I always knew my calling was to make spaces more beautiful and more purposeful.

I grew up in a small town that turned into a boom town, surrounded by new construction and completely captivated by architecture, materials and the building process. By age ten I was sketching floor plans and elevations and designing dream homes for my family. By twelve I had dreamed up an entire master-planned community, complete with a logo, plat maps and street names. At sixteen, my parents built a new home and let me help choose the finishes. It was a dream come true.

My first career took a different but related creative path. I spent sixteen years in the beauty industry building a thriving salon and freelance business, teaching as a licensed instructor, and leading and managing teams. My work was published in print and online magazines, and I worked for a major television network. Most of all, it taught me how to listen, read what a client really wants, and earn their trust for years.

Eventually I returned to the work I was meant to do. I went back to school for interior design, graduated with a 4.0, and grew from junior designer to senior designer in Salt Lake City. Today I’m a senior designer and project lead at Ashley Ferguson Interiors Design Build in Austin, where I lead design clients and have also run renovations of $250,000 and up as general contractor. That time on the job site changed how I draw, specify and work with builders.