We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aimee Lee Kinssies a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Aimee Lee, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I think my work ethic comes from both of my parents. They raised my brother and I to always work hard for whatever we needed. They taught us routine by us always having hobbies that we practiced from the age of 5, like music, sports, or riding horses. We also had structure like weekend chores that had to be done right after Saturday morning cartoons, and time to do our homework, right after school each day. My brother and I both had our own horses so we also were responsible for taking care of them like brushing and bathing them, feeding them, and cleaning their stalls.
My parents always had steady jobs and went to work each day throughout the week, trying to make ends meet to support their family. However, even as they did this, they also showed us the power of dreaming by my dad opening his own restaurant, and my mom going back to school in her 30’s. This showed me that if I dreamt it, planned for it, worked hard at it, a dream could become reality.
My dad’s business failed which did set us back financially, but it showed me to respect that dreaming something up doesn’t always lead to success. It’s a risk and it takes lots of planning, hustling, and hard work.
As we got older, my family ran upon tough financial times after my dad’s business failed, and we realized that if we wanted to have any extra money to go to the movies with friends, or buy a cute outfit for school, that money would need to come from us in the form of a job. So my brother and I both got part time jobs and we started our working careers.
My brother and I never stopped working after that. I paid for my college education, and my brother and I both have our own businesses to this day, after years of working and honing our crafts.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am from Warren, Ohio and spent all of my years growing up there. We lived in the country and in the city and that is where I developed my love for nature, animals, and design. I remember helping my mom pick out wallpaper for my room when I was young and having my own horse on our 12 acre horse farm. I spent so much time outside with my horse, my dog, and my brother. I went to college at Kent State for 2 years with a major in fashion merchandising but withdrew and moved to Nashville 2 years in, without completing my degree at Kent State. I moved to Nashville and worked in the restaurant scene meeting so many people and developing my social skills that would serve me well from that point on. I became a property manager for a private multi-family complex in the heart of Nashville, and during that time realized I loved the renovation process and design in general. I decided to go back to school to Watkins School of Art, Design & Film in Nashville, and that is where I got my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Interior Design. I worked for a couple renowned designers and builders in Nashville before starting my own design firm in 2018. I went full time with my business in 2020 in the beginning of the pandemic when everything was uncertain.
From that point on it has been nothing short of amazing to see my business and clientele grow. It’s been an amazing journey and I’ve learned so much along the way from the back end of running a business, to honing my process to make it enjoyable and successful for my clients.
I opened my first brick and mortar in 2022 in east Nashville where I have a small design studio with a small retail area.
I have 2 other designers on staff with me and together we make up ALK Design & Interiors.
We specialize in residential design and smaller boutique commercial design. Our emphasis is bespoke interior design. Our main focus is creating a dwelling that supports the life and livlihood of our clients. We partner with them each step of the way for projects ranging from full scale new construction, renovation, and full-service furnishings and decor. I love knowing that their lives will be affected by the finishes and furniture that we select, as well as the customized space plan we create to support their lifestyle. The ergonomics of how my client uses the house or work space is thrilling to me and the greatest feedback is hearing how much happier they are when we are done.
We are soon launching an on-line store as well as putting more focus on our brick and mortar retail space in the winter of 2023.
We will also be doing quarterly artist gallery nights were we will spotlight a local artist and their work, open to the public. We believe in our creative community so we love to be able to support them in this way by giving them a platform to sell their art.
Lastly, sometime in the distant future, I would love to get in to opening up courses for kids on interior design and the importance of this choice as a potential career. I think with more emphasis on design and the home, many kids are actually wanting to learn more about it and it’s a great career choice. I would love to partner with our community to provide a course each summer for interior design enrichment for kids from 10-17.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1- An idea of how pipes are arranged in walls and all the innerworkings of plumbing, electrical, and structural elements that make up a home. This also helped me learn the process of how trades work together and in what order. I learned this as a property manager and while we renovated the property. This is essential and very important. 2- Going to school and getting my interior design degree was essential for me because I learned skills like autocad, revit, sketchup, how to create construction documents that our trade needs for a professional project. It also taught me professional practices.
I think we are now in a time that interior design is a very popular and coveted career, however, too many people jump in with no real knowledge of the technical information and training needed to do a responsible job while designing and partnering with clients and the building community. I think if someone doesn’t want to get a degree, they should at least seek out classes and training for core elements of our field. Learning cad so they can do technical drawings and floor plans, while also learning about the construction process are very important for what we do
3- Partnering with a business coach and investing in a business course to hone the process and set up the internal structure of a business- especially a client-facing structure to care for clients better. Designers are creative but not always organized with our process. Doing this was a gamechanger for me..
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
Dakota Design Company was pivotal in my career because they took my success that I had been having, but helped me structure the internal parts of my business. So many people don’t do that on the front end- which I didn’t do on the front end- and their business suffers or goes under due to poor management. She helped me take a business that was spiraling and I had not organized on the back end, and change it around so that my clients feel secure, pampered, there is good communication, and it made me a leader to my team, instead of just stressed and frantic all of the time, trying to wear too many hats and reinvent the wheel with each project.
I’m beyond thankful for Katie and her process and coaching.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alkdesignandinteriors.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alkdesignandinteriors/
Image Credits
Caroline Sharpnack- Photographer Allison Elefante- Photographer Leverick Homes – Builder Hannah Custom Homes – Builder
