Photo credit: Lauren Cheathum.
The senior director, Hendrick Inc. (Nashville, Tennessee), shares how she overcame a fear of healthcare spaces to pursue a career in interior design, where she will be found outside of the office, and her passion for party planning.
What attracted you to a career in healthcare design?
Believe it or not, I was the person who fainted in the dentist’s chair, so a healthcare-related career was not at the top of my career list. But during my undergraduate studies in interior design, I worked at a major healthcare system where I learned how evidence-based design impacts the care environment. From there I was hooked. I began my postgraduate degree in interior architecture with an emphasis on rehabilitation environments.
What was your first healthcare project?
Early in my career, I redesigned a home in Tampa, Florida, for a family with disabilities. The father was color blind, the mother was losing her sight and her two children were blind. I learned a lot about textures and special patterns. After this experience, I moved to North Carolina in 1990 and began working for an architecture firm where my first healthcare project was the Mariam Cannon Hayes Family Center at Cabarrus Memorial Hospital in Concord, North Carolina.
Design lesson on that project that you still carry with you today?
The importance of family space. In that area of North Carolina, many extended family members show up when a family member is giving birth. We not only needed larger rooms for the mother, but also nearby areas for the extended family.
Photo credit: Meharry Medical Center
Three recent healthcare design projects and their role
- Meharry Medical Center, Labor and Delivery Renovation, Nashville, Tennessee, Project Manager, Lead Designer.
- Nashville Dental, Nashville, Tennessee, Architect and Interior Designer.
- Embark Behavioral Health Outpatient Clinic, Atlanta, Interior Designer.
What do you like most about working in healthcare design?
The love and passion that hospital staff have for their work has always inspired me. This makes the design process much more rewarding. Spaces constantly change with technology, but the users of those spaces do not. It is the experience of different spaces, such as a burn center, behavioral care, pediatrics, and veteran settings, that continues to touch my heart to design for users, their families, and staff.
What challenges in your job keep you up at night?
I am my toughest critic and review projects over and over again to see how I could do it differently next time. Creating innovative concepts that are timeless and on budget is a challenge. Additionally, I always wonder if users will experience the spaces as intended.
An unexpected item on your desk
Photo credit: Giselle Newman.
I work from home three weeks a month and one week in the company’s office in Atlanta. If it’s not one of my black cats Nitro or Arrow on my desk, then there’s usually a book in an envelope ready to send to my oldest grandson who lives out of state.
Outside the office, we’ll probably find him…
At my beach house in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. The beach house, purchased in 2021, has been renovated and is rented as an Airbnb throughout the summer. I usually enjoy it during the winter months.
Coffee or tea?
Green tea, please.
Morning person or night owl?
I can do both depending on the event.
How did you earn your first dollar?
Unofficially, my chore at home was drying the dishes and weeding outside. Officially, I worked at a landscape nursery watering plants all day.
Your favorite song at karaoke
I’ve never done karaoke. I guess I’ll have to put it on my wish list.
First album you bought
My first vinyl 45 was “ABC” by The Jackson 5.
Cocktail of choice
I’m a Chianti drinker, but I could also opt for a thin margarita on the rocks, without salt.
Photo credit: Giselle Newman.
Your hidden talent
I can bake anything. My pumpkin pies are the best. Pumpkin pies start the weekend after Halloween and it’s not just one pie, the baking continues until all the pumpkins are used, which is usually between 28 and 30 pies!
If you weren’t an interior designer, you would be…
A party planner. I love seeing others have a good time and helping make memories.
Favorite …
Appointment “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”—author Andrew Grant.
movie character Mary Poppins. I love the magic bag she has. And one of my old dance teachers played one of the chimney sweeps in the original movie.
Show to enjoy compulsively Too many to list. But one is “Catastrophe” on Amazon Prime.
weekend activity Managing the construction of my mother’s new house.
Band/musical artist Motown: old, but great to dance to.
Guilty pleasure Chocolate.
Sport College football.
Equipment Florida State Seminoles. Let’s go Noles!
Book “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren and “The Book of Great Books: A Guide to 100 World Classics” by W. John Campbell. The latter is a treasure trove of classic plot twists, so it helps me decide what the next good read will be.
city to visit The Amalfi Coast in Italy again!
