To-The-Trade S2E51 Design Entrepreneurship, From Corporate AVP to Studio Owner with Rasheeda Gray

To-The-Trade Episode Summary

On this episode of the To-The-Trade, host Laurie Laizure and co-host Nile Johnson sit down with Rasheeda Gray of Gray Space Interiors to talk about building a stable, scalable design firm. Rasheeda did not take the classic route, she came from corporate marketing with an MBA, then had her spark when staging her own home. It sold in three hours, proof that her design instincts had legs, and she set a 2016 start line for the business.

She did not leap blindly. For three years, she kept her corporate salary, worked for the firm at night, and hired early, which allowed her to scale safely. She left corporate in 2019, then immediately faced a savings crunch and the pandemic. It didn’t sink the business; instead, it became one of her strongest years thanks to persistence and a bias for action.

Operations are the backbone. She manages a CRM funnel with automated email qualifiers, ensuring only the right prospects book calls. She utilizes Design Files for boards and project management and relies on QuickBooks to view the financial picture at a glance. Numbers aren’t scary; they are the dashboard.

Offer design, match budgets, protect cash flow. Alongside full-service offerings, she keeps eDesign as a defined service handled by junior designers. It isn’t front and center in her feed, but it is intentionally profitable and fills revenue gaps between large projects.

Fit matters more than FOMO. Rasheeda filters candidates with an intake questionnaire, followed by a 15-minute discovery call to confirm alignment. If questions pile up in proposals and the process is ignored before kickoff, she will decline the project even if the dollars look tempting. This discipline protects margin and morale.

Marketing is a flywheel, not a hope. A DM from a casting director led to HGTV’s Flea Market Flip in 2018, then A&E’s Sell This House, Magnolia, and, most recently, HGTV’s Renovation Resort. National TV built brand recognition, but it’s consistent local morning news segments that convert to genuine, qualified leads. She makes that happen by constantly pitching and reserving about a quarter of her time for marketing tasks.

She also plays the long game with brand partnerships and showhouses. These projects serve as creative laboratories to demonstrate range, including bold colors, papered ceilings, and pattern play, while strengthening relationships with manufacturers. Done with a plan and follow-through, these investments elevate her work to the next level.

The throughline is strategy. Every year and quarter, she sets goals, chooses what she will personally own, delegates the rest, and tracks KPIs—key performance indicators—to gauge if the plan is working. When the numbers indicate otherwise, she adjusts course. Strategy first, then stamina.

For design pros listening in, the key takeaways are clear: build systems before scaling, add an eDesign tier for cash flow, qualify rigorously, measure what matters, and maintain a scheduled marketing habit. As Rasheeda demonstrates, when purpose meets process, momentum follows.