How an Interior Designer Draws Strength From Her Grandfather's Former Church When times get tough, this entrepreneur turns to the past for help.
This story appears in the April 2018 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
I remember Sunday mornings, growing up on the west side of Chicago: the streets quiet, the air still, my grandfather's pocket change jingling while he opened the doors to his church. Reverend Johnnie Jackson was a Baptist preacher -- rousing, animated and moved by the spirit. Whatever your troubles were, Reverend Jackson preached, if you remained steadfast and trusted God, everything would be taken care of. I am very proud of the stability and hope that he and my grandmother offered the community.
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After moving away to Los Angeles in the mid-'90s, I enrolled in college and studied to become a pediatrician. I worked my way through school designing window displays for a home-goods store. One day a woman came in and told me that I was in the wrong business, that I needed to consider becoming an interior designer. Hesitant to abandon my dream of becoming a doctor, I took an introductory design class as an elective. I was hooked. It was a wonderful balance of science, art and ingenuity, and it spoke to my passion for helping people. I learned everything I could about the business, and in 1997, with help from a $100 Christmas gift, I opened my own firm, Decor Interior Design.
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