Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shana Jenkins. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Shana, thanks for joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

As “they” say, great things take time. I learned the long and hard way that the ‘time’ is actually God’s. I started my interior design business, A Stiletto Décor, LLC in 2017, but due to life being life, raising kids, and having to prioritize in some places and sacrificing in others, I wasn’t able to fully launch into entrepreneurship until October 2024.

I got the idea of pursuing interior design in my sophomore year of college (2005/2006) while getting my bachelor’s degree in Fashion Merchandising. I would always rearrange the furniture in the apartment I shared with my roommates until one day one suggested I pursue interior design. I had never even heard of interior design, but I looked it up, learned it was “a thing”, and never looked back! I was so grateful to find that my years of pursuing fashion weren’t wasted. Like fashion, a lot of the courses for interior design included learning about textiles, fabric, and color coordination, so when I got my Interior Design Certification after graduating college in 2008, I was already ahead of the game. #LookatGod!

Once I was done with school, I developed a post- college strategy to only work jobs in the home furnishings sector of retail, starting with ready-made furniture stores that eventually led me to high- end, custom, interior design showrooms. I figured rather than going back to school and accumulating more debt, I would kill two birds with one stone-learn the trade while getting paid- but in the back of my mind, running my own business was always the goal. The everyday furniture stores provided sales experience and knowledge of home furnishings, while the design showrooms provided the hands- on learning experience that helped me learn how to work with design clients and thoroughly execute in-home consultations, create floor plans, develop mood boards, and perform design presentations. This strategy laid the foundation for the operational side of having an interior design business.

I took two hard blows between starting the business in 2017 and fully launching into entrepreneurship in 2024. The first was a custody battle for my kids which we revisited twice between 2017 and 2021 which took a lot of time and money, and then mid-year 2022 when ‘I’ decided it was the right time to try my hand at entrepreneurship. When ‘I’ decided it was the right time, I ended up broke, without a car, no lights, and feeling like I was losing everything but what was left of my mental state after the pandemic and the custody battle, but when God decided it was the right time, things began to take off. In August of 2023, God placed on my heart to document the struggles I had overcome and publish my Distinguished Author’s Guild, award-winning memoir, “The Prettiest Woman”.

In July of 2024, I established a non- profit organization for girls ages 7-15 called The Prettiest Little Women Ministries, INC. “PLW” is a self-discovery mentorship program that focuses on helping young girls discover who they are from the inside out, who God created them to be, and what He created them to do. I released a self-help workbook entitled, “Butterflies are Meant to Fly, not to be Kept in a Jar,” for individuals who can relate to the feelings that I felt while working for someone else. I am currently teaming up with local realtors and investors to push the importance of home ownership and investing, while leveraging the opportunity to secure more design clients and staging opportunities for A Stiletto Décor. My journey has been a true testament that all things work together, you just have to keep pushing, never give up, and really pay attention to how God is ordering your steps, and MOVE!

Shana, 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?

Sure! I am the mother of two beautifully and wonderfully made children. I am the author of the Distinguished Author’s Guild award-winning book, “The Prettiest Woman”. I am a youth mentor, interior designer, and lover of all things Jesus! I am the owner of a business called A Stiletto Décor, LLC DBA The Prettiest Woman, which is an interior design company by passion and a personal development and self-discovery platform by purpose, and I love pouring into others, especially young girls and women with my non-profit organization called The Prettiest Little Women Ministries, INC.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I bet many people think I’m crazy for stepping out on faith (again) to pursue my passion of interior design. In early 2022, I was leveraging a job that I was working to enhance my design skills and build clientele. I thought I was “living the best life,” until I reached a point where I could literally see money coming in one hand and going right out the other. Eventually, I had to take a leave of absence from that job to focus on my mental health. That job was 100% commission-based, which meant no work, no income. My car got repossessed, I was catching rides with whoever would make time and room to transport me, and I had to borrow money to keep my utilities on. But because of my faith I knew that the space I was in was only for a season. I truly believed God did not desire to see me fail, and I held on to the belief that He had more in store for me. I had to realize that “more” was not going to come from working longer hours for someone else, but from me figuring out who I am and what God created me to do and do it. I used the downtime to write an award-winning book, I found a job that helped me get back on my feet, and I took a leap of faith and tried again! After almost two year I walked away from that job, and this time, I’m not working for someone else’s company by God’s choice. I have a book that has been the key to opening doors to rooms filled with other professionals and entrepreneurs, and I’m pursuing purpose and passion God’s way, and I’m flourishing!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I think the biggest lesson I had to unlearn was that the only way to be successful was to go to school, get a job, save your money, and work until retirement. That’s what worked for our parents and our grandparents and many people before us, but the truth is, we (especially millennials) realize there is so much more to life and we are going for it, and not waiting for someone else to tell us when we can have it or how we’re supposed to get it. We have a lot more access to resources and information, and we’re taking risks to obtain it. Our generation has learned that the old saying is true, there is more than one way to skin a cat, except when we discover those ways, we leverage them and build our own pathways from it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.astilettodecor-tpw.com
• Instagram: @_theprettiestwoman23_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1RaB4qfeYf/

Image Credits

Maria Wright-Colyer