2022 Speakers
Nationally acclaimed designer Corey Damen Jenkins mixes vivid colors with layered patterns to create architecturally inspired spaces that are polished, inventive and unexpected. Taking cues from the haute couture runway, his projects feature luxurious and refined materials. “My goal is to ensure that my clients’ homes are always classic, livable and without an expiration date,” states the designer. Corey has worked with clients hailing from the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, and his firm maintains a New York City office.
Corey is an inducted member of Architectural Digest's AD100, and in 2020, he was named to ELLE Decor's prestigious A-List. His bold interiors have graced the front covers of House Beautiful, Traditional Home and more. He has also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Detroit News, and Vanity Fair. His first coffee table book, Design Remix: A New Spin On Traditional Rooms (Rizzoli), was released worldwide in March 2021.
Corey has been featured in a number of broadcast opportunities. Televised audiences declared him the winner of HGTV’s competition series Showhouse Showdown, and Corey has appeared as a guest design expert on The Rachael Ray Show and Open HouseTV. In August 2021, Corey made his debut as a MasterClass instructor, with a course on interior design.
Corey has also been the recipient of numerous industry honors including the New York School of Interior Design's Larry Kravet Design Industry Leadership Award, Traditional Home’s New Trad Rising Star of Design Award, Fashion Group International’s Night Of Stars Award For Interior Design and the D&D Building’s Stars On The Rise Award. In 2019, he was invited to design the formal “Ladies Library” for the renowned Kips Bay Decorator Show House New York, and he also participated in the Kips Bay Decorator Show House Dallas 2021, for which he designed the formal dining room, titled “A Tent for New Beginnings.”
Corey resides in New York City and is a tireless advocate for many charities, including the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Andrew Davis is a bestselling author and internationally acclaimed keynote speaker. Before building and selling a thriving digital marketing agency, Andrew produced for NBC’s Today Show, worked for The Muppets in New York and wrote for Charles Kuralt. He's appeared in the New York Times, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and on NBC and the BBC. Davis has crafted documentary films and award-winning content for tiny start-ups and Fortune 500 brands.
Recognized as one of the industry's "Jaw-Dropping Marketing Speakers," Andrew is a mainstay on global marketing influencer lists. Wherever he goes, Andrew Davis puts his infectious enthusiasm and magnetic speaking style to good use teaching business leaders how to grow their businesses, transform their cities, and leave their legacy.
Some of Andrew's accolades include:
• One of the Top 25 Jaw-dropping Marketing Speakers You Must See -(Along with Gary Vaynerchuck, Seth Godin & Rohit Bhargava)
• Top 20 on Meetings & Conventions Magazine's List of Favorite Speakers-
(Right after President Bill Clinton and Anderson Cooper.)
Emily Shaw, best known under her TikTok handle @emilyrayna, went viral with her series that followed her journey as she completely renovated her parents' home as a surprise over the course of one month. Her YouTube Channel and TikTok are @emilyrayna, and her Instagram is @emilyraynadesigns, are now destinations for decor and design content, budget-friendly home projects, and her series "DM DIY," where she helps solve her viewers' biggest design dilemmas. She graduated with a degree in Interior Design/Architecture and currently lives in New Hampshire.
CEO, Savour Partnership
www.savourpartnership.com
Founder, #DesignCoffeeChat, a Clubhouse Club.
https://joinclubhouse.com/club/design-coffee-chat
Owner, Design Happy Living, a lifestyle blog
designhappyliving.com
Named by Home Furnishing News Magazine as one of the Top 40 Most Inspiring Women In Home, Leslie Carothers pioneered the use of social media marketing and influencer marketing within the interior design and home furnishings industries. In addition to running her business, Savour Partnership, she is a nationally known keynote speaker, a well known influencer herself in the design space, and has been featured in, and written articles for, numerous design related publications over the years. Her company, Savour Partnership, celebrating its 20th year in business in 2022, has helped many luxury furniture and home decor related brands and interior designers with their digital marketing strategy, execution, social media PR, influencer marketing initiatives, branding, online publication production, social media PR, and website project management. She has a long history of innovating within the digital marketing space.
