Meet Girls Who Do Interiors | Multi-Disciplinary Creative Studio

We had the good fortune of connecting with Girls Who Do Interiors and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Girls Who Do Interiors, how do you think about risk?
Risk-taking is every entrepreneurs middle name. There’s financials, relationships, and the overall concept of never escaping your business. The sleepless nights worrying about clients or those “did i reply to them?” midday panics, the socializing and being asked “hows your business doing?” just when you started to wind down – it’s the risk of never being able to turn off. However, these were all risks we were willing to take when starting GWDI.

As students who are graduating with our Master’s in April 2022, we are constantly guided to take opportunities for internships and job openings by our university – by guided we mean you literally get a piece of paper with your future written out for you in year 1. Naturally, this is in order to guarantee all students a safe and secure path after graduating. At different times in each of our lives, we each saw that paper and decided this was not a route we were going to follow.

Starting our own business just 3 years into our Master’s program raised a lot of eyebrows because we were going against the norm and the comfortable pattern our university had designed for us. The idea of turning down internships and job offers that secured an income and benefits in order to invest our time in our studio was the biggest risk of all. However, with risks come greater returns. Trusting yourself and/or your business partners and taking that leap of faith will out-do all the fear into writing your own future. With risks come lessons learned and with lessons learned come a successful and healthy business.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a team of women who started Girls Who Do Interiors right before the pandemic reached Miami, FL and in the middle of graduate school. When starting, our initial goal was to become interior design student influencers and to build a brand to showcase our day to day lives. We collectively felt that we were not exposed to the professional side of interior design and only that of the culture we learned through our university – that craving turned into the idea that we can be the ones who display the reality of what it takes to be an interior designer. That quickly turned into potential clients approaching us for services and led to us to ask the big question – “why not?” Shifting our mindset from student to business women and overcoming the mold that was created for us in school was the biggest challenge.

As time and experience in our business went by, we realized that challenges and hurdles are all learning lessons. Being business women and creatives, it’s important to remind ourselves that our work is our passion and remember that burnout is a real thing. Taking self-care days is how our studio and it’s founders are able to disconnect and recenter in order to find that passion again and be excited to do what we do every day. However, we recognized that those late-nights and constant grind is known as growth. We turned this idea into a movement on our instagram called #nota9to5. The current hustle culture can be a huge risk that can set unrealistic goals – we believe that anyone looking to start a small business should keep their day job, maintain a healthy income (and even go to school) and dedicate time around and in between those 9-5 hours to build your business until you’re comfortable enough to leave. We believe that you don’t need to quit everything you’re doing to work towards your goal.

Another important lesson, is to stay present whilst showing up as the person you want to be – this is where that famous term fake it ’till you make it applies. This meaning that it’s okay if you are not reaching your goals as fast as you wanted – appreciate what you have right now. For example, any business that’s on Instagram might feel the pressure to reach a certain amount of likes or followers and can cause a disconnect on what’s happening currently. Appreciate those followers you have right now, make connections, and continue to work towards that goal without blurring what’s happening presently. We apply this mindset with everything that we do and it keeps our studio motivated and connected with our followers, clients, and business owners that we’ve met along the way.

With all of that in mind, GWDI prioritizes developing a community of likeminded creatives who are young and interested in entrepreneurship and looking for guidance – creating that environment that focuses on collaboration over competition. All of these skills and encounters have led us to appreciate slow-design , a boutique interior design studio approach with the outlook that design should be a personalized and haste-free experience. A personal connection is made with clients and vendors in order to successfully design a space that is timeless. Our design ideas are often innovative and push boundaries that traditional interior design studios might not be comfortable doing – being that we learned how to push creative boundaries during school, we always bring a fresh perspective to the table.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Visit the beach for a sunrise mediation for a peaceful start to your day.

Breakfast at Tinta y Cafe, where we had a lot of our brainstorming meetings while GWDI was being created. They serve delicious sandwiches, coffee, and daily specials.

Lunch at Thatch for a healthy local spot with a beautiful design aesthetic. We recommend the Crispy Cauliflower as a starter!

Dinner at Ariete is a must for nice night out, they have a rotating tasting menu curated by the chef.

Of course going to the beach is a must when in Miami, while there drive or walk through the inner residential streets in South Beach to see pastel colored Art Deco buildings. Espanola Way is another great stop filled with restaurants along the pink spanish buildings running down the length of the street.

Coconut grove is also great to walk around any time of day with lots of cafes, shops, and restaurants (Ariete is in this neighborhood).

If you need a place to touch down and work for a bit a great cafe is Blanca with a great ambience and curated home decor for sale.

What is a vacation without a spa day? Make sure to book a relaxing visit to the Standard Spa.

If all the tourist attractions tire you out, take a break and visit the Flamingo Plaza in the Hialeah area for the best thrift finds. You can take home anything from a colorful blazer to beautiful vintage home decor piece.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
GWDI has been built with the help of lots of other small business owners who are always willing to lend a hand and give advice – we definitely would not be where we are today without these group of people behind the scenes.

Yoana Obregon
Norma & Gaston – Duoma Atelier
Paul Chavez – Selezione & CH Construction
Cristhian Fong – Twill & Texture
Raymond Elman – Inspicio Magazine
Melly Diaz – Just Begin Magazine
Rebecca Simon – Credence Design

Website: girlswhodointeriors.com

Instagram: instagram.com/girlswhodointeriors

Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCzCN57nZbFd-VG8ZmLcXWJA

Image credit:
The Loving Lens Photography