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IDEC has gathered professionals across the many facets of interior design who are ready and willing to help guide students through the various elements that are typically experienced in a face-to-face internship program. Guidelines for 1:1 student meetings may be found here.
Students should review our list of practitioners who are ready to meet with students 1:1, then complete this survey to be connected with the appropriate professionals.
Accessible Design Experts
Affordable Housing
Commercial Design Experts
Design Build Experts
Educational/Institutional Experts
FF&E Experts
Furniture and Architectural Product Experts
Healthcare Experts
Hospitality Experts
Multi-Family Experts
Photography/Graphic Design Experts
Project Management Experts
Quick Serve Expert
Rendering Experts
Residential Experts
Retail Experts
Senior Living
Sustainability/WELL
VDC Experts
Workplace Experts
3D Modeling Experts
I am a published and awarded interior Designer with almost 25 years in the industry. I have worked for a large variety of design and Architecture firms in Cleveland, Ohio as well as Atlanta Georgia. I have recently started my own firm and am navigating this new solo adventure.
Expect to have lively conversations about entrepreneurial thoughts in design, creating and setting your mindset, goals and expectations for your career.
I am an allied ASID, IIDA, USGBC – VDC Coordinator & Design Specialist for Bradley Corp. I grow Bradley’s Global VDC Initiative for Architecture and Design as well as grow and maintain Bradley’s Sustainability Information and Initiatives. I authored and was the lead presenter of Post-Pandemic CE Webinar Course. I have been an Interior Designer for 7+ Years of Combined Commercial & Residential Design Experience. With a B.A. in Interior Design, Minor in Textiles & Apparel and Certificate of Sustainability – University of Northern Iowa (CIDA Accredited Program).
I would love to share my knowledge of commercial furniture and share examples of products and web sites showing how to specify furniture.
My background is 30 plus years in the commercial furniture industry.
I am a graduate of Appalachian State University and haven a Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Design. I have been a part of many different project types within the healthcare industry and have worked through all the phases of design from programming to construction. I am well versed in finish, furniture selection and specification and am proficient in ordering and installing furniture. My expertise includes creating color boards, presentations, developing facility branding and guidelines and 3D renderings. I investigate innovative products and materials for ease of maintenance. I use LEAN principles to create environments for the health and safety of patients and staff. I work with and collaborate well with all trades in the design and production of construction documentation to meet the needs of the clients, stay within budget and keep everything on schedule. During each phase, I enjoy problem solving as design elements come together to create a positive patient, family and staff experience.
I am passionate about design. With a background in fine arts and project management I have worked with clients across the nation with multi-million dollar onsite projects. I enjoy spending time with my family and exploring local daytrip excursions.
I am a Project Manager based in St. Louis, with a passion for helping people solve problems. My portfolio represents the commitment I have made over the past seven years to learn and practice the processes and tools used by art and design firms. My goal is to bring my thirty years of project management experience to teams of creative professionals, working together collaboratively to deliver successful projects. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering, the first thirty years of my career was focused on Information Technology projects and business processes for international corporations. Managing projects spanning the globe, I gained a unique skill set for virtual collaboration and risk management. In 2013 I began taking art and design classes part time at St. Louis Community College, and in 2016 decided to pursue my lifelong dream of working with art and design organizations. Enrolling full time at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD), I earned my BFA in New Studio Practice in 2018 with minors in Furniture Design, Art History, and Writing. In parallel I served as a student intern, gaining experience working for an art gallery, furniture design firm, art museum, and community arts organizations. My dream is to continue working on creative projects, helping teams bring their designs, experiences, and products successfully into the world.
I am the designer, project manager, purchaser and sales person for a just starting small furniture and design company, Blanca Workshop. For thirty years, I have worked with all types of furniture, but mostly furnishing small and large office projects. Some projects I designed, sketched and worked with the engineers to develop bespoke furniture. My most successful projects begin with learning what the customer needs, things they would like and budget. I started with wood furniture, but today we can use many materials.
