I grew up in the heart of MiamI Beach. As a kid, I would hang out in the lobbies and pools of the most exquisite boutique hotels. When my friends and I were eventually and inevitably asked to leave for failure to provide a room key, we would unabashedly wander over to the hotel next door and do the same thing all over again. We all had pools at home, but we loved being immersed in the luxury, and me, in the carefully curated spaces.

As a k-12 student, I won awards for my art achievements most, if not every, year. Despite spending a good fraction of my time in the art room, I received awards academically as well, and even graduated in the top 3% of my class. But while the other scholars chased ivy league schools, I found myself more interested in how to create a life and career with art in the epicenter. So I packed my bags and headed to New York for a formal design education.

I attended Pratt Institute. It was one of the first universities in the country to begin offering courses in interior design and remains at the top of the list to this day, more than 100 years later. I made the Dean’s list every semester and graduated with a BFA in interior design. I won’t lie, the program was rigorous. Far more demanding than I, and likely you, dear reader, ever imagined art school could be. There were many, and I mean many, sleepless nights spent working in the studio.

Harsh critiques hit doubly hard on no sleep, but with time I learned how to turn feedback of all shapes and sizes into something constructive, how to self direct, but also how to take direction, and the most valuable lesson of all was just the pure discovery of how far I could push myself both creatively and physically.

My design education also taught me unique critical thinking approaches,  that there is much more to enhancing a space than surface beautification, and brought with it the mastery and fluency of various technical skills and tools for articulating myself visually. My education however, was admittedly not so grounded in reality. There was little in the curriculum that went over how to manage a budget, much less a company.

I worked part-time for some really talented boutique design firms as a student and for the first few years out of college. With each of them I learned valuable clerical skills to fill those gaps in my education, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t frustrated that my creativity was sitting pretty at that time. Plus, I had this burning curiosity about what client interactions looked like and, despite many attempts, none of my employers would allow me to be a fly on the wall in meetings to observe and take notes— something I thought seemingly beneficial to everyone..

Eventually I got what I wanted, and then some. One of my part-time jobs was creating technical drawings for Carlos Mota’s projects. He was transitioning from his role as a notable stylist with a fantastic eye into an inclusive interior design operation, and he asked me on full time. Before accepting, I needed to know if I could be present for client meetings. Laughing, he replied, “honey, the meetings don’t run themselves!” That was music to my ears, and I took the job on the spot.

He gave me creative play space, valued my opinion, and pumped me full of experience and an unapologetic demeanor in a two and a half year intensive. The two of us really made a great team. I had polished technical skill, curiosity, drive, and an evolving palate— while he had refined style, vision, palpable confidence, industry reputation, plus, wealthy connections. I managed projects single-handedly, developed relationships with vendors, clients, architects & contractors. I designed custom furniture pieces and textiles, learned not to be afraid to make bold choices or shy away from color, learned how to stay calm in the face of disaster, & most importantly, I learned how eager I was to start a design firm of my very own!

Around the time I started to take on work independently, Homepolish (RIP) was hot on the scene, and after a rigorous application process, I was admitted to be represented by their agency. This meant I didn’t have to worry about client acquisition, they were sending eager clients right to my inbox. It was fantastic for some time, but then things stopped operating as smoothly and my gut told me to lay low on the platform for a bit. Two weeks later, the company went public about their bankruptcy. Countless clients lost their deposits & young designers were compelled to work for free in order to keep their names from being muddied. Trusting my intuition helped me to dodge that bullet, but I still had the new and daunting task of client acquisition to master…

I tried out a fair share of lead generating platforms, but my success has really been an organic snowball of happy clients, word of mouth to their friends, and enthusiastic strangers followers on the internet who are inspired by the work I’m spitting out and showcasing. Thankfully, this challenge sorted itself out and I have been able to continue chasing this dream. 

I made the decision to work for myself quite young. It makes sense, I come from a family of entrepreneurs. Typically, young designers will work under another more established designer for many years, working their way up, creating clout, client lists, and cushion for themselves to then branch out on their own. But I have never been all that patient, so I recreated the roadmap for myself.. and for Veyebs.

I had arrived at the name years prior, as a student for a side instagram account that would act as a textural diary and collection of interiors by designers I looked up to. Veyebs was coined as a play on words for vibes and the artistic eye needed to produce them.  It was also a little poke at my own eyes, which, if we have not yet met in person, are uniquely large. The name is constantly mispronounced, but like most things in my world, I’m committed to it.

Focusing my efforts between Miami and New York, I have specialized in residential design work for the last ten years, and in the last year or so have been slowly expanding into the commercial & hospitality sectors. My pool-hopping era was just the beginning of a love for travel and adventure,  so I'm finally acting on the allure that boutique hotels, restaurants , and bars have had over me.

Follow along on instagram to keep up to date with our ever-evolving story.

@Veyebs

Xx, stefany (founder & chief designer)