Courtney Allison believes in the power of patina, that fresh flowers and a chandelier belong in every room and that the mix of rustic & refined is perfection. When she isn’t behind the computer blogging- she works freelance as a photographer and stylist for magazines, loves to travel and you might also find her sitting on the beach with her toes in the sand and a beach bag filled with peonies.
Courtney writes the blog French Country Cottage where she shares lifestyle, design, DIY & the on-going renovations of her 1940’s cottage. With a style that is a little bit shabby and french country with a touch of cottage mixed in- she loves the mix of rustic & refined in a space and doesn’t like to follow all those design rules. Except for the one about decorating with what you love. She thinks if it makes you happy when you walk in a room- it is perfect. When she isn’t blogging- she also works freelance as a photographer & stylist and loves to travel. She is the author of her first book French Country Cottage now in its third reprint.
Award-winning, Baton Rouge-based interior designer and content creator Arianne Bellizaire has been named a High Point Market Authority Style Spotter (2015), Perlick Ambassador of Cool (2017), Villeroy & Boch Color Challenge Winner (2017), Modenus Blog Tour invitee (2016 & 2019), and Modenus DesignHound (Spain and London 2016, Surfaces 2018). She was also selected as an Ambassador for NYDC 2020 What’s New What’s Next. Her work and expertise have been featured in Forbes, Rue Daily, House Beautiful, Good Housekeeping, Business Of Home, and USA Today.
As the VP of Marketing at Chairish, Mugs Buckley oversees the company’s PR, partnerships, blog, social media, and SEO initiatives. An experienced leader committed to details, maintaining a reputation built on quality, results, service, and uncompromising ethics. Prior to Chairish, she served as VP of Marketing at Federated Media, where she worked closely with many blue-chip brands and influential bloggers to develop content marketing programs.
Mugs began her career at the Discovery Channel where she was the Executive Producer of Discovery’s award-winning multimedia production unit and has held management positions at Comcast, ZDTV (now EsquireTV), Liberate Technologies and RespondTV. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America’s New Media Group and of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Interactive Media Committee and holds a BA from Tufts University and an Ed.M. in Technology in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Jeanne K Chung is a Southern California-based luxury interior designer that is known for her eclectic design aesthetic that bridges classic design principles with a modern twist that is fresh and exciting, yet still warm and inviting. She collaborates with her clients to achieve an alluring balance of color, texture, and proportion, and her extensive knowledge of historical styles and periods equips her with the confidence to mix vintage with modern so that the spaces she designs appear as though they are effortless and have evolved over time. Jeanne’s attention to detail was first cultivated during her years as a fashion design student at Parsons School of Design (BFA), and later as an interior design student at the New York School of Interior Design.
As an official Style Spotter for the High Point Market Authority, Jeanne brought her eye for identifying emerging trends while also providing insight as to their relevancy in the industry. This experience segued into the opening of Cozy Stylish Chic, her retail space and trade showroom in Old Pasadena, which is a reflection of her take on design – an eclectic mix of vintage finds, fabrics and wallcoverings, and furniture/accessories that are currently trending in the home furnishings market, all with a designer’s eye. Cozy Stylish Chic has become a favorite go-to destination for designers and design enthusiasts who seek an artfully edited selection of home furnishings and accessories.
Since founding her design blog Cozy Stylish Chic, in 2013, Jeanne has become recognized as an influencer in the industry and has worked closely with brands, oftentimes attending trade shows on their behalf, where she regularly speaks on designer panels. She has worked with the High Point Market Authority continuously since 2014 and has spearheaded and followed through with a program to bring and mentor new designers at market. Jeanne continues to write for the Cozy Stylish Chic blog to report on her findings at the various trade shows she attends, the season’s current design trends, and to provide her fresh outlook on design.
Five years ago, Crypton®, the leader in indoor performance textiles for the contract design sector launched a new category with its advanced residential performance fabric technology, Crypton Home Fabric. After establishing a strong distribution foothold, Crypton brought on Elise Gabrielson in 2015 to launch consumer-facing brand marketing for the home product. Her scope includes everything from strategic planning and brand platform strategies to content and event creation. Audiences include furniture and fabric manufacturers and brands, retail partners, residential design professionals, influencers, media and design-minded consumers nationwide.
Among colleagues and brand partners Elise is known for both her passion and her energy. In a remarkably short period, her single-minded focus has resulted in significant benchmarks for the brand. In less than three years, her ingenuity and fearless pursuit of what’s next in marketing coupled with Crypton’s substantial history, brand equity and esteem in the contract arena helped to place Crypton among the top most-recognized home fabric technology brands.
Elise was named among Home Furnishings Business Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2018 and participates in the Young Textile Professionals group. Prior to joining Crypton, she was a Product Merchandising and Marketing Manager at Arden Companies where she launched the Bombay Outdoors furniture brand. At the Team Detroit advertising agency, she worked on design project management for brands including Ford Motor Company and Lincoln brand national cars.