I joined Formica Corporation in 1998 and am currently the A&D Specialist for Central and Northern Florida. My responsibilities include educating designers and architects on the Formica product portfolio and securing commercial and/or residential specifications within my market. This includes the Healthcare, Hospitality, Residential, Educational/Institutional, Retail & Quick Serve markets.
I regularly conduct CEU lunch & learn presentations focusing in on current/new products and industry trends. I network and support the IIDA, AIA, ASID events, local university functions, trade shows and am currently involved in the IDEC eInternship Program.
I hold an AB in Business Management and have been in the surfacing industry for over 23 years.
I have drawn on my career experience to help designers navigate the demanding and diverse nature of the interior design and architecture profession. I know how challenging a career in design and architecture can be from the start and can remain challenging even for those more experienced looking to advance into project management or start their own business.
I know there is a better way to learn and developed Designer Mind Meld to focus on the gray areas in the profession – sharing knowledge from years of experience on topics that are unnecessarily learned the hard way over years. From my extensive experience, I know how to prepare you for what lies ahead and give you tools to develop new skills and manage uncertainty in the field.
Through my career experience, I emerged with a love of helping others navigate the profession, so they strategically accelerate their careers, maximize their income earning potential, gain control of their time, grow their client base, and realize their creative dream.
I have worked in both large and small corporate architectural firms before starting my own firm. From the start of my career, I intentionally chose to experience a range of interior design and architectural studio environments to exposure myself to a broad range of clients, project types and practice methods. This allowed me to combine the best practices from each experience into a unique professional methodology. In addition to the traditional design process, I have extensive hands-on experience in design-build methodologies from both a design and management role.
My project type experience within workplace design ranges from corporate headquarters, oil and gas industry, law firms, high tech industry, banks, insurance companies, and call centers. I also have experience in higher education, aviation, retail, pharmacies, hospitality, spas, and both market rate and low-income multifamily housing as well as senior housing projects. I have extensive experience in FF&E, from initial bid formulation and bid analysis through specification, product evaluation and installation.
I have 30 years of experience in the interior design and architectural profession and received my Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and my Master of Interior Design from the School of Architecture at the University of Colorado at Denver. I have won several competitive design industry awards for my design and management role on both workplace interior design and senior housing projects. I maintain my own design firm while coaching interior designers and architects and is a lifelong learning advocate.
I graduated from the University of Oregon in 2017 with a degree in Interior Architecture. Since then, I’ve worked at Ankrom Moisan in Portland, OR, where I also interned while I was in school. I have worked on high-end Senior Housing, Affordable Housing, Tenant Improvement, and small scale Work Place projects. In addition to this, I’m also an Accessibility Champion at my firm and a member of the IIDA Oregon Chapter board. Outside the office, I enjoy camping, embroidery/cross stitching, and cuddling up with my two cats to watch true crime documentaries!
I am a designer at Studio O+A with a focus in workplace design. My work has been recognized by ASID, IIDA, Interior Design Magazine, Metropolis and the University of Texas at Austin where I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design.
Assoc IIDA, I am an Interior Designer, nonprofit leader, event coordinator, and fundraiser in Philadelphia’s architecture & design industry. I am an interior designer and project manager at Hellyer Lewis, Inc where I design and oversee the construction of corporate offices and banks across North America. I also am the current President for my local Chapter of the International Interior Design Association. In that role, I oversee a team of board members and directors who create events and programming for design professionals and students. I graduated from Thomas Jefferson University with a B.S. in Interior Design and Minor in Entrepreneurship in 2015. I return to campus often to help with studio critiques and student mentoring. Outside of work, I enjoy alpine skiing, rock climbing, traveling, and making music.
I lead design for AECOM Chicago’s Interior Design practice, providing expertise and leadership throughout the Americas. As a registered architect with over 20 years of experience, I have a diverse portfolio grounded in a passion for design thinking. I weave storytelling into each project that I touche by letting users into the design process, this enables me to personalize the experience with clients and users creating engaging spaces though experiential design. As a mentor, advocate, and team leader, I am always pushing to challenge and encouraging design exploration with a client to create a common vision.
