We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lauren Pryor-DeJulio. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lauren below.

Hi Lauren, thanks for joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

Designers Resource Collection is the largest multi line showroom on the West Coast. Our location in San Diego is a thriving, creative environment for Designers to come shop and source 250+ lines as a one stop shop. We pride ourselves on building relationships with our clients and offering an unparalleled level of client service that will keep our Design clients coming back for more. My specialty in the showroom in addition to managing the daily sales and operation is immersing myself and assisting designers with full, large scale projects. I love when clients start by bringing in their architectural plans and allow me to assistance them in the specification process, soup to nuts. Furniture selection is my strength and clients know if they are on the hunt for something specific, I will be the one to find it. Something that we like to do that is different from the industry standard when it comes to sourcing is like to reverse engineer sales for our designers, making the purchasing experience much more personal and, interestingly enough, it saves a plethora of time. At the end of the day, the person buying the sofa wants to know how its going to feel when they sit in it — so we start from the end at the beginning and show them around the showroom to have them sit and feel what they like, and go from there on fabric and overall style. We do this because we care about the process for the designer and the end user alike. People trust us because we don’t just take care of them, but we help take care of what they care about – which is their clients. It’s this kind of buy-in and attention to detail that, I believe, separates us from the rest of the industry.

Lauren, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I went to CSU-Sacramento for my undergrad degree in Apparel, Marketing and Design which was my launch point into the creative industry. Growing up I was always a clothes and makeup girl, I would always do all my friends make-up before dances. While in school, I got a job with Benefit, did freelance makeup during my time there, then went to Sephora, and really honed in on both leadership and training leaders. After getting to be a key part of Sephora’s leadership training program through teaching and managing my own store location, I transitioned into Interior Design and haven’t looked back.

8 years ago I got the opportunity to open Designers Resource Collection’s second location in San Diego, and have had the privilege of leading the team here. Everyday we get to interface with Interior Designers, and help make their projects come to life by sourcing their every need for them – from furniture to wall coverings to lighting. Because we work so closely with designers, we get to really help them make their vision and the vision of their clients come to life. I have had the pleasure of working on some big projects, a great example is getting to partner with the owners of Doan Construction in elevating their spec homes by assisting in the specification process for their most recently designed homes at both The Madison Club in Palm Springs and two new builds in Rancho Santa Fe, as well as had a large hand in the renovation of the hotel and casino, Sycuan, as well as their Bar and Grill, the Red Tail.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Our reputation really comes from our consistency in delivering excellence to our clients – both in sourcing for entire projects and customer service, as well as providing a service to designers where there is a large gap in the market but a very distinct need.

DRC showrooms are the only of their kind in the sense that they meet an extremely wide spectrum of the needs for their designers. Need a variety of high quality lines and help with digging through tear sheets to find what you need? We got ‘em. Need a team to support you in project management? We do it, Need someone to run the backend of your orders and manage delivery logistics? We got you. It’s rare to find a ‘one stop shop’ so-to-speak that provides all of those services that come complimentary when you make an order, and we are that rare place.

Any advice for managing a team?

Being the manager of our San Diego DRC, I have learned that it is easy to say something is important, but if it’s not actually upheld in the day to day, it’s going to fall by the wayside — so I am a firm believer in setting clear and realistic expectations, leading by example, and then following up on those expectations with my team.

I think a true leader should set a tone of trust and confidence. I strive to create a team culture where ‘we are all in this together’. In doing so, I feel we have a culture where I know my team well and can celebrate, encourage, challenge and correct each team member according to how they receive it best, which I have seen instills confidence that I care and I keep them in mind even when making hard decisions.

At the end of the day, we are all humans, so appreciating each person’s strengths and differences, and giving grace for them to not be perfect but rather consistently work on growth is how I feel our work environment stays positive and the management dynamic is healthy.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.drcshowroom.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @drcshowroom @lolostyle5
• Linkedin: Lauren Pryor-DeJulio
• Other: Pinterest – DRC Showroom Tiktok – @Drcshowroom

Image Credits
All photos are ours!