With over 18 years of experience in marketing, public relations, event management and business development, Ashley Grigg currently serves as the Vice President of Strategic Growth and Partnerships for the High Point Market Authority. In this position she oversees several fundamental elements of the Market Authority’s role, including registration, database management and customer service, while also being tasked with developing and executing partnerships and programs to grow buyer recruitment and retention.
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.
Leading up to founding Esteem Media, LLC., Adam Japko served as President of DigitalSherpa, a high growth SMB social media and internet discovery business offering content, social media, reputation management, local listings, lead generation, web business intelligence, and other internet marketing programs. The company served over 4,000 SMBs. These experiences, along with the surprising success of his wine blog, WineZag, reaffirmed a deep belief that community engagement, quality content, and in-person networking are lethal tools for transforming brands and businesses in meaningful ways.
Prior to DigitalSherpa, Adam led the creation of the largest network of regional luxury shelter media properties for Network Communications, Inc. While President of the NCI Home Design business, he acquired or launched all of the properties that now make up Esteem Media, Inc.’s ongoing investments.
Esteem Media, www.esteemmedia.com, 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. Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, Design Influencers Leadership Conference, Luxury Home Design Summit, New England Home, WineZag leverage events, print media, social media, blogs, and digital marketing…but overall, provide a community connection as the catalyst for their constituents’ commercial success.
Bethanne Matari has a distinctive presence in the design industry. As the public relations director for Currey & Company for over 20 years, she is a professional with her finger on the pulse of what the American public and the media want. Not only does she maintain close relationships with the editorial teams of magazines and newspapers, she has a keen understanding of how to interest bloggers and other design influencers from all over the world in the stories she messages. Eric Ross says of her: “Bethanne Matari is truly one of the movers and shakers in our industry, connecting people and creating gracious gatherings wherever she goes.”
Her deep understanding of the artisanal is the result of a passionate interest in the artisans who create distinctive products, developed while working with craftspeople for many years. Adding her knowledge of promoting mass market products to this skillset illustrates this public relations professional’s range. For more than two decades, she has been front-and-center when Currey & Company vets new products biannually, which gives her great insight into what’s hot and what’s not.
An avid traveler, she has been to many points around the globe, including stints as an ex-pat in the Middle East and Italy for 12 years.
Rachel Moriarty is a Southern California award-winning designer, #1 best-selling author and Color & Pattern-ista! Rachel is the ultimate colorful character. Her multi-cultural roots are an integral part of her love of diversity in design. Rachel’s passion for color, texture, and design influences from across the globe can be seen in her iconic designs which have been featured in several regional and national publications as well as on HGTV and The Design Network.
Kate O’Hara is an award-winning CEO with extensive experience in creative design, scalable growth, brand development, and digital marketing. Her firm is regularly featured in publications including Architectural Digest, the Wall Street Journal, Elle Decor, and Forbes. She has been recognized as a TX Woman of Influence by Austin Business Journal, a Digital Influencer by Women’s Way, and one of the 32 Under 32 in Advertising & Marketing by the AdFed of Minnesota. In addition to her accomplishments in business leadership, Kate is a sought-after speaker, Krav Maga practitioner, and avid reader and sailor.
O’Hara Interiors is a full-service interior design firm with studios in Austin, Texas, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Working throughout the U.S. and international markets, O’Hara Interiors partners with luxury builders and award-winning architects to design high-end commercial and residential spaces. The firm is regularly featured in leading industry publications and reaches an audience of half a million followers across social media platforms.
Holly Hollingsworth Phillips is a residential interior designer and owner of The English Room, which is based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Holly’s style is elegant, eclectic and colorful. She has completed homes all over the east coast that have ranged from the super modern to very traditional while keeping it true to her style. She loves overseeing the design process from beginning to end. The best part is when your clients really trust you and set you free to do what you do best. Her love of color, pattern and layering of old and new can be seen in all her work. According to Holly, “Color makes people happy!” She loves the mixing the tradition of the past with the modern style of the future.
Holly’s early design experience includes working with Alexandra Stoddard and Sotheby’s – both in New York City. Holly completed a Mint Museum Senior Study and worked at the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center. After College, Holly lived in London while completing Sotheby’s 17th and 18th century decorative arts program. She has also completed The Winter institute at Winterthur, which provided a deep exposure one of the most complete collections of American Antiques in existence. Her first “professional” job was with Travis & Company in Atlanta where she ran the Antiques side of the showroom. In 1999, Holly joined her mother full time at the English Room in Charlotte. Her
educational background includes a degree in Art History from Rollins College and a degree in Interior Design from the American College.
She has been featured in Southern Accents, Southern Living, Charlotte Magazine, Charlotte Urban Home, Southpark Magazine and Better Homes and Gardens Windows and Walls.
