Adrienne Molstad

Zero.

From a very young age, I was interested in activities that expressed my creativity. I was fortunate to know as early as high school that interior design was the career path I would pursue. My senior year of high school, I completed an independent study in interior design and Auto CAD, which helped reinforce my decision to choose interior design as my college major.

• Alpha Delta Pi
• American Society of Interior Designers
• International Interior Design Assocation

Instead of participating in a traditional internship between my junior and senior year of college, I decided to study abroad in Italy. I found that my experiences in Florence—being surrounded by one of the Western world’s cradles of artistic inspiration—honed my eye for aesthetics and design.

Since I graduated during difficult economic times, finding a full-time position was time-consuming. I searched and applied for positions after graduation for four months. I applied to many positions outside my major, but was fortunate enough to find an opportunity that fit the path I pursued in college.

A typical day is nonexistent at my job. I am constantly working with different clients and projects, as well as in different areas of our small business, from delivery to accounting to design.

I love being able to see my ideas transformed into reality, and the joy that this realization brings my client.

People feel that a home is an extension of themselves. Of course, crafting a personal aesthetic for a client can be a trying, time-intensive process. Translating a person’s vision into reality is difficult, but it’s always incredibly rewarding.

The glamour of being an interior designer can be deceiving. Behind the scenes, an interior design position doesn’t have typical hours of 9 to 5, and a large part of the work involves physical labor (moving furniture, etc.).

Sales and psychology are also intrinsic to the success of a good designer. If you’re not interested in people, or the way that peoples’ minds work, this may not be a good fit