Meet Lillian Rodriguez | Independent Sales Representative to the Interior Design Trade

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

Hi Lillian, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I began my career as a designer and pivoted to Interior Design trade sales in 2011. I began my career as an Outside Sales Representative for the David Sutherland Showroom. After having the pleasure of working for the Sutherlands for over 11 years, the only natural next step was to work for myself. I loved the idea of continuing to work in the same role with the same clients and representing beautiful lines independently. I am so grateful for all the wonderful relationships I’ve built over the years and am incredibly excited and proud to share the beautiful lines and stories about the Designers and Makers with my clients.

What should our readers know about your business?
I started working on L.E.R. Portfolio in February and began the process of selecting lines to represent and by April I was on the road visiting clients again. I am having the best time sharing the stories of the different lines I’m representing with the Florida market. I am excited to be building a company that offers such beautiful products and for the opportunity to continue working with so many of my clients and to be meeting new clients. My design background has always served me in learning and understanding the products I’m selling and I take pride in offering great service and support to both my clients and vendors. I know I’m exactly where I need to be because I find my lines and my clients incredibly inspiring and feel so lucky to get to do this every day.

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 it’s Summer we always recommend the beach and pool days at home! We love happy hour at home and grilling delicious offerings from Proper Sausages in Miami Shores for dinner. During winter, when the weather is perfect we love picking up Joe’s Take away for a picnic at South Pointe Park in Miami Beach.
I would take guests to Doña Posada at the Citadel (they make the most amazing breakfast sandwich and their Pavlova is amazing!) followed by a spa treatment at the Standard and lunch at Pura Vida or Carrot Express. PAMM is always a great idea and visitors always love a stroll through the Miami Design District. I would recommend a day trip to Palm Beach to visit The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, Henry Flagler’s home in Palm Beach and lunch at Hive Bakery. On a rainy day, perhaps a movie in Coconut Grove followed by Lunch or Dinner at Sadelle’s.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
In 2023 I had a chance to listen to Hotelier and Designer Liz Lambert speak at a conference in Dallas. She told us about her collaboration with Icon (the pioneering 3D Printing company) to expand El Cosmico, her resort in Marfa, TX. They were planning to relocate and expand El Cosmico to a 60 Acre site with 3D printed structures, guest rooms and housing. The whole story was incredibly interesting and then she added that the material they were planning to use to 3D print the structures simulates moon dust because Icon is designing and working on developing a plan to 3D print the first houses in space. Moon Dust! Houses in space! After listening to her whole story anything felt possible. Liz Lambert’s ability to dream so big left me feeling incredibly inspired and ready for growth and reminded me about the power of storytelling.

Starting a business is a lot of work and I am lucky to have a talented team of confidants and advisors (my husband, brother and sister) and friends and colleagues who have all been incredibly supportive and helpful throughout the process of launching my company. I am grateful for all the great relationships I’ve been fortunate enough to foster in my career and very excited about my new relationships with the companies I’m representing and so happy I get to continue working with my clients. Their support means the world to me.

Website: https://www.lerportfolio.com

Instagram: @lerportfolio

Image Credits
Photo by Idolka Salgueiro