Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to another SLG Meetup your host Alvaro to bring you another interesting guest to talk all about luxury But today's gonna be about interior design There is nothing more beautiful than the interiors of these amazing properties that all this upcoming and super developed cities have in common And in this case we're gonna be going all the way to Houston to meet with the founder and CEO of ABI Amanda Brooke interiors And her name is Amanda Holiday She's gonna be telling us all about her interesting projects and what she has been doing throughout all these years to become one of the most Renowned and famous interior designers in the area. What's up Amanda? How are you? Hi?
Hi, Alvaro. How are you? Doing very well. Yes.
I'm happy to hear that and welcome to our SLG Meetup serious I'm very happy to have you as a guest to tell us all about all the exciting things that you're doing I mean everybody's talking about interior design interior design now with this booming that we have on luxury real estate So super excited to hear all about what you're doing in Houston and in these incredible homes Yes So we're actually like a we are an international firm We are in both the US all over the US and in the Europe market as of right now So it's not just in Houston, but we're working on some really great projects here in Houston as well But your story is incredible because you started from door knocking call in in Houston to become one of the top interior designers in the area And then obviously like any other big firm you've been expanding throughout the US and as you mentioned as well in Europe You know coming back to the roots of where ABI you know ABI started Tell us a little bit about that story. So I'm from Dallas Originally and I graduated from U of H so my major initially was in fashion and At the time of whenever it came to my internship I did not have there was nothing in the fashion industry that was available that I was interested in and I'd always helped like friends and and Like side jobs and interior design just for fun while I was finishing up school And so I basically created my own internship with a luxury interior design firm here in Houston and and that kind of lit the fire whenever I graduated I didn't see anything that I was really interested in the fashion industry to get into right away and It kind of lit this fire in me and I went back to school for interior design and then while I'm in school Here so I didn't know anyone in the market outside of you know that internship and then I worked for a commercial real estate firm And I would help with multi-family projects and things like that the design in those in those complexes And so I started while I was still in school I started researching all of the different firms that I was interested in that fit my aesthetic and I went in person they weren't hiring they didn't have an advertisement anything like that in person introduced myself told them I was eager to get started in the industry and And to keep me in mind whenever they are hiring and I did that for it was either online or in person to about 30 or more firms and Finally I had someone buy and I was the lead designer for a small boutique firm for three and a half years before starting my own in May of 2019 does a little bit about the essence of what's behind the brad like what's the DNA? I've always it for homes have always come in styling homes are very similar to the body And that's always come natural to me but I find that it's so it's I think thinking back the DNA of of That kind of aesthetic has always been I in family is so important to me our surroundings completely affect our well-being and to create beautiful spaces for each of my clients is is an honor So I I'm always trying to think to to have timeless forward-thinking Design mixed with the family's lifestyle and aesthetic. How did you do to in such a short period of time expand so rapidly?
Whenever I left my old firm. It was not planned. I did not have a website. I did not have clients I jumped and I hit the ground running.
I mean I didn't sleep. I really do Come on you have to sleep. I was no no no no, but like I devoted my entire life I knew that that I was completely dependent on my own self my own like drive and I knew that I had to make this work There was no alternative and and so immediately I hired a business coach I I took a social media course and I started my social media that whenever I left that hiring professionals and learning from other people is Not a weakness. I think that it makes you so much stronger I've always believed in collaboration and and continued learning, you know, like if I ever get to the point where I know everything I should change industries, you know, like he always keep growing I like it.
I wanted to emphasize on what's been the most important thing that you've you know getting from having a coach The confidence it gives you the confidence because whenever you are unfamiliar with with a path That's ahead of you you you lack that confidence to to know what to do But in reality nobody knows what they're doing It's very inspiring for those that connect with your social media because it's very clean and aesthetically nicely done So congratulations is that the main source or the main platform that you use for your marketing strategies or you also use tic-tock or YouTube or things like that? So we are on YouTube the IGT TV series. We've we've also added to YouTube. We're on Pinterest.
We're on Instagram Facebook LinkedIn, but our main platform is Instagram and I do think that it is geared toward Interior design and aesthetics and things like that What's your thought on TV because now there's all these TV shows coming up like real-state shows have become so popular I'm not just a real-state itself But they do design if you look at Miami design Miami just came out. So what are your thoughts about TV shows? So so before you know, I've always liked to be behind the scenes. I know that sounds silly, but that's just who I am and and I like my work to shine and I've never I I feel like there's this huge like cancel culture and And I I'm just not a huge I think that my work is is speaks for itself.
So I never wanted to before this year and then we were approached by a network and and I Was kind of like no at first and then my my right hand girl. She was like, why not? We were the awesome at this and I was like, okay, so I kind of considered it and and then it lit the platter And I was like, okay, I can do this I can see it But it can't be this like very caddy, you know Dramatic it needs to be like a competition like I will thrive in a competition So it has to be the right it has to be the right show. Yes, because obviously it's such a competitive industry You just mentioned your driving competition, right?
Now. What's mean? You will say the hardest thing about being an interior designer? And what did you learn from it?
So? There there are multiple things like in my business the hardest thing is finding really great employees and contractors that you can depend on like That's it. That's difficult Because a lot of there's just a lot of Unprofessionalism in in the industry that you don't see behind the scenes and you just we're we're like problem solvers like any other Entrepreneur that is what we do so that would be the business side in the design side it because because Everything is at our disposal with the internet Have some I've experienced clients in the past going behind and shopping my designs, which is Yeah, it's really unfortunate and and to be truthful. There's really nothing you can do It's in my contract, but again the stress that you would have to go through for legal action It's just not worth it for me.
Um, just kind of have to trust that that You will find better clients and move on That's good I mean, there's no other way right you just need to keep on doing what you're passionate about and let your energy flow through a channel of work positivity and growth and not just stuck in the past and the fights some fights you have to fight them for sure But some others you have to you know, let go now. They were luxury, right? We always ask this question, but for you, especially coming from this industry. What is luxury to you?
It's timeless forward thinking Quality it doesn't have to be expensive, but quality Design say again because you said at the beginning and I love it I was like I need to ask it again to say it because it sounded so nice Which what timeless forward thinking quality design it is that is That that's amazing. I mean I want to repeat this later. I just write it out because it sounds amazing and it's really to the point of What the meaning of luxury is now? That's that's really cool But let me ask you obviously from all the projects that you work on and this is just for you to kind of summarize more The type of projects that you focus on do you specialize or what do you aim to be focusing on residential luxury homes?
Or is there another angle that you want to grow as a business? So yes, 95% of our clientele are high-end residential, but we've also designed commercial and I love that as well I would love to get into hospitality and and also Restaurant design yacht. I'm totally good. Yeah And and and also aviation would be so fun like a private jet And you know money because I've seen everything being crossed within those industries because like a friend of mine He just won one of the awards for best yacht of the year and so forward He builds this luxurious huge yacht and he was telling me that's all the clients that he has They're asking him to build their homes because they love so much how they build their yards that they want He to build their house and I'm like wow and he's gonna do it So obviously if somebody that you're doing the design for a house, they love it so much And thanks again for everybody tuning in today.
We hope you enjoyed it I remember embrace it beautiful success in life. My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time