We were lucky to catch up with MOLLY COATH recently and have shared our conversation below.

MOLLY, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

I got my first job as interior designer when I was 18, I have been doing it ever since and this career has really been ‘a calling’ for me but I don’t have a degree. When I saw the role advertised for an Interior Designer for a large homeware company back then it said DO NOT APPLY UNLESS YOU HAVE A DEGREE in big red letters at the top of the application form….but I thought “this job sounds like my dream”…I’m going to go for it anyway – somehow by sheer fluke (and the fact that I put an excessive amount of effort into my application) I got an interview. Then, I got the job. It was crazy, I was the youngest designer but 10 years in the large company and the only one without a degree but I became their ‘top performing’ interior designer, because I had a natural flare, determination and such a huge passion for the role. I was grateful everyday for my job and that showed in the service I provided and the designs I created.

For me, this is a success story because when I was at school they pushed you so much to go to Uni and made you feel like if you didn’t go then you were just rubbish, but when I left school I hadn’t worked out exactly what I wanted to do yet, so I worked for 6 months and got an internship in London whilst I hunted daily to work out exactly what might be right for me, then this role came up and here I am 8 years later with my own interior design business, featured on a BBC interior design series, I have worked with world famous interior designer and for me it just shows that you shouldn’t listen to any “social norms” of what people tell you is right for you…you need to feel it and follow your own path, plus just know that if you have true passion and determination for something – that can take you anywhere.

MOLLY, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Molly Coath, I am 26 and I the creative director of my own Interior Design business MoCo, I also work as a Senior Interior Designer for another fabulous design practice and do a lot of work with brands, content creation, partnerships etc. plus I was on BBC1’s ‘Interior Design Masters’ programme.

I got into this industry with a bit of luck and a lot of determination, after seeing my dream job advertised when I was 18 I applied for it although I was told not too and I was completely not qualified for it – but by putting in a absurd amount of effort I got the job. Then I followed one stepping stone to another, initially working my way up the design company I worked for, then running my own freelance projects on the side (as a side hustle) then making the leap of faith to do it full time when I got too busy juggling both (so my company MoCo became my main hustle!) I learned quite early on that any door that opens, you HAVE to go through it…and I am someone who LOVES her comfort zone at heart and the idea of going out of it terrifies me…but what I have learned is YOU HAVE TO and you will not regret it, any crazy opportunity that I’ve taken has paid off hugely and I hate to think what might have happened if I didn’t: go for that job I wasn’t qualified for, hadn’t applied for the Tv show when I saw it advertised or reached out to famous interior designer Matthew Williamson when I had the chance because all these things got me to where I am today.

I offer a very personal, friendly, open service to my clients. I think that being YOU is the only USP that you can guarentee, because no one can do it like you can – this is what I in-still in my work, there is no “cold professional pretension” here, when I meet my clients I build such a rapport with them, I get to know them and we always end up feeling more like friends, which for me is just so important as my role is very personal and I’m coming into your home, your haven and the most important place in the world to you, so I make sure the process is always collaborative, that we’re working together and that there’s a lot of love put into every project I do.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I had been working full time relentlessly at my first job as an interior designer for a large homeware company whilst building up my own freelance clients on the side. I am someone who is not afraid of hard work (particularly when my work feels more like a hobby as I’m so passionate about it) but I found myself completely drowning in work, I would wake up at 6, do my full time job, get home at 6, then work till around 2/3 o’clock at night on MoCo, whenever I saw my family or friends I had a laptop screen open in front of me and if the work/life balance had been a set of scales…an elephant would’ve been sitting on the work side and a gold fish would’ve been on the life side! So I made the leap to do MoCo full time. It was scary, but exciting and I felt secure as I had already built up a lot of clients that I was working on, whilst having the consistency of a full time job too. It was going great for about 2 months…then the dreaded pandemic hit. All of my clients dried up and disappeared, everyone was terrified about money, uncertainty and health – the last thing they were thinking about was renovating myself, so I found myself with no clients, no work and no stable income in the middle of a global pandemic. At this time I thought…”well Mol; you need money so adapt.” And I went and got s very boring office job stamping invoices for a property developer just to pay the bills (anyone who knows me knows that being in a grey building, with grey suits stamping invoices couldn’t be further from ‘my vibe’) I was completely out of place, I was bored and I hated it….there was such a contrast (almost overnight) from running my own fabulous creative business, having my freedom and designing every day with lovely people to being sat in a miserable building doing miserable admin. SO this was when the show “Interior Design Masters” was advertised – a show on BBC1 prime time where 10 interior designers design new spaces every week and go head to head, trying to create the best design. I had lost all of my confidence, I was becoming more and more introverted and anxious and all my friends told me I should apply…I said no a few times and said “over 2000 people apply for that show, what’s the point? I’ll never get on.”

But I did apply and I did get on the show and it opened so many doors and opportunities for me that without taking that leap I would not be where I am today. I was able to quit my office job, I gained confidence, got experience, learnt a lot and it let me to meet some amazing people who I then went on to work with.

The point is, when doors are slammed in your face, another one WILL open…only if you’re actively looking for it and when you find it. You MUST go through it. No matter how scary – I promise you that things that seem terrifying, very rarely are when you get there.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I would like to shake up the world of interior design. I think the industry has a bit of a ‘stereotype’ of being very elitist, quite intimidating and pretentious. My epitaph for MoCo is “fun, friendly Interior Design with more heart and less pretension.” Design should be fun and your home should feel personal, cozy and be a reflection of you….I always do a professional job without ever being too “stuffy and professional” as I think where we all score in life is just being open, kind and yourself – this is what I bring to my business and to the industry. I am 100% my slightly weirdly dressed, very smiley, very open self and it works for me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mocointerior.com/
• Instagram: @molly.coath
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mollycoath-mocointeriordes7162