Hi Kelly, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an endless supply of opinions, particularly when it comes to aesthetics and how things should be done! I am an unusual mix of right and left-brained, so while I loved how project management fired up my left brain, I was left searching for an opportunity to engage my creative side.

Moving to a new city with my husband inspired me to make a major career change and pursue interiors. The type A, project management side of me loved how detail-oriented the work was, while the aspect of coordinating pattern, texture, color, and scale satiated my creative nature. I also love people and in this role, you work so intimately with your clients, builders, vendors, etc.

I’ve had the pleasure of working for two very different Interior Designers in Richmond, Virginia, and Nashville, Tennessee, and in 2021, I decided it was time to go out on my own.

Creating beautiful and livable spaces for my clients has been an absolute dream job.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I did not begin my career in Interior Design so there were certainly trials in navigating an entirely new profession in the beginning. Understandably, when we moved to our new city of Richmond, Virginia, no one had any interest in hiring someone with no design experience.

So I pivoted and convinced a high-end furniture store to take me on as a sales associate. I dropped in during lunch and the owner was standing right at the front of the store. I handed over my resume, we sat down on a sofa to chat, and I started later that week! In this position, I received a crash course in furnishing.

I learned how to specify furniture, what the standard dimensions were for different pieces, all about fabrics, how pricing and logistics work and educated myself on general industry terms. After a few months, I leveraged this position into a design assistant role for an Interior Designer and that is how I got my start!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Kelly Sutherland Designs specializes in residential interiors in Nashville, Tennessee. Our main goal is for our clients to come home to a space that reflects their taste and functions in a way that is conducive to how they live.

At the end of the day, I don’t live in the spaces that I design (though I may want to!) so we place a high emphasis and pride ourselves on getting to know our clients so they get a space that embodies what they are all about.