Kathy Howell

After 15 years in marketing and product management, I found that I was no longer challenged. What I did find motivating was my home projects, home decor and different refinishing projects. I like using my hands, and seeing my vision come to reality. I decided to take a diploma program in Interior Decorating from George Brown. Because I wanted to do residential design only, I didn’t need to become an Interior Designer; a Decorator was enough. I decided to do the part-time program in a full-time manner, so I was done the program in 10 months compared to the 3 years part-time it usually takes. I knew that the program was for me because of what I did in my spare time: I loved tracking style trends, and doing home renovation projects. When I reviewed the Diploma curriculum, I was very excited by each course that was listed. I knew that this was the path for me. It allowed me to capitalize on my past experience running a business, marketing and managing technical people, while still allowing me to be creative. Creativity was something that I had relegated to my home life, not my work life up until that point; the ability to combine the two seemed too good to be true.