Her innovations have included: implementing the USA’s first ever furniture product development initiative in the metaverse of Second Life, implementing the USA’s first ever multi-brand influencer marketing program and most recently, in 2020/2021, acting as co-principal in the world’s first virtual designer showhouse influencer marketing initiative - a collaboration between 15 sponsoring brands and 11 interior designers - a showhouse that included both augmented reality and virtual reality components.
Other innovations include being the first agency to offer shoppable digital magazine creation on behalf of brands and designers within the home furnishings and interior design industry. She is currently the editor in chief of Seasonal Living Magazine - a lifestyle magazine that publishes the work of 3 interior designers in each issue - now in its 16th edition.
Most recently, she is the founding advisory partner and an investor in the world’s first international search engine, Ethos Design Collective, that allows consumers to search for vetted luxury designers to hire - a rapidly growing membership collective of the world's top interior designers due to the member benefits and the legal promise in the terms and conditions to never sell products against a designer's images.
Ms. Carothers was also an early adopter of Facebook Groups and Clubhouse. She runs the popular Clubhouse Club, #DesignCoffeeChat, where the furniture and design industry meet every Saturday morning at 9 am CT to talk about what's on their minds, and she also runs the popular Facebook Group, #DesignWealth, for interior designers who are interested in all aspects of designing passive income into their websites.
Often quoted in Forbes, in 2021, she was named by Modenus Media's Design Hounds as a 2021 Changemaker, and in January 2022 as a Top 200 Influencer in Interior Design by Fixr.com.
In her spare time, she is a long time volunteer board member of the Bienenstock Furniture Library and also writes a colorful and popular lifestyle blog, Design Happy Living, where brands like Thibaut and Global Views have collaborated with her to reach new consumer/designer audiences.
As Director of Social Media at ultraviolet, Sarah develops and implements engaging social media campaigns across our client channels. She also has oversight of cross-platform content planning, marketing strategy, management, and execution. Sarah works tirelessly to help clients build online communities, hit their targets, and turn their goals into reality across platforms. Prior to joining UV, she worked with best-in-class brands such as ELOQUII, NARS, MAC Cosmetics, David Yurman, Diane von Furstenberg, and Clé de Peau Beauté.
Outside of ultraviolet, Sarah is a socially connected influencer, has been the star of viral videos, and helped lead an anti-body shaming campaign that earned an apology from O, the Oprah Magazine. As a thought-leader in plus size fashion, her writing has appeared in TIME, CNN, Teen Vogue, Glamour, InStyle, and Lucky. With an approach that is more Role Model than Runway Model, Sarah has built a credible connection with the fashion community as a whole.
Jessica Davis is the founder of her multi-faceted design studio Atelier Davis, and creative director of the innovative hardware brand Nest Studio. With an Art History degree from Princeton University and a Master’s in Interior Design from The New England School of Art and Design, Jessica offers a creative vision that spans across interiors and product with influences found in historic and contemporary art and architecture.
Jessica’s Chinese-American heritage, multitude of travels, and years living in Asia, Australia and the United States influence her design process, as she aims to devise spaces that tell a story about their inhabitants and the way they live. With offices in Atlanta and New Jersey, her work spans hospitality projects, residential new-builds, and restorations.
Through the Nest Studio brand, and Atelier Davis studio, she has supported fellow working mothers, and socially-conscious manufacturers and suppliers to create inspiring hardware, and interiors. As a founding member of AAPI Design Alliance, she hopes to bring awareness to this community of artisans, fellow designers, and industry peers. Jessica is on ELLE Décor’s A-List and her work has been featured by ELLE Décor, The New York Times, House Beautiful, The Wall Street Journal and more.
As the Director of Marketing and Communications for the High Point Market Authority, Ashley Grigg manages a wide variety of projects, including media relations, educational programming, social media and
digital promotions for the largest home furnishings trade show in the world, High Point Market. With over 13 years of experience in marketing and event management, she has previously worked in event management, association management, corporate fundraising, and business development.