I made Salt Lake City, UT home twenty-five years ago and worked directly under Merline Clark Leaming at Clark Leaming Interior Design. Since teaching had always been a passion, I started teaching a few classes in Interior Design that were offered at the adult learning program at Salt Lake Community College. I then designed more courses, grew the course offering, created the Interior Design department in the academic side of the college where the students could earn college credits. I now serves as the director of the Interior Design department and have involved students in countless community projects. I am responsible for creating numerous internships and students job placements.
As an Interior Designer I value spaces that are unique, that focus on aesthetics and place importance in function. I enjoy introducing clients to the design process, by demonstrating a strong sense of space, balance, and details. In the professional field I have four years’ worth of experience in residential and commercial design. As I continue to grow within both fields, I am also currently working on becoming CIDQ certified by 2022.
Working at an architecture firm has helped me continue to develop an understanding of working with architects, designers, contractors, consultants, and clients. I have taken on a variety of responsibilities within my role as Interior Designer, such as programming, site analysis, evidence based design, schematic design, design development, construction documents, and sourcing FF&E. The computer programming experience I have extends to CAD and Revit, as well as in-depth 3D modeling with Enscape and SketchUp. On the business end of design, I have also honed in on management skills, including running point for budgets, purchase orders, invoicing, subcontractor and client communication, and project coordination.
My goal in the design field is to develop an understanding of my clients’ wants and needs, and then to exceed their expectations. Throughout any given project, I utilize my strengths in visual, written, and verbal communication to ensure my clients feel the utmost confident in their choice of selecting myself to create and transform their spaces.
NCIDQ, IIDA, NCARB, WELL AP, LEED AP BD+C, I have more than eighteen years of experience working in the fields of interior design and architecture, focusing my career on holistic integration of interior design, architecture and building systems to support and enhance the building user’s experience. I am currently a senior interior designer at RLPS Architects in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, working primarily in the senior living market sector. I possess a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and a Master of Science in Interior Architecture degree from Chatham University in Pittsburgh.
A member of IIDA since 2008, I served on the board of directors for the Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Delaware Chapter as VP of Communications between 2014 and 2017, and VP of Advocacy between 2017 and 2019. I also served as a panelist for the IIDA Headquarters 2017 Faces of Advocacy roundtable and the Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Delaware Chapter’s 2018 Why We Advocate roundtable, and was the guest speaker for the Texas Oklahoma Chapter’s 2019 Blurred Lines event.
I earned the NCIDQ credential in April 2010 and began volunteering with CIDQ in spring 2014 as a practicum exam grader. Since 2017, I have participated in numerous CIDQ committees and task forces including the Advocacy task force, the CIDQ/NCARB Comparison task force, the Definition of Interior Design task force, as well as item writing and standard setting for the current practicum exam. I am currently a Director on the CIDQ board of directors.
I also work in the higher education sector. I do have LEED and WELL accreditation and knowledge of these certifications.
I am an associate principal, lead Lawrence Group’s hospitality and senior living interior design studios and have more than 15 years of interior design experience. My expertise in resident unit and guest room interiors, paired with knowledge of amenity spaces, experiential and destination design provides for creative and unique design solutions across markets. My hospitality experience includes the award-winning Hotel Ignacio and Angad Arts Hotel. I have played an integral role in preserving several historic St. Louis landmarks by presenting creative design solutions for projects such as Stifel Theatre, The Marquette Building, Park Pacific and the award-winning Sun Theater. Over the last five years, I have managed more than $18 million in FFE installations.
Here’s where you can help!
IDEC is seeking industry partners to volunteer for engagement opportunities ranging from 1-on-1 meetings with interior design students to webinars (sometimes pre-recorded) on your area of expertise. Guidelines for 1:1 student meetings may be found here.
If you or someone else from your firm or organization has the capacity to help our educators and students, please complete our online survey. Once you have completed the survey, IDEC staff will follow up with you via email.
