Bonnie J. Lewis

I think a lot of my success comes from my mom. She had a tough life and worked hard. When I grew up, most moms were still at home, but she owned her own business as a professional cake decorator. She taught lessons and sold supplies. None of my siblings did this, but I started working in her store when I was young, and by 12, I was running the place. Her and my dad would go to Detroit for the day and I would run the store. Women would come in needing to do a cake for their kids' party or whatever, and I would flit around that store and pull all the different supplies and lay it out, telling them here's how you put it on the cake, this is how you lay it out. I was very good and they would just buy up what I was showing them. I didn't even think about selling, I thought of it as helping them. When I present to my clients now and come back with all the finishes, materials, colors, furniture, lighting, all those things laid out, 90 percent of the time I get it right and they don't ask for any changes. It shows me this is exactly what I was doing when I was young. Both of my parents were such hard workers, they just had that total work ethic, just work, work, work. I just always have had that drive from them. When my mom passed, I did her eulogy and said the best thing that Mom ever taught me was, and I don't want to sound crass, but she taught me young, don't ever take any crap from guys.

The best career advice I ever received came from my mother: 'Don’t ever take any crap from guys.' That lesson in self-respect and assertiveness has guided me throughout my career, especially in male-dominated professional settings, and has shaped the way I navigate challenges with confidence and integrity.

First off, get a college degree in interior design, because besides that you need it, it's a good education. With the HGTV and home shows, I saw it firsthand when I went back to college and got my degree in interior design - I was in school with a lot of younger folks coming in, and there was a lot of disillusion. They thought it was all going to be just picking out the pretty stuff, more like picking out the pretty stuff. It was so hard because I saw several of them drop out near the end. They put all the real hard classes at the end, and they got through to there and then just dropped out. I'm like, oh my gosh, you spent all this money and you just gave up. So get the education, because it's not what people think it is from watching TV shows.

One of the biggest opportunities in my field is the 'silver tsunami'—as more older adults choose to remain in their homes, there’s a growing demand for thoughtful aging-in-place design. The primary challenge, however, is that many homes are not prepared, and awareness is low. This often results in emergency, rushed remodeling after health events rather than proactive, preventive planning.

The values that guide me in both my work and personal life are hard work, helping others, independence and self-reliance, and the courage to stand up for myself when it matters.