Mya has had a passion for design since she was in 3rd grade and her dream job was to become a fashion designer. In college she studied graphic design as a creative alternative to fashion since her school didn’t have a design program, but ended up graduating with a BA in International Studies and Minors in Economics and Chinese. “After graduating from college and working in marketing, admin, and operations roles, I realized I couldn’t do the whole 9-5 desk job, and for the sake of my sanity, I needed to get back on a more creative career path.”

Mya was working as an Operations Coordinator at a software consulting firm literally across the street for Heritage. It was meant to be! “I wasn’t feeling very fulfilled in my position and wanted to shift to a more creative career. I decided on interior design because in my position at the consulting firm, I was assigned to oversee the redesign of the office and I had such a blast doing that and I could imagine myself doing interior design as a career.” After meeting with Stephanie, Mya immediately enrolled at Heritage. It was an ideal opportunity for her because she wasn’t interested in going back to school to get another 4-year degree and she liked that the curriculum emphasized the business side of interior design.

“My biggest obstacle was learning to live with the fact that I was taking a leap of faith and being ok with leaving behind a steady paycheck, a 401K, and an impending promotion at my previous job.” After graduating from the program, she is so glad that she took the risk. “Heritage has provided so many great connections and so much support in launching my new career! Stephanie has done an especially wonderful job in providing career support by matching us with opportunities based on each student’s strengths and goals.”

Mya recently launched her own interior design business, Mya Lwin Design. “My goal is to start building my clientele for both local projects in Portland, as well as for e-design projects nationwide, over this next year. I’d love to get to a point where I can open my own studio and also start taking on in-person projects outside of Oregon and perhaps around the world!”