NeoCon, Design Days, Chicago Design Week 2026…What do you call it?
For years, I’ve called it “The Interior Design Festival,” and for consistency, that’s exactly what I’ll call it throughout this column.
It’s a community gathering, a true spectacle: interior designers, product designers, manufacturers, representatives and design industry professionals all coming together during one of the most beautiful times of year in Chicago to showcase, learn and celebrate design.
Everyone experiences THE MART and Fulton Market differently, and I love hearing the different ways people navigate what has now become a four-day festival. I’d love to hear your strategy someday.
For me, it’s actually pretty simple. I center my festival around the creatives. While new products bring me to Chicago, it’s the people who keep me returning year after year.
Yes, I love seeing the newest products that have been developed over the past year, watching collections evolve, and appreciating the small details only a designer notices. But what has always left me starry-eyed is the people behind the products, the thought leaders sharing their perspectives, and my peers who constantly remind me why I love this profession. Those are the moments that inspire me.
Over the last 15 years, my approach has shifted. I no longer stay out late, and I don’t drink, but the results remain the same: I will inevitably lose my voice, and I’ll still wake up at 5:30 a.m. no matter how late I go to sleep. The early Chicago sunrise always gets me.
I’ve also added a new item to my Design Festival to-do list: planning my youngest son’s birthday party between showroom visits. This year’s theme? Toy Story 5 watch party for his 5th birthday, and thankfully, it was a hit.
Like most attendees, I have commitments that anchor my schedule, beginning with IIDA. The IIDA Annual Meeting had me in tears this year. Member of the Year, Megan Onley, President of IIDA’s Northern Pacific Chapter, delivered a speech that ended with a statement every working mom should remember to share with her little humans:
“I often think that someday my children might ask, ‘Mom, did you sacrifice your dreams for me?’ And I’ll be able to answer, ‘No, I chased them with you right beside me.'”
As she spoke, I realized how important it is for our children to see what we do outside of our homes and beyond our job titles.
As I step into my role as chair of the IIDA Foundation Board of Trustees, I’ve decided that next year I’ll bring my little fellas to the Annual Meeting so they can see their mom in action.
On the other end of the spectrum, I was thrilled to meet Simone, IIDA President Bill Bouchey’s grown-up daughter, who attended to celebrate her father’s induction into his new position. It was a beautiful reminder of what it looks like when children grow up alongside this industry.
IIDA also knows how to throw a party.
Revel in Design never fails to be one of my favorite festival events. This year’s format felt especially approachable, with Cheryl Durst, executive vice president and CEO, spending time among attendees instead of remaining on stage.
I was grateful to join Teresa Humphrey of Wilsonart at her table alongside Wilsonart Student Essay winner Jermaine Deckard and two of my industry fangirls, Shundra Harris and Marcella Hobbs.
I celebrated beautiful design award recipients while enjoying my salmon…one of the many joys of being a pescatarian. No dry chicken for me.
Years ago, a group of Black and Brown design professionals began a tradition of gathering for a photo at Revel. Watching that tradition grow over time has been incredible. It’s a visual reminder that we are not alone.
I ended my IIDA activities with our in-person Foundation Board meeting at the thoughtfully designed IIDA headquarters.
The IIDA Foundation is dedicated to advancing the commercial interior design profession through grants and funding opportunities, and it genuinely brings me joy to be part of that work. As I transition into the chair role, I’m excited to continue spreading awareness about the many opportunities available through the Foundation.
This year, I had the honor of serving as a juror for the Anna Hernandez/Luna Textiles Visionary Award and was excited to meet recipient Felicia Bonillas, founder and principal designer of Bloom Collective. She shined through her submission and was equally impressive in person. I look forward to watching her and her firm continue to grow.
This year, I also added a new event to my agenda: Interior Design Magazine’s HiP Awards. Like many designers, I never fully understood what HiP stood for. I assumed it was exclusively about honoring manufacturers and products. But now I know there should probably be two P’s: HiPP. Because it means Honoring Industry People and Products.
My coworker, Marcella Hobbs, got me hip to the HiP Awards months ago when she shared that she planned to apply for the Manufacturer for Greater Good category. And she won. She’s already on my Industry fangirl list, and now she can officially add HiP Award winner for The Flourish Society to her resume.
It was an honor to witness and celebrate that moment. As my industry best friends and I have moved beyond late-night adventures, we’ve created a new tradition: Breakfast Club.
It’s a time to laugh, recharge, share life updates, and exchange a few inside jokes over eggs before another full day ahead. A core group of us has maintained this tradition for years now, and I hope we continue it for many more.
Another highlight was the Women of Color in Design meetup at Momentum. Whenever people see a gathering of Black and Brown women in one place, you can almost see the questions forming. What’s going on here? Do I belong here? For us, the answer is simple. Yes, I belong here. I am here. And I’m not the only one. Here we are, together, celebrating our professional presence out loud.
One of my absolute favorite parts of the festival, though, is what I’ll call Festival Collisions.
Those quick corridor hugs you squeeze in because if you don’t do it right then, you may not see each other again all week. They can’t be scheduled. They simply happen.
Some of my favorite collisions this year included officeInsight Editor-in-Chief Rob Kirkbride and his son Liam, Amanda Schneider of ThinkLab, Rebecca Best of Material Bank, Michael Ford, also known as The Hip Hop Architect, and his family, my dear friends, former clients and colleagues.
Rob doesn’t give me enough words to list everyone I collided with, but you know who you are.
Spending time with my team and local representatives also makes the long days fly by. Their passion for the products they represent is inspiring, and I already know we’ll be laughing back in Austin about hula hooping, Uber Eats deliveries from across the street and rigging a belt lock due to the deadbolt that didn’t work on our Airbnb.
Navigating the Interior Design Festival may very well be the ultimate team-building exercise. I’ve learned that when you arrive without a rigid agenda and remain genuinely curious about people, relationships grow organically.
There is incredible value in finding your people and knowing that can be your power. Because at the end of the day, long after the showroom visits are over, you’ll remember how the people at the Interior Design Festival made you feel.