Kyla Herbes is the founder and creator behind the interior design blog House Of Hipsters where she shares corners of her home, daily doses of interior inspiration, style tips, and inspires her 700k+ followers to do it themselves.
When TikTok exploded during the 2020 pandemic, and Kyla went all in on the platform. As a result, she was hired by TikTok to become a Creative Learning Partner, and her account was featured in Furniture, Lighting & Decor Magazine, Yahoo News, Southern Living, and Exhibit A as one to watch in the home decor niche.
Prior to starting her blog, she worked as the Creative Director at a boutique ad agency in downtown Chicago. Kyla lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband Thorsten and 2 children.
Adam Japko is CEO of Esteem Media and founder of the Design Influencers Conference. Esteem Media is home to leading national and local media brands in the luxury home design, gardening, and fine wine communities; focused on connecting professionals and consumers around their passions and businesses. Design Influencers Conference, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, New England Home, and WineZag leverage events, print media, social media, blogs, and digital marketing… but overall, community connection as the catalyst for their constituents’ commercial success.
Voted one of Atlanta’s Top 20 Residential Interior Designs by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Kandrac & Kole has been featured on HGTV as well as in The New York Times, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Home Magazine and many others as well as participants of the One Room Challenge Spring 2020. Kandrac & Kole has established a well known reputation for their approachable, dynamic personalities, their signature use of color and pattern and their one of a kind, custom designs.
As industry experts for residential and commercial design, Joann Kandrac & Kelly Kole share upbeat and entertaining narratives regarding their design projects, travels and personal stories via their podcast Inside Design with Kandrac & Kole and national speaking engagements. Joann and Kelly’s love and commitment to the power of interior design also extends towards their charity work throughout the U.S. and Guatemala.
Libby Langdon is an interior designer, author, product designer and makeover television personality, as well as the creative force behind New York City–based design firm Libby Interiors, Inc. She is known for her “Easy, Elegant, Everyday Style,” as well as her licensed home-furnishing collections, including lighting for Crystorama, rugs for KAS, artwork for Paragon, a complete home collection of upholstery and casegoods for Fairfield Chair, and accessories for A&B Home, which is slated to debut at High Point Market in October 2021. Her interior design work and home products have been featured in leading shelter magazines, including Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Traditional Home, Hamptons Cottages & Gardens, Better Homes and Gardens, and Woman’s Day. Langdon has been a regular design expert on NBC’s TODAY Show, HGTV’s Small Space, Big Style, The View, The Rachael Ray Show, The Early Show and NBC’s Open House. Langdon travels the country presenting her design seminars to consumers, designers and retailers about all things design.
Joshua Monge is a Senior SEO Consultant with a strong background in Operations and Economics. His work history includes On-Premise Staffing Agency Manager, Multi-Family Dwelling Unit Manager, and Director of Economic Development. Joshua has helped hundreds of businesses at every level in these capacities, from small, single-owner operations to large, corporate establishments. He has the unique advantage of working with various businesses at many levels of engagement.
Local community involvement is significant to Joshua. He chairs the Development Committee for the Board of Directors for Eugene Education Foundation (EEF) and helps facilitate educational efforts to bridge the gap between industry and education. He has brought together regional business owners and academic leaders to provide industry tours, student internships, job shadows, and externships for teachers.
Joshua started Waymaker SEO near the beginning of 2020, leveraging his experience to provide a holistic approach to SEO. His book of clients includes a celebrity chef, a social media influencer in home design, several consulting businesses. He works with several agencies to provide enterprise-level support. He specializes in organic approaches so that marketing online is organized and accessible. He seeks to remove the mystery of the worldwide web by giving business owners and managers access to the SEO knowledge and skills they need to manage websites effectively.
