Meet Erica Barnes | Owner and Principal Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Erica Barnes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erica, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Whenever I dreamed of starting my own company, it wasn’t money, success, freedom or notoriety that motivated me. I wanted to create a work environment where people loved to come to work. Creativity can soar when a team feels appreciated, supported, and empowered to become skilled at their work. I have a heart for mentorship, and it gives me so much joy to help give a platform for design to flourish and grow.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Our work is an intelligent balance between high-level interior design applications, and meticulous budget planning that makes our visions both achievable and affordable. Our company has been built on our good name and word-of mouth referrals, so our growth has been relatively slow and organic and response to need. The most challenging phase for sure was starting off with zero clients and a failed economy right at the end of 2008. I was scrambling to gain traction on ANY front, taking any project I could from groupon residential work, to veterinary clinics, to church renovations. It wasn’t until I had lunch with my parent’s former architect that things started to fall into place. I moved into an empty desk space and began sharing projects with Evergreen Architectural Group, and commercial projects started a steady pace. I landed my first multi-family client for Studio B back in 2010, and I work with this client still to this day! Throughout the process I’ve learned to protect my working relationships, and inter-working relationships, and to treat everyone with kindness and respect; you never know how that relationship might become a game-changer down the road!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We might start with a visit to Dallas Museum of Art, enjoying lunch at the DMA Cafe while the light filters through the Dale Chihuly glass exhibit. Then enjoy a walk through the Klyde Warren Park, enjoying the interactive display of people enjoying festivals, yoga, or walking their dogs through the urban green space. For dinner we might land at Catbird, for sure ending the evening on their balcony overlooking the lights of the city.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My shoutout belongs to my Dad. The balance he achieved between affirming my intelligence and capability, and pushing me to become more has fueled the engine for my current successes. As a self-employed contract attorney, he knew the freedom and exhilaration I would experience as the leader of my own work day, income, and life, and he never stopped pointing me towards that destination. It also doesn’t hurt to have your dad create your work contract! I will forever be grateful for the advice, knowledge, push and love he poured into me, which I in-turn could pour back into Studio B Design Group.

Website: www.studiobdesigngroup.com

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