago, and we couldn’t be more excited to officially have a graphic designer and marketing coordinator on our team! The girl has serious skills on Illustrator and Photoshop… but even more important she has such a creative eye. She is already knocking out projects that we have been working on for months. I can already tell she is a hard worker and is task oriented, the perfect personality for this position! Stay tuned to see some amazing graphics coming out of our office soon 😉

Here are a few fun facts on Michele:

  1. She graduated from University of St. Thomas
  2. She has a minor in Chinese language and cultural studies
  3. She spent a summer traveling around Israel.

 

The nine of us, proud to be part of the Twin Cities’ top 15 Interior Design firms, are proud to be a diverse, savvy and ambitious group of women! We believe that a combination of collaboration and creativity makes our design projects one of a kind.

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