Meet Casey Brand | Interior Designer & Community Activist

I love this question, and have run it through my brain multiple times to ensure I did it justice.  My work in the community and my work in my Design business take about equal part’s of my brain. I truly don’t see one without the other. It goes way back nearly 30 years, when I was in my early years as a hairstylist, I realized the gift of the work I did could change the way people felt about themselves, so I would bring in homeless people on slow days (when my boss what out of the salon, shhhhh) and would give them the full treatment, wash their clothes, do their beards and send them out with a new confidence in themselves.  When my kids started school,  I was able to start a running club at their school with kids whom might not otherwise have  been able to participate in sports, and then joined as a coach for a local group called FPR, we have sent kids to the junior Olympics and some hold national titles.  My focus is both local and overseas communities that are grassroots with boots on the ground. A few years ago, was able to fund a school in Guatelmala that employed local villagers to build it while using natural resources for the structure, allowing for almost all of the money to stay in the community. Currently,  I am trying to come up with a viable way for people to learn construction trades on the job, in order to allow them a better opportunity in the future. I have a vision of a full women construction crew, all with benefits and the flexibility to be able to care for their families. I am in the process of starting a new business with another designer with pillows and other lifestyle items, and in that, every pillow purchased we will donate a pillow to a shelter for woman and children. There is genuinely not a day that goes by that I am not in contact with or noodling an idea that incorporates the underserved and unseen. Giving back is what keeps me going. The more I can make, the more I can give!

As an interior Designer, I have metamorphosed over the years in my business immensely, but the one thing that I have always tried to do is give great customer service. I have no doubt that anyone who goes into design has talent and can appeal to a type of client, but none of us can appeal to all clients. that took me years to be ok with.  I am someone who wants everyone to live in a beautiful space, and I would like to create that for them, all the people, everywhere. That just isn’t reality.  So over the years, I have really dialed in on the type of client that I feel I can do the most for. I have learned that to be true to your craft you have to let go of projects that just aren’t in your a fit for both you and the client.   I am constantly in awe of design and what a gift a well designed home can be to a family. Every part of your day is impacted by your home, and I take that very personally. I am no doctor, and I don’t save lives, however, I create the spaces in which you and your family not only celebrate 1st birthdays, romantic dinners, and college acceptances,  but also care for your sick partners and children.  I feel a sense of great honor when invited in to help give people what they have been dreaming of and saving for.