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

Lindsay, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about growing your team – how did you recruit the first few people, what was the process like, how’d you go about training and if you were to start over today would you have done anything differently?

I was the first employee hired to start Dynamik Interiors. A previous client reached out to me about the opportunity of heading up a new interiors studio. I took a shot and it payed off! Its a lot of work starting a studio from scratch and finding the right people to build the team with when everything is new. When figuring out who the next person would be to join me I reached out to several different designers that I had worked with in the past. Some took the bait but the right one finally to a bite and turns out ended up working with the architects previously while at a different firm. So everyone kind of already had an idea of who they were getting when she started. The process of hiring the right designers is more than just talent, they have to have the right personality and be the right fit not just for the team for but the company as well. In this case they also had to be willing to take a chance on something new while also learning about the design process.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am currently the Director of Interior Design for Dynamik Interiors. In 2021 we became a part of the Dynamik Design architecture firm and we work on commercial projects for multi-family, student housing and hospitality. We also have a procurement portion of the interiors studio that allows us to be able to purchase the furniture for our projects. It is hard to say what one is most proud of because it all feels like a blur for the last 18 months trying to get a new studio started, market to new clients, build the standards for the studio and meet the needs and schedules of all of the projects we are working on at one time. They are all in different stages but their are a lot of moving parts to each project. If I have to pick something I am proud that I took the challenge of helping to build the new Dynamik Interiors brand. Everyone on the team has come from different firms and brings something different to the table which is always great when you are working in a creative field.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2009 I had just moved to Atlanta the year prior and was working at a small firm design banks and credit unions. Exciting stuff I know! We were waiting on a big project to come through that would have kept all of us busy at least for a few more months. Unfortunately that did happen and about half of us were laid off due to the recession. I worked a little for another architecture firm doing business development but with things slowing down there wasn’t a whole lot of work to be done. Soon after I moved on to a furniture dealership for about a year. This at least kept me in the industry even though I was specifying furniture. It wasn’t the worst job but I didn’t really enjoy it all that much. At the end of it I knew quite a bit about furniture which would later help me during the design process on other projects.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Being a part of the IIDA Georgia chapter organization and making sure that I went to as many events as I could to meet different designers in the city. In 2018 I was given the opportunity to be the chairman of one of our signature events, Dressed. It is our industry fashion show where firms sign up and design a garment based on the theme of that year using materials that we specify for projects. It is one of my favorite events to be a part of every year. As the chairman I was in charge of everything with the help of the amazing committee and it gave me the opportunity to be on stage in front of the entire industry. From that year on almost everyone in the Atlanta design community knew who I was after that event. In doing that I was able to put myself in a position to meet more people in the design industry and expand my network when it was time to make a job change.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @lindsayj_shockey @dynamikinteriors
• Facebook: Lindsay Shockey
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-shockey-ncidq-iida-16693513/

Image Credits
Tony Tyus J.Blanchard Photography