In our first two-part installment of “Profiles in Courage and Determination” series, I interviewed two interior design professionals, Jennifer McLinko and Christy Penney of Mis en Place Design. Mis en Place Design is an award-winning Western Puget Sound based, full-service interiors firm specializing in interior architecture and design for residential and commercial projects. They create a link for the client between the design process and the construction process, offering tailored interior design services ranging from concept design and space planning to full-on remodels and new construction. They are guided by the belief that a respect for historical architecture, with an equal appreciation for modern design, creates the best kind of design – one that can stand the test of time.
Jennifer McLinko is the Owner and Principal Designer and Project Manager for Mis en Place Design. Jennifer’s not only a successful business owner and award-winning designer, she’s also a wife and mother with a deep love of food, humor, life and Star Wars. Jennifer has over 14 years of design experience. Prior to launching Mise en Place Design, Jennifer worked as a kitchen and bath designer for one of the East Coast’s premier residential and commercial design firms. She focused her education on developing and growing her understanding of design and the visual world, graduating with honors from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design, then later with an MFA in Interior Architecture and Design from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Her goal for any project is to keep things functional, fun, and client focused.
Jennifer McLinko
Jennifer employs two Heritage School of Interior Design Seattle Alumni, so I was excited to hear more about her perspective on the value of an education in interior design, what she looks for as an employer when hiring interior designers and capture her advice to aspiring designers to share with the Heritage School of Interior Design community. Jennifer impressed me with her deep appreciation of craft, the value of education for interior designers and her insights on what it takes to mentor and develop interior designers, and what she looks for in the hiring process.
Christy Penney is one of the Heritage School of Interior Design Seattle graduates that is now working as a design assistant and showroom manager at Mis en Place. Christy’s unique skill set, and aesthetic has been honed by a life of diverse and creative work. Prior to earning her Master’s Certification from Heritage School of Interior Design, she worked as a Props Artisan in Seattle’s biggest theaters. There she utilized the hands-on skills of building, fabricating, and quick problem solving, all while staying true to the vernacular of an artistic scenic design. As the owner of a fine-dining restaurant, she converted a 100-year-old farmhouse into a stylish and functional commercial building which became a local staple as much for its ambiance as for its offerings. Having built her own house alongside her husband, she is familiar with all the stages of a home, from the swinging of hammers to the hanging of wallpaper.
Christy Penney
Sustainability is key to both her design work and her life. She lives with her son and husband on a homestead with chickens, bees, fruit trees and an ample kitchen garden. Her workshop is often overflowing the vintage furniture being reupholstered, funky old lamps waiting to be rewired, fruit drying, and vegetables fermenting. She also in an accomplished hula-hooper and does a legendary karaoke rendition of Young MC’s Bust a Move.
I recently re-connected with Christy, who was a standout student in my Business and Entrepreneurship class because she wanted me to know about her role at Mis en Place, and to encourage us to offer a class in Chief Architect (which I’m happy to say is going to be starting this Fall!). During our conversation, I realized that there was an exciting story to share about a couple of Heritage’s core values that Christy embodies: “Have the Courage to Change Course” and “Be Passionate and Determined”. That inspired me to launch this series of interviews “Profiles in Courage and Determination” to showcase how these values show up in our graduates and the communities they are a part of.
I hope you enjoy the insights that Jennifer and Christy share, and I hope you find them inspirational as you consider and pursue your education and career in the exciting and life changing field of interior design.
Part One – Christy Penney :
From Theater to Restaurateur to Interior Design
Jim Plymale: Christy, thanks for taking the time to sit down with me today. Let me tell you a little bit about what I’m trying to do. So, I’m doing a storytelling project called Profiles in Courage and Determination that celebrates the journeys, successes, and challenges of students who have demonstrated exceptional courage, determination, and resilience in the pursuit of a career in interior design. As we do these interviews, we’re trying to showcase the challenges you’ve overcome, the skills you’ve developed, and the results you’ve achieved. Our hope is that by sharing your story, you’ll be contributing to a narrative that highlights and celebrates the strengths and achievements of professionals like you to other students and can help them understand the impact that pursuing an education can have on achieving their goals. So, that’s the background.
Christy Penney: That’s a big project.
Jim Plymale: I’m excited to share the stories. It’s like my own little “StoryCorps”. So, let me start with this: I know some about you because you were in my class, but I wanted to start with your prior career and your transition into interior design. Can you share a little bit about your professional background before you pursued a career in interior design?
Christy Penney: Yeah, I kind of had two careers. I graduated college in 2001 with a degree in technical theater, and I did that for ten years. I worked in the technical theater world as a prop builder, prop designer, and set designer. Then I met my husband, and we bought some property and built a house using my skill set in construction. That took us a couple of years, and I had intended to go back to work in the theater when that was over. But we ended up opening a restaurant. My husband’s a chef, so…
Jim Plymale: Hang on a second. Let’s just pause and say, that is courage!
