We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alida Coury. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alida below.

Alida, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.

Starting into my official interior design career is hard to pinpoint exactly because my friends and family have always brought their design questions to me. And I also was born into design being a daughter to an interior designer. But I would have to say when I first recall getting serious about starting my own business, I then began the design field with babies and children’s bedrooms. My cousin was one of the first people to ask me to do design work for her 3 girls. And then one of her closest friends hired me to do her 3 girls’ rooms.  That is so special to be asked to create for the littles growing into the world. I was so honored to be trusted with these spaces. And to be paid doing what I love was the cherry on top.   I selected everything for their rooms from lighting to furniture and was hand painting the walls for a customized space for each child.  I had so much nervous excitement to be paid for my time being creative and using a skill that comes more easily from the time I was a tot.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a boutique interior design studio based in Southern California curating projects to each client’s lifestyle. From the beginning I was immersed in the art world through my mother who is also an interior designer. I would shadow her as a very young child at our design center- The Merchandise Mart of Chicago. To this day, it is still one of my favorite places to source for projects. Who could turn down perusing samples while being lured with candy and snacks?

However my road to interior design was a very winding path. I had a few hungry years in the entertainment industry. I worked as an extra for The Young and the Restless at CBS studios down the street from my LA apartment. But when they did not need me I kept busy tapping in with whatever work Central Casting would send me. And then later I ended up behind the lens doing PA work, assisting executive producers, and had a hand in casting reality shows for CBS. The casting job was actually sourced through a friend I met working at Crate & Barrel Los Angeles. And if I can run off on that tangent for a second – I want to say in retrospect that was one of the best retail companies I worked for. I loved the people I worked with and the design environment. I learned so much about furniture construction, quality of materials, where things are sourced, and I still have many friends from that job. And I will add it was not too shabby offering design advice to random celebrities here and there. There were some crazy moments from those interactions, but I won’t mention any names.

But back to the design path that led me here. While I was at my CBS casting job, my husband saw that I was not fulfilling my creative side. So we moved back to my hometown of Chicago and I began my side hustle of working for Chanel as a makeup artist while my husband pursued music. In the back of my mind I started to put thought into what I wanted to do next. I kept pondering what would bring design back into the picture but was not quite seeing it clearly yet. So after enduring many harsh winters, years later we moved back to our old neighborhood in the Fairfax District LA. I transferred my make up artistry job to work at The Grove. Being back in California I was ready to start doing something different even though I loved those I worked with in the make up department. On the side of my artistry job I began training for my first (and only) marathon for APLA AIDS. It was there I met a woman who owned a few furniture stores in the area. Through her I made a turn into home staging, because she had a division through her furniture company. And I left retail…again.

Staging was like playing adult house inside beautiful properties throughout the Southern California region. My “clients” for these homes were potential buyers. So I could imagine what the space would call for and help make it feel like home to a broader audience. It was such a great experience working with realtors and getting to understand the market. But I think having to always design in such a neutral fashion for the buyer made me crave more from the design stand point. It was then my husband and I got hitched in Cozumel, Mexico and decided to move back to the suburbs of Chicago to start a family.

While back in the Chicago burbs, I worked for my Mom’s design studio and did some of my own smaller design jobs. I also went back into retail to work for Chanel to supplement my income. Are you seeing a pattern yet? Retail was always a saving grace.. But it was quite a long road to getting into the design business. And that double job gig lasted for quite some time. It was a grind. Until I met one very special client at the make up counter named Laura Murphy. She was a realtor in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. She never saw me do any design when she hired me. We just clicked. She started hiring me to do residential design work and recommended me to her circle. That is when I was finally able to phase out of retail and out of my Mom’s office. By that point my step father wanted me to start running my own books and my Mom was still trying to retire.

So in the middle of a downturn in the economy of 2008 I was beginning my first attempt at owning my own business of an interior design studio with no parachute. It was scary and tough. It had some dark moments but I had such faith in doing what I loved. Giving up was not an option. However do not think that it was free of tears. It was one of the hardest periods of my business story. I was pregnant with my son and working 7 days a week, as was my husband. So in that time period we entered into a moment of supplementing our income with food stamps. We just did not have enough to cover all costs. It was a very humbling experience. But I will say that I am very grateful because my story could have been way more difficult. At least I always have had steady work.

Over the years I built my business through referrals. It is still 90% of how I obtain work. I know that my clients are the driving force of my business. And I work hard to keep that going. I would say I am most proud of that. That they see my efforts and value me/my work and then mention that to people they know. It means so much to me. And that network of clients who keep sharing my name has led me to work all over the United States. And what is even wilder to me is that I source for them all over the world.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I would say my experience of needing to work multiple jobs 7 days a week had shaped my hard work ethic. I had to push myself in having long hours every day of the week to bring about a successful business. And that was a lot of sacrificing family and friend time. I think that became an unhealthy pattern of knowing if I worked until 3am and on weekends then I could take on more work. So through the years I would just stay busy instead of being social. Because I did not want to go back to the days when we struggled. And what I am unlearning at this very moment is to balance work and family/pleasure. I am still having trouble shutting down while I have time off, or am not always great about taking weekends off, or I still continue to struggle with not responding to business calls, texts, or emails after hours. And what I learned from all this behavior is that it caused my health to take a turn, because I put too much stress on my body. I am least proud of that. In turn I highly recommend not living to work. Because when you look back you are going to regret missing time with those you love and a having a sound mind and body. Because all the money in the world can not buy you back time or health. So these days I am trying to live in less fear and make more space for life and for rest.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

In reference to all the previous discussion on time and health, I wish I had invested in someone working in the back of the house/management a long time ago. If I am honest it would have been hard to move into that decision any sooner, because it does pose somewhat of a financial risk. But recently I finally did seek outside help, and it was then that I was able to attempt a healthier work schedule. And at times it is still hard for me to release control when I am so used to doing the inner workings alone. But as I am seeing the fruits beginning to blossom from investing all the time and funding I am finding balance. This newly implemented business plan and advice is freeing up space for a life outside of work and allowing me time to focus on creativity when I am in my design studio.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alidacoury.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alidacouryinteriors/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alida-coury-interiors-3089a5a

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