Louisiana State University senior Alexis Brown has had quite a memorable year. Just when she began her final year in pursuit of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interior Design, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita descended, leaving in their wake a supreme mess and suspending academia as usual in southern Louisiana. Yet despite the devastation and disruption, Alexis is successfully staying afloat, excelling in her coursework, loving her part-time design job, and writing all about it in her blog. Oh, and have we mentioned her impressive dual leadership roles as President of LSU’s Interior Design Student Organization and Student Representative to the Board for ASID’s South Central Chapter? We asked her to tell us just how she got so smart, so active, and so devoted to design.
So Why Design?
My brother and dad are both in the construction industry, so I have grown up in the field. I was a pre-veterinarian major for two years and switched to interior design because I have always been a creative person. I sacrificed sixty hours of school to pursue my new major, so now I have electives like organic chemistry and microbiology. I have considered architecture and construction management in the past, but it’s interior design all the way now. Love it!
As for the future, I want to keep myself flexible and hope to be able to practice in all fields in one way or another. Technology is a big thing for me, so I will pursue a career that keeps me up to date in important design issues and technology.
To SRB Or Not To SRB?
I did not hold any leadership positions prior to being ASID South Central Chapter’s Student Representative to the Board. Before this position I was an active student member of ASID by volunteering to help the professionals at the annual ASID & IIDA conference in Natchez, Mississippi in October 2004. At this event I met the past SRB, and that is where I heard about the position. After this event, we kept the communication lines open, so I could volunteer on upcoming events like the Student Career Day in January 2005. I also regularly attended the local professional district meetings and one officer meeting. Furthermore, I participated in many of my LSU student chapter events and meetings.
As an ASID SRB, I…
- Work with the professional chapter to coordinate Career Day events for the students and help spread the word by e-mail. (Note: The event is now called the Student Gathering, and it will be held January 28, 2006 @ Viking Range Co. in Greenwood, Mississippi. Click here to download a .pdf for a little more info.)
- Visit all schools in my chapter at least once during the school year if possible. (This is very difficult for our chapter, which includes 13 schools spread out among Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, so there are exceptions.)
- Attend all professional chapter board meetings and chapter leadership training.
- Write a report after each professional board meeting on information that would be of interest to the student chapters and send it promptly to each student chapter president.
- Report at each professional chapter board meeting on student members’ concerns and activities. I am the link for students.
- Maintain communication with all the links: professional chapter president, student affairs chair, student chapter presidents, faculty advisors, education chair and professional liaisons.
- Receive quarterly reports from student chapter presidents and convey information to Student Advisory Council advisor.
- Act professionally and responsibly as an active board member. My work affects the future of design students and the chapter makes decisions based on my input. This will help me grow professionally.
- Write articles for the professional and student newsletters.
- Update student chapter of officer names, addresses and phone numbers. Any changes I receive must be passed along to ASID headquarters.
Just Blog It
Blog No. 1: There are many college and high school students who have their own personal blogs. Mostly a blog is used for organizations as a type of electronic bulletin board, but a personal blog might be more like an electronic journal. This blog is a requirement for my senior seminar class at LSU. In this blog we post “Reflections” for everyday. We research and process ideas and information for our senior projects. All of the seniors in LSU ID have blogs as a requirement for the program.
Blog No. 2: The blogs seem to be a convenient, inexpensive and technology friendly means of communication for all thirteen schools. Anyone can visit our blogs who has access to the internet. I am the administrator for this main chapter blog, but anyone can respond by posting comments or questions, and I have chosen to allow comments to be viewed by the public. The individual school blogs are set up by the schools themselves, and I am in the process of setting up blogs for the schools who have not set theirs up yet. The plan is to have the fourteen blogs up and running by the close of the year. Some to visit now: Louisiana Tech ASID Student Chapter, University of Central Arkansas ASID Student Chapter, and LSU’s Interior Design Student Organization.
