We had the good fortune of connecting with Cecilia Russo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cecilia, any advice for those thinking about whether to keep going or to give up?
When opportunity and dreams come together to create a business, quitting is not option!

What should our readers know about your business?
I spend my time bringing balance to dark spaces wether in my imagination or on project sites!. Historical domains, public and private places, gardens are part of my most ambitious projects to lit in this world! I do lighting plans for architects, interior designers, or even home owners. I usually include some of my designed custom lamps in lighting projects. They are usually made by artisans around the world, particularly in Haiti. I have been using a lot of natural fibers lately to make big lamp shades. I also use beads and designers fabrics. My journey started in Florence Italy where I studied interior design to eventually arrive in Milan for a specialization in the lighting world. Right after, I worked in Paris as a lighting designer where I acquired lots of experience that brought me to do my own lighting projects back to my homeland Haiti. Since then I have been working on many projects from the Caribbean to Miami.

The biggest chalenge so far as been working with unstable electrical current! Nowadays, LED lighting has been my only chosen light source for project, and it is also very sensitive to big voltage change! Good enough we can always find electrical engineers the help on this!

An other challenge has been leaving sometimes my family, my 2 beautiful girls for abroad projects! But technologie has been a big help for this point! And my husband has been very supportive and always pushing me to get bigger in my field!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If you are a close friend of mine visiting, then we probably share the same taste in food and places of interest. So definitely one of my favorite places to hang out when there is a happening is a the Perez Art Museum! Like for example when they had an amazing exhibit on the great artist Julio Le Parc! As far as food is concerned, I’m very attached to European dishes like “moules et frittes” that you can deliciously find in Bouchon du Grove!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have to dedicate a shoutout to my inspiring “Eclairagiste” (lighting specialist) Louis Claire. He has been my professor and mentor during my Masters decree in Milan Italy. He gave me more than just knowledge on lighting; he showed me that any of my dream project can become a reality. He is really the one behind my way of conceiving a lighting plan, Mr Louis Claire used to call it “un plan de feu” (a fire plan), and this is how it all started.

Instagram: l_eclairagiste

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