Kelly Wong

Throughout her career, Kelly has been mentored and inspired by accomplished women at every firm she’s worked for. Her first role was at a woman-owned design studio in Florida, where her direct supervisors were the founder and the founder’s daughter, the firm’s design director. Being consistently surrounded by confident, educated, and articulate women with a strong sense of style has profoundly shaped her professional manner, sensibilities, and standards.

The best advice I have ever received is "you don't know everything, and will never know everything." We tend to have a complex when we first start interior design as wanting to prove we are the best thing around, when in reality we know nothing. In this field, we are constantly evolving and learning new things, wither that is by making mistakes in the field, or products coming to light. It is better to understand that sometimes you just need to listen and gain experience and knowledge from those around you.

My advice would be that everybody starts at the bottom, so don't go in there with your chest puffed out thinking you're the best. Even right now, I'm not the best, you always have stuff that you're going to learn from other people so that you can become the best and be a specialist in your field. I would say it's probably better to stay quiet and listen and take notes versus jumping the gun and putting your foot in your mouth thinking that you know everything. People that have been in this profession for years know that you're constantly learning, no matter what. Always listen and see how people present, and self-reflect. If you think that you're a good presenter, video record yourself and make sure that you really are. If there's things to work on, nobody's perfect. Even when I present, I try to eliminate filler words, so I'll present to my director first, get her feedback, and then utilize that. This trade in general is constantly evolving with sustainability codes, evidence-based design, and all that. It's really fun to be creative, but at the same time, know that it's not all about being creative. You have to think of what the client wants, and that might not be what your vision is, but it's okay. There's plenty of projects out there. You don't have to be perfect at every single thing.

It's always challenging when you work with a committee, as I do, or any type of client, because you have to see things from their perspective. Especially when you work with a committee, though, because a lot of times you're trying to design for a country club as a whole, and sometimes people, like the members on the committee, might want to design the country club to their aesthetics, which isn't the same as everybody else's. Usually the person that wants to design it to their aesthetics is the loudest one on the committee, so you kind of have to navigate that in a way where it's almost political. You're not insulting them because you want it to look good, but you also need to please everybody, but you know that there's one person who is probably going to be the troublemaker. So you kind of have to play a social game as well. A strong interior designer, in my opinion, knows that it's going to be collaborative. It's not going to be my way or the highway. People are going to have opinions - some of them are good, some of them have no idea what they're talking about, and you kind of have to educate them in a professional manner. A lot of these members are older, they're in their 50s and 60s, and then you've got a young designer coming up. You don't want to come off cocky and condescending. So it's definitely a social game as well as a design game. The hardest part is to kind of get everybody on board as to what your overall design is and how it's going to benefit them.

I definitely value family life at the moment, but also feeling a sense of importance. At home I'm Mom, and in the office I'm Kelly Wong - Senior Designer. There are two different personalities into one person and it is important to leave the designer at the office and the mom at home in order to balance both.

I also value honesty. In the design world no one is perfect, mistakes happen, schedules are disrupted, clients might get aggravated or upset, but its better to be honest and up front then convolute situations by hiding the truth. I've learned to realize, sometimes something that might feel so big is really small in the scheme of things, and most of the time can be worked out by asking for help by the team.