Christy Penney: It was a big leap. To be fair, I didn’t mean to be as involved in the restaurant as I was. I always joked that as a theater major and professional, I also had a degree in restaurant work because you’re kind of always doing it between jobs. When I worked in the theater, I lived in New York City for half of that time, so I always had a restaurant job because of going in between theater gigs. When I lived in Seattle, I didn’t work in restaurants because the theaters were unionized, and I got a pretty good job right away. I had a background in restaurants, so when my husband wanted to open a place, I said I’d give him six months to a year to set up the front of the house and then hand it off. But during that time, I also had a baby, so I ended up being very involved. We ran the restaurant together for seven years, and then COVID happened. That was the switch for me in careers. It wasn’t that we didn’t have guest support or government support; we could have kept the restaurant open. It was more about realizing that I didn’t want to do it anymore. I missed the design world, working with my hands, and making pretty things. So, I decided to switch.
Jim Plymale: Another example of having the courage to change course! My next question is how your previous experience influenced your decision to become an interior designer and what unique perspective you brought to the field.
Christy Penney: So, I had a history in design for the theater world, which was extravagant. The base of that is storytelling, and the base of interior design is also storytelling. You’re telling the story of you in your home, what sparks your joy. The restaurant was also storytelling—we were telling the story of the local farms we used, it was a locally sourced restaurant. When thinking about what to do next, I realized I didn’t want to go back to the theater. I’m getting older, and I don’t want to work that physically anymore. I thought about how much fun I had building our house and wanted to help others with that. It took us two years, and we used as many recycled materials as possible. Sustainability was a big draw for us, and I wanted to help other people with that.
If I could marry these two things—helping people with customer service like the restaurant and getting back into design—I thought it would be a good fit.
Jim Plymale: That’s great. What challenges did you face most in transitioning to a new career, and how did you overcome them?
Christy Penney: The hardest thing was technology. My skill set is so physical, hands-on, using tools. In technical theater, we hand-drafted everything. This was before computers were widely used. Running the restaurant, we took reservations on a handwritten sheet. The overwhelming amount of technology I had to learn was a big challenge.
Jim Plymale: How did you overcome that challenge?
Christy Penney: I put in a lot of hours. I spent more time than other people on it. If someone else completed a kitchen and bath project in AutoCAD in 20 hours, it probably took me 40. I reached out to my teacher, Abigail West, a lot for help and looked at YouTube videos. It didn’t come naturally to me at all to use technology. I didn’t even know how to use Photoshop.
Jim Plymale: You were resourceful and used that resourcefulness to overcome the technical hurdles, applying grit and determination to get through it. Nice job. So, tell me about your Heritage experience. Can you tell me about a class, project, or assignment that challenged you and helped you grow as a designer?
Christy Penney: I found the education at Heritage to be challenging in almost all classes. The first major challenge was the second large project in the fundamentals class. It was the first time I felt the push and pull of the circular nature of the design process. We had been given the foundations, but putting those together in a way that didn’t derail me was challenging. I had to overcome the circular decision-making and stick with my point of view.
Jim Plymale: Were you happy with the result?
Christy Penney: I was very happy with it.
Jim Plymale: How did your education at Heritage help prepare you for your current role and career path?
Christy Penney: Learning all the technology was critical. I thought about entering the world of interior design without going to school, but I didn’t want to wing it anymore. I wanted to be confident in what I was doing. Technology was essential, and the presentation skills were invaluable. Standing up in front of peers and teachers to defend and showcase ideas was crucial.
Jim Plymale: In your time at Heritage, did you have to work collaboratively with others to achieve a goal? How did you work through differences of opinion or conflicts?
Christy Penney: I always worked collaboratively in my career, whether in theater or running the restaurant. Everyone’s ideas came into play. In the design world, it’s the same. I never felt comfortable in scenarios where my design was the only one that mattered. I was lucky to have a great cohort at Heritage, and we went through the program together, which was valuable.
Jim Plymale: How did Heritage connect you to the broader design community?
Christy Penney: I feel comfortable speaking with other designers and going to places like the design center. Heritage helped me feel connected. Another student from Heritage, Jacinda, works with me, and our experiences are vastly different. She graduated during COVID, so it was all online. She didn’t have people to bounce ideas off like I did, but she still had a positive experience.
Jim Plymale: Since working professionally as a designer, how do you approach challenges and setbacks? Can you give an example of a challenge you pushed through and had a great outcome from?
Christy Penney: Budget constraints have been challenging. The realities of executing designs cost-wise are different from my experience in house building. One client wanted a brewery design with a tight budget, so I had to be creative with space planning, paint, and color to make an impact without big dollars.
Jim Plymale: Have you realized your dream of working in commercial spaces as well as residential spaces?
Christy Penney: I work in both residential and commercial spaces, which is rare for smaller firms. I was the lead on a brewery project, and now my projects are all residential. I’ve had clients put their entire house into my care, which is a personal accomplishment.
Jim Plymale: What advice would you offer to someone thinking about becoming an interior designer?
