Growing up I was constantly rearranging the furniture in my room. I would brace my back up against a wall and puuuush my dressers across the room. There were many a time where I yelled for my parents while trapped under a fallen dresser. *face palm*
I didn’t always know design was what I wanted to do. I’ve also always loved fashion; I still have my sketch book from grade school full of dress sketches.
When college came around I began my major in Business Administration at my local community college thinking I would open up my own clothing boutique one day. But once I started taking micro and macro economics I was OVER IT. That’s when I switched my major to Art and didn’t tell my parents : D They eventually found out and all I remember my dad saying was “You better make it work.” Because of the overlap in majors I ended up double majoring in Art and Social Science – real useful.
I graduated from community college and transferred to CSUF where I majored in Interior Design! : ) The professors in my program all had different backgrounds (architect, commerial designer, residential designer and landscape design) which was instramental in my decision to go into commercial design. One day a classmate made an annoucement that Tangram Interiors was hiring a designer for their Bakersfield office and to submit our resumes if we were interested. Heck yes I was interested – even if it was in Bakersfield, I just wanted a job! I asked one of my professors to help me with my resume and write a letter of recommendation. The next day I emailed my resume then drove my eager butt to Tangram’s Fresno office to introduce myself to the manager and hand in a physical copy of my resume. The next couple of weeks consisted of telephone and Skype interviews, an interview with the VP of Sales in their Bakersfield office and an interview with the Design manager at their headquaters in Santa Fe Springs. Five interviews later, I GOT THE JOB!!
I interned at the Fresno office during my last semester of college and once I graduated I was hired on full time. Come to find out, I was the only student in my program to apply. Maybe because they didn’t want to work in Bakersfield? Well once I was hired they asked why I wanted to be in the Bakersfield office and I replied “I thought that’s where the job was.” They responded by telling me they also have offices in Los Angeles and Newport Beach – take your pick! So I spent 1 year in Los Angeles then moved on down to the OC where I spent 4 years in the Newport Beach office. It’s been an amazing job, company and experience. They understand my sitution with Mike traveling for baseball and agreed to let me become a remote worker. Freaking dream come true. (I threw around the idea of us possibly moving to Japan or Korea and my manager said “Well, your work hours might be a little weird but they have WiFi there so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.”)
I know the fear of rejection is scary, but if you never even try then the only person you’re letting down is yourself. It is so rewarding to see your hard work realized.
Life with Emily Elizabeth 