Hello Hello!
This weekend I thought I’d sit for a minute and type up this post about design as a second career. I receive emails or calls every month from women looking to get into the design industry and needing some advice, which I’m always happy to give!
For those who have been following JWS Interiors for some time, you may know that I started my career in high-tech PR and after six or so years, decided to make the jump into interior design.
And jump I did! It was a risk to do (I was even the breadwinner at one point!) but life is uncertain and you only live once.
I believe a lot of these calls stem from the Q&A four years ago with The Everygirl, which I am still thankful for as it helped me so much “to get out there” in the blog /design world!
I loved the thoughtful Q&A because it provided me an opportunity to think back and recount my own experience jumping into design but more importantly (and hopefully) help others navigate switching careers too.
Click below for the Full Q&A!
(all photos taken by Sarah Bradshaw for The Everygirl)
After six years of being in the lucrative world of corporate PR, Jennifer Wagner Schmidt of JWS Interiors reevaluated her true passion and realized her calling was in interior design. “It was a huge decision for me because high-tech PR was all I knew after doing it for six years or so.” With no formal education or experience in this field, Jennifer’s first step was to take a beginning interior design class at the local community college. She gained practical, hands-on experience by working in an interior design showroom and not long after, Jennifer set up shop and established her own interior design business in 2006, while simultaneously raising her 9-month old. Fast forward to today and her work has been featured in such media outlets as The Washington Post, DesignSponge, and CocoCozy to name a few.
In today’s interview, Jennifer pulls back the curtains on how exactly she runs her business (see what we did there?), shares tons of interior design advice, and even tells us how much she made in her first year of business!
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