![]() ![]() I think the nerves made me better because I was like, “I can’t get this wrong.” I also knew how to read a floor plan-I’ve laid brick for missionary work and that sort of thing, so I had been on job sites before. Because I had to go between, I would be in a full suit with my hard hat on, saying, “Nope, what is happening up here?” And these guys were like, “Who is this lady?” Then the CEO was like, “Mia, I want a bathroom in the boardroom.” At first, I was like, “You can’t have a bathroom in the boardroom, sir, because we’ve already done the plumbing.” Then I had to talk to the contractors all over again. People thought I was crazy, but the employees loved it. So there was this black-and-white herringbone floor that I requested with a bright green wall. The kitchen in the cafeteria didn’t have any external windows, so I did some research on what to do: You make it bright. The offices went from gray to a cherry color. You know those little cubicles you can get? I was like, “That’s not inviting,” and I changed the fabric to a blue color. I dove into it not knowing, but it felt as natural as can be. If you’re a VP, you get this office.” But I was like, “Do we have to do it like this? Let’s do this, and what about this?” All I knew was that this was the budget-if I spend the same money, why do they have to have these offices that are all plastic? Let’s give them wood and veneer, you know? So they got rid of the corporate designer-it was like, “Mia’s got it”-and next thing you know, I’ve got samples out of my ear and I was doing floor plans. Almost as soon as I took the project on, they were like, “OK, Mia, we need her to do something else-you’re going to do the whole project.” There was a corporate designer working on the project, but they just went into their binder and said, “If you are a director, you get this office. I was hired to help the company’s other project manager on the reconstruction of a 44,000-square-foot corporate office. She was like, “If I gave you this, are you going to sink or swim?” And I was like, “I got it.” In 2008, a woman who’s a huge executive there now gave me my shot. I was a manager there, and I had expressed interest in wanting to get into project management. ![]() I was working at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. What sparked your professional interest in design? I just didn’t realize I could make it a career until 2019, when people started saying, “I will pay you to help me.” A big part of my passion is reaching out to young people of any background-but particularly to young women of color-because I didn’t know that I could make design a career. So when you say, “What was your path?” I feel like it started when I was born. After I had moved out, I designed my baby sister’s room-my mother said, “Here’s the budget, Mia,” and I did it. I’m dating myself, because it was the pearly ivory paint and a border with the fruit. What was your path to realizing that design could be a career?ĭesign has always been in me.
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