In Addition To
At LSU I am the president of the Interior Design Student Organization [IDSO]. This organization also serves as the LSU ASID student chapter, so you could say I am the president of both. This fall the IDSO officers and I organized a meeting to tour the Louisiana House in Baton Rouge on November 9th, held a tailgating party on November 5th, and participated in a women build with the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity on November 12th. (All of our activities can be accessed at our IDSO blog.)
I have applied for an IIDA student membership for this year and have been in contact with the local Baton Rouge City Center Director to set up an IIDA Campus Center at LSU.
I am an alumni of the LeaderShape Institute. This is an excellent program. I was selected after applying for a week-long leadership training retreat, completely paid for by LSU. I met 49 student leaders at LSU and worked with them on formulating a vision for myself and others. My vision is posted on the LeaderShape website, “A world which defines an accurate vision of the interior design profession.”
Nine To Five
While attending LSU, I have had jobs as a parking booth money collector and a visitor center employee. I worked one summer as a faux finisher’s assistant – fun.
At LSU we are required to have a 320-hour internship with a licensed interior designer. My internship was during the summer of 2004 at NB Interiors LLC of Metairie, Louisiana. We worked mostly on commercial projects. I attended client consultations, worked on construction documents, helped with competitions binders, and worked on ASID events for the ASID South Central president at the time Nancy Bound, the owner of NB Interiors.
I began my current Junior Designer job at Cockfield Jackson Architects in June 2005. I work part-time on Tuesday and full-time on Thursday. I love my job. I work with nine architects and interior designer, Katie Boone, on a wide array of commercial and residential projects. We work on design development, space planning, materials and finish selection, furniture specifications, and construction documents.
Time Out
Time… Where does mine go? Emails Emails Emails! I have to budget my time very well. I get home from work or school and go directly to emails for LSU ID and ASID. Email probably takes up about 40% of my “homework.” Having such a geographically challenged chapter with 13 schools, the primary means of communication is email. The blogs I have started are helping big time.
Sorry to say this, but I do not have much time for me. The three things that keep me running are checking, responding, and clearing out my email once a day, keeping an up-to-date calendar or three, and staying disciplined about my time management. I also like to ride bikes to get out once in a while to get the ideas flowing.
Let’s Get Personal
Where are you from? Where did you grow up? Where all have you lived?
New Orleans, Louisiana (more specifically River Ridge). I grew up in the same place. I have lived in many areas surrounding New Orleans for a long time including LaPlace, Metairie, Lakeview, River Ridge, and Harahan. I also lived in Virginia a little bit. While attending LSU I live in Baton Rouge (about 1 hr. and 15 min. from New Orleans.)
What would be your dream vacation and whom would you take with you?
A trip to Vancouver, Alaska and the surrounding areas definitely including an Alaskan cruise would be amazing. Right now a month would not be long enough J. I would take my boyfriend Teddy. If I were allowed to take as many people as I could, then I would take my whole family and my boyfriend’s family. We could take a breather from the devastation zone.
What was the last CD you bought or track you downloaded?
The Gorillaz
How has the devastating hurricane season affected you, your family and your fellow classmates?
I could go on forever on this topic. I will try to keep it brief, but you can learn more by visiting my blog.
At LSU, my classmates were all affected first by Katrina and then by Rita. Some of us grew up in the areas affected and lost homes and some of us took in evacuees. Never the less, we missed a week of school and things have been chaotic ever since. Finally, our meetings are getting back on track and we are recovering and ready to rebuild. We miss and love New Orleans.
Our south central chapter has amazing leaders, and the circumstances that we have encountered in the past few months have not shaken our visions a bit. I have witnessed a helping hand extended to me personally, other students, professionals, and friends from our ASID members. We have gone beyond our basic professional obligations as members and have become closer on a more personal level.
Ending On A Postive Note
As you can see, Alexis is one smart cookie and quite an inspiration for students and professionals alike. If you would like to correspond with her about topics such as blogging, time management, or – better yet – future employment, then just shoot her an email at