Jana Platina Phipps, founder of the Trim Queen, is a trimmings expert known for her refined vision in the use of embellishment in home furnishings and fashion. A native Californian, she moved to New York City after graduating from UC Berkeley to enter the fashion industry. While studying at Parsons and FIT, she began her career as an apprentice to Italian-American artisans in a trimmings factory of the garment district, translating handbag specifications from Italian to English for Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and others. This lead to designing an exclusive line of accessories that sold at Bergdorf Goodman, high-end retailers across the country, and launching a successful fashion-forward trimmings collection for home furnishings that would surpass the fashion trim sales of the factory.
In 2003, after the birth of her first child, Jana became an independent consultant in branding, merchandising and sales representation for manufacturers, which ultimately lead to collaborating with trimmings producers worldwide. She is a designer and an agent for Classical Elements in Raleigh, NC, which supplies trimmings and drapery hardware to the home furnishings industry, customizes private label programs for interior design distributors, and sells to retail stores nationally.
Affectionately called “Trim Queen” by her clients, she began to blog and use her social media channels to chronicle how the design community uses trimmings creatively. She is an embellishment expert, sharing the history of passementerie and modern embellishment trends presenting at The New York School of Interior Design, the Country Living Fairs, Robert Allen Continuing Education Seminars and at the IWCE International Window Coverings Expo. She is a regular contributor to IWCE Vision Magazine and Universal’s smartstuff Social Station.
Jana is a recipient of the 2016 ITA Outstanding Trimmings Representative of the Year Award; she serves on the International Textile Alliance Board of Directors, is a past WithIt NE Regional VP and WithIt Future Leader Award Winner.
She is the longstanding co-chair of the WithIt New York Design Tour which has sold out for 2016, and is planning a Trim Queen Maker Tour of Venice Italy. In addition to trimmings collections, she designs a one-of-a-kind collection of upcycled accessories using trimmings and vintage jewelry and continues to teach Trim Alchemy, the concept of turning something ordinary into extraordinary using trimmings.
Jana resides in the Hudson River Valley, north of Manhattan, with her husband, writer Lang Phipps, and two children, Wilton and Giovanna, in an old Bavarian-style home that is in need of TLC and more trimmings.
www.TrimQueen.com
www.Facebook.com/TrimQueen
www.Instagram.com/TrimQueen
www.Pinterest.com/TrimQueen
www.Twitter.com/TrimQueen
Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Ralls is a 14-year magazine-industry veteran who has covered the shelter category in the Southeast since she began her career with Southern Accents magazine. The region’s leading design publication since 1983, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles is published monthly, and Ralls has been at its helm for the past three years, where she has spearheaded an overhaul of the magazine’s website and digital platforms as well as debuted a new showhouse platform dedicated to exhibiting the work of the region’s most accomplished design talents with the Southeastern Designer Showhouse & Gardens, which launched in Buckhead earlier this spring. Raised in the Midwest and schooled in the Northeast, Ralls has spent the last 10 years in Atlanta, where she and her family of 5 have planted firm roots.
Clinton Smith is editor in chief for New England Home. Clint is an award-winning journalist, editor, and creative director who has been covering design and the art of living well for two decades. He most recently served as the second longest-tenured editor in chief of VERANDA from September 2013 through September 2018. Prior to VERANDA, he served as the editor in chief of New England Home’s sister publication, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles for 11 years. Smith has also has authored four books on an array of lifestyle topics, including elegant entertaining, decorating with color, outdoor design, and living with flowers.
As Jaipur Living’s Marketing Production Manager, 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.
Joy Williams is the Principal Designer and Creative Talent behind Joyful Designs®️Studio, a full-service interior design firm based in Chicago and serving clients nationally. Joy specializes in creating cultured, curated and colorful interiors. The firm’s portfolio encompasses residential and commercial projects, full-gut rehabs, new builds, and micro-remodels at all stages of the design process.
Joy’s design experience began as an off-shoot of her home renovation and rental business. She frequently consults with other property investors on design, staging and deal analysis. She opened her studio to full service design clients in 2018. Her design inspiration comes from her love of art and culture, as well as her extensive travels all over the globe. She’s an art collector who uses her eye for art and design to infuse uniquely personalized spaces with boldness and dynamism. Joy’s approach to design ensures her clients receive personalized and function-forward spaces that stand the test of time. Joy’s design work has been featured in various outlets including Elle Decor, Better Homes and Gardens, Apartment Therapy, Forbes, My Domaine, Lonny Magazine, Business of Home, and Facebook for Business. Her take on design trends has been featured by Architectural Digest Pro, The Zoe Report, and High Point Market Authority among others. She was recently named a 2021 Ambassador for the New York Design Center’s What’s New, What’s Next Conference and is one of the newest members of the Design Leadership Network whose membership includes titans of design and architecture.