Christy Penney: Push hard on your presentations. Learn to use the vocabulary you’re given so that when you’re out in the real world, you can confidently express your ideas. Take advantage of practice and presentation opportunities.
Jim Plymale: One of the reasons we reconnected was about a skill you needed. Maybe say a little about that.
Christy Penney: I reached out to you about Chief Architect. Many job postings required programs like 2020, Chief Architect, or Revit. BIM programs are the way everyone is working now. Learning Chief Architect was amazing and made client meetings much more productive. I showed it to a colleague, and she signed up for it quickly. Having a background in AutoCAD and SketchUp helped, but Chief Architect is user-friendly and essential for the job.
Jim Plymale: That’s great advice. Thank you so much for your time, Christy. I look forward to meeting with Jennifer and hearing her perspective.
Part Two – Jennifer McLinko:
Nurturing Talent and Embracing Education
In this second interview, I met with Jennifer McLinko the founder and principal designer at Mis en Place Design, who’s hired two Heritage School of Interior Design master’s program graduates, to get the employer’s perspective. I know that Jennifer’s perspective and insights will inspire you in your pursuit of a career in interior design.
Jim Plymale: Thank you so much for taking time out to meet with me, Jennifer. Can you tell me first, what qualities and skills do you look for when hiring an interior designer for your projects?
Jennifer McLinko: First, I look for the fact that they’ve completed an interior design education. That alone says something. They’re able to put in the work. I also look for the technical skills, in particular the visual presentation skills in either Revit or Chief Architect. Both are valuable.
Jim Plymale: What unique qualities or skills have you noticed in graduates from Heritage School of Interior Design?
Jennifer McLinko: I have hired two graduates from Heritage. They both had strong technical skills but also real-world experience in life. Christy had worked both as a restaurateur and as a set designer. It told me she understood about running a business and what I go through every day. Jacinda had two degrees and she brought a different set of experiences. What I noticed is that they both had the ability to understand the work and the drive and determination to figure things out and get things done.
Jim Plymale: So how do you approach mentoring and supporting the growth of your team members?
Jennifer McLinko: So, what I do here is very collaborative. I start with six months of just trying to get the basics. Try to help and partner with somebody. I review everything but, once they get to the point where they can take on being the lead of their own project, I just let them take it and run with it. They must listen to their client, and then we review it, and I help them out and give them my input, but I give them the freedom to have that creative space to figure out something for their client.
There’s the technical and the vision aspects. Sketch it out, put materials together, and translate that into a CAD program or Chief Architect program to communicate it into a construction document for the contractor. I start them small on something easy to draw but give them the space to create the vision and communicate with their client.
A big part of what we do is teaching them to deal with different clients and expectations, and to be consistent with our process. They must deal with different types of people, looks, budgets, and needs, and figure it out while I chime in when needed. They need to hit the ground running at some point.
Jim Plymale: That sounds like a great process. So, what advice would you give to students considering a career in interior design and what skills or experience do you think are essential?
Jennifer McLinko: The technical skills are critical. You need to know tools like Revit and Chief Architect because it’s such an invaluable tool. Clients expect it, and it helps you be competitive in the market. Beyond that, having the capacity to be flexible, to accept when a client doesn’t like your design, and to have the maturity to deal with feedback is crucial. It’s about facilitating their vision, not imposing your own.
Jim Plymale: Reflecting on your career, what do you wish you’d known when you started out as an interior designer?
Jennifer McLinko: I’ve always wanted to do architecture. Knowing there are different avenues in the field besides just kitchen or bathroom design would have been nice. You can work in movies, be a set designer, a lighting designer, or focus on furniture. There are many options in the field that don’t require knowing everything about one area.
Jim Plymale: What trends or changes in the interior design industry do you think are most important for new designers to be aware of?
Jennifer McLinko: Besides style, understanding that designing is just 10-20% of the job. Project management, dealing with contractors, getting samples, pricing, and other logistics are a major part. It’s important to know how to manage a project from concept to completion. Also, keeping up with the latest trends and products by attending trade shows and field visits is crucial.
Jim Plymale: Is there anything you would like to share with students or with Heritage about the importance of education and what they can take advantage of at Heritage to be better prepared to enter the industry?
Jennifer McLinko: Pay attention in school and apply what you’re learning. Understand that you’re investing in an interior design education program, and you need to showcase what you’ve learned to find a job. I hope that the Heritage program also teaches that there are many avenues in the industry to apply themselves.
Having some basics in project management would be valuable. Encouraging students to sample shop, visit vendors, and understand different types of businesses is important. Offering career placement and internship opportunities is also crucial.
Jim Plymale: What’s exciting to me, is that not only do our students spend a day a week in the field, they also get exposure to a lot of different businesses in our classes. And, we’re excited that we’re offering a Construction Management class that will address more project management skills, like you mentioned. Thank you so much for your time, Jennifer. I appreciate you sharing your insights and hiring Heritage School of Interior Design graduates.
Written by Jim Plymale, President and Business & Entrepreneurship Instructor