Rachel Moriarty aka: The Queen of Color, is the Principal Designer and Creative Director of the multidisciplinary design studio, Rachel Moriarty Interiors. Since launching her design studio in 2014, she has made her mark in the luxury residential market in San Diego with her colorfully coastal aesthetic. Rachel embodies her personal belief that color adds interest and excitement to the world, and, like a chef seasoning a meal, she sprinkles it liberally to add passion and flavor to each of her projects. Her work has garnered awards, media coverage and global recognition, enabling her to expand her studio to not only interior design clients but also to brands as a licensee, collaborator and global brand ambassador
Ericka Saurit has worked with interior design and marketing teams in the home industry for nearly 20 years. She began her career as an interior designer, and transitioned to marketing for the home industry in 2011. As a global brand marketing leader, she has overseen digital product development and brand strategy at Airbnb, created immersive physical and virtual brand experiences for Tag Heuer and Estee Lauder, and worked with top home brands in the US, Europe, and Asia to develop impactful brand messaging and engagement campaigns.
In 2020, she founded Saurit Creative to serve interior designers and home brands with integrated marketing strategy, content creation, social storytelling, and diverse range of digital services.
Molly Schoneveld has a niche expertise representing the industry's top interior designers, celebrities, and hotels. With 20+ years of experience, she has secured countless notable press placements including the New York Times, AD, Vanity Fair, and Vogue (to name a few.) Molly is incredibly selective in who she represents—giving her clients exclusive access to her network—taking them from industry leaders to nationally recognized, house-hold names.
Molly began her career in Hollywood working directly under Academy award-winning producer Brian Grazer. She was soon recruited to powerhouse entertainment firm PMK, where she worked with A-list talent like Kevin Bacon, Gerard Butler and Olivia Wilde. Working in the luxury glitz and glam of Hollywood gave her such VIP experiences as being helicoptered on to the speedway with the cast of “Talladega Nights” in Chicago and attending the world premiere and press junket of “World War Z” in London starring Brad Pitt and her client Mireille Enos.
She started her lifestyle blog, The Sought After, in 2008 as a passion project, showcasing finely curated boutique hotels and luxury experiences such as the Ritz Paris and a design tour through London she contributed to California Home & Design magazine. This content creation gave her a deeper understanding of the work that goes into building personal brands with impact, and how influencers can help support growing brands.
Over the years as her experience grew, so did her client roster and relationships with editors. Career highlights Include putting the interior design firm Hammer and Spear on the map as a design destination in the downtown L.A. Arts District, and helping to transform Golden Door, which had become a tired brand that was once a pioneer in the wellness industry, back Into what Conde Nast Traveler recently called, "The Most Iconic Spa."
Molly now oversees her incredible team, while being very hands on with her clients—many of whom have been with her for over eight years.
Originally from South Africa, Mally Skok is a Palm Beach-based interior design and textile artist. Since launching her successful interior design business after moving to the United States, Mally has built a client base that is enamored by her creative mix of layering the new with the old, and transforming homes into comfortable, colorful living spaces. Mally Skok Design's globally-inspired collection of hand-painted fabric and wallpaper designs is offered in thirteen showrooms in the U.S. and abroad.
Jennifer Smiga is the creative catalyst behind ultraviolet, a marketing agency specializing in luxury manufacturers, designers, and creative brands. With over a decade of experience representing international companies and influencers, Smiga knows that connecting the right people and telling meaningful stories are the keys to engaging a loyal community. Equal parts visionary and tenacious executor, she has built a team that intimately understands the design ecosystem, empowering them to create custom brand blueprints that make companies stand out. To learn more about marketing at a higher frequency, visit ultravioletagency.com.
Chad Smith is a seasoned Entrepreneur with proven track record of starting, growing and selling companies in the home furnishings industry. An effective communicator with strong leadership, decision-making, and negotiation skills. Skilled in Business Strategy & Development, Sales, Marketing, and Execution and passionate about helping small independent businesses compete against the big guys.
Nancy Soriano leads content for the luxury ecommerce platform Perigold. A media executive with a proven track record in strategizing, creating and guiding content to drive revenue and build customer engagement, Nancy is known for her creative and strategic approach to storytelling for brands and media. She is the former Editorial Director for West Elm and Editor in Chief of Country Living Magazine.
Mollie is Co-Founder and CEO of White Label Studio, a boutique marketing agency located In Calhoun Georgia that services 29 clients mainly In the Home and Fashion Industries. After 15 years in corporate America, I was ready for more. I wanted to work with a variety of businesses and help them build marketing strategies with measurable actions that drive results. As a working mom, I wanted to build a company that valued flexibility, family, and a culture of partnership and inclusion. This passion and commitment led me to start White Label Studio in 2017 with a long-time friend and co-worker, Elise Demboski. The company name reflects my upbringing in the wedding industry. Born and raised in a suburb north of Atlanta, I grew up in my family’s growing couture bridal business (ahem, so many white dresses). I also enjoy working out, spending time with my husband and two girls, and caring for our petting zoo (dog, 2 bunnies, 3 turtles, and 2 fish).
As Jaipur Living’s Director of Brand and Strategic Partnerships, Sasha Wallace, MBA, does more than just crank out amazing content. With more than 10 years of editorial and inbound marketing experience, she is passionate about creating authentic connections and valuable, business-changing content through compelling storytelling and targeted messaging.
With experience working for brands such as Calvin Klein, Salvatore Ferragamo, Saint Laurent, and Nars Cosmetics, her chameleon-like adaptability is unmatched. Regardless of the occasion—tradeshow, fashion show or a private gala—Sasha has one result in mind: to ignite a feeling that resonates and is rooted in a brand differentiator, with a strategy that drives measurable results.
Currently, Sasha nurtures relationships with top brands and organizations such as ASID, Interior Design Society, NEST, and The Haven List, as well as countless interior designers who seek her insight on marketing trends within the interior design industry.
Sasha holds an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from LIM College and a BA in Business Administration/Marketing from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.
It could be the curious curves on a vintage 70s sofa, the soft hand of a sumptuous bouclé textile, the textured finish of a natural stone, or perhaps a bold embroidery detail woven on a well-crafted couture jacket that catches the eye of interior designer Cara Woodhouse. Because for this designer, the journey of inspiration is anything but singular.
Having called Los Angeles, London and now New York home, Cara imparts a distinct global sensibility throughout her New York-based, full-service design firm where she casts her clients as her greatest collaborators. Whether she’s designing a townhouse in London or the West Village, a Central Park West apartment, a Nantucket getaway, a home in Miami, the Playboy offices in Beverly Hills, or a mid century-modern home in West Hollywood, you can always count on a stroke of unexpected artistry balanced by chic earth elements.
In the end, Cara is a firm believer that every interior should render an experience, and as her career flourishes she continues to produce evocative spaces that run the gamut from punchy and whimsical to craft-forward and storied.
From her days in the Peace Corps to now helping rehabilitate people who have survived trauma through The Oasis Alliance, Danielle’s journey has always been about helping others. Having experienced certain traumas herself, she understands their needs. Today she uses her talent to run The Oasis Alliance, the nonprofit she founded. With the help of her all-volunteer executive team and talented members of the community, her team provides home makeovers for families who have lived in shelters, homeless veterans, teenaged mothers who are pursuing higher education, children who have been abused, and other survivors of trauma. Her dedication and commitment make her a light and resource for those who need it most.
Zandra Zuraw is the founder of Little Yellow Couch, an interior design coaching platform for passionate home owners. She's also the host of the popular podcast, Style Matters, which has logged in over 250 interviews with the most creative people working in the interiors industry. Within the first year, Style Matters landed on the coveted iTunes' New and Noteworthy list and is now in the top 1% of most downloaded podcasts across all categories, globally. They are on track to reach 1 million downloads by the 2nd quarter of 2022. Little Yellow Couch has been featured in many media outlets such as Dominio, Better Homes & Gardens, USA Today, and Podcast Magazine. Zandra has also been a speaker at several creative business conferences in the US and Canada talking about the business of podcasting and design. With 25+ years of experience teaching herself how to create beautiful, meaningful homes, she has developed her own step-by-step Slow Style approach to teaching others how to do the same. Along with the podcast, Zandra has also created a monthly membership called "The Slow Style Society", she teaches an online course called "Master The Mix," and hosts in-person signature style retreats.
