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Meet Jessica Brown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Brown.

Hi Jessica, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Some say I have a Forest Gump kind of life. My story has joy, pain, adventure, tragedy, comedy and romance. Being in Interior Design, my projects have taken me from the luxury of remote island homes, mountain high escapes, city high rise condos to the very basics of abandoned, rat-infested foreclosures and dorm room suites. I exclude no one and have the courage to include everyone on my adventures. I grew up in a tiny, remote Wisconsin town of 3000 people because that was where my father landed his job as a police officer. In college, when asked where I was from, I would say, “I was raised in New Holstein but my family is from Chicago”. It drove my now husband nuts! On first introductions with my parents, my college sweetheart (husband) asked my father, “Why does Jessica tell people her family is from Chicago?” To which my father replied: “Because it is where her mother and I are from and in this town if you ask any of it’s citizens , they will be the first to tell my kids they were raised here, but are not from here, their family is from Chicago.” And that is really who we were. Our holidays, weekends and summers were spent down in Chicago with our extended family. Every summer consisted of my parents packing up four kids, luggage, tents and coolers in our wood-grained station wagon and trekking around the country to National Parks and every possible landmark in between. Although being from prominent Chicagoland families, my parents were and still are authentic, earth-loving, peace-marching hippies. I believe it is from this upbringing, my clients say I am “down to earth”.

I grew up in the 80’s, the decade of everything plastic… but not in my household. It was second nature to recycle everything. Plastic Cabbage Patch dolls, Barbie, lunch boxes and matching plastic thermoses… I think not. My sandwiches were not packed in Ziploc bags, but rather the reused and washed out bread bag the bread came in, beautifully delivered in a brown paper lunch sack, which was reused until the wrinkles tore. It was engrained in me to be resourceful and to see everything beyond it’s originally intended use. Although not too cool at the lunch tables in the 80’s, it put me way ahead of the curve for all of the upcycling going on in today’s “Hip” and “Woke” culture! (Laughs) I completed my internship with an architectural firm in Chicago and after graduating college from a CIDA accredited bachelor program in Interior Architecture, I ventured in department stores, weekend rose gigs and sales at a massive furniture store. Topping the sales charts in furniture opened the door to my first job under a high end designer. It was a “Devil Wears Prada” relationship and went on for almost three years. In fact, when that book came out, I read it three times in a row not able to understand how somebody was able to put my life into print. I learned invaluable design tools at that job but I also learned more about myself and my values. Clients flocked to my boss for her prestige and elite attitude, but had no idea the operations going on behind the scenes.

Finally, while working on a project given to me, to be my “very own client”, who was a major COO for a massive international retailer, I had reached my breaking point. Some ethical practices had been breached against this client and I really, really loved this client. One day the client came into the studio and gifted me a small plaque that quoted, “Surround yourself only with those who believe in you.” The client told me my talents surpassed my role at that studio and the opportunities awaiting me extend far beyond the walls of it. I put in my two weeks notice on a prayer and a leap of faith. It only seemed fitting and perfectly natural to kick off my career commuting back and forth to Chicago and the Merchandise Mart. My talent quickly earned me a reputation and soon I was enjoying things like brunch with Martha Stewart and puddle hoppers to St. Croix. Knowing my upbringing is the key to understanding why my clients say I am so down to earth. In a small, humble German farm town, there was no need to be anything but. And yet, I know the finest treasures and have been exposed to some of the greatest artists because of my constant exposure to the rest of the world. I love getting to know my clients. I completely disagree with the notion of “treat them like a job, not a friend” and “don’t fall in love with the client, fall in love with the job”. I love when my clients share their experiences with me. I ABSOLUTELY fall in love with them. Being more than hired help to my client, but an open ear for compassion and understanding, helps me then translate their spaces to convey the experience of “them”. I pushed hard and life moved in the fast lane. So fast that it put me over a cliff in a car wreck, got me escorted in flight for life and awoke half paralyzed in a hospital bed. It was an eye opener and a lesson on the fragility of life.

The only thing I remember from that accident is seeing my two baby boys in the back seat, surrounded by bright light, encouraging me to “Come on Mommy! You can do it, get out of the car Mommy!” They were not with me that day but somehow I managed to unbuckle myself, belly crawl out of a flipped, crushed and gas leaking car to the open field where the paramedics found me. My journey and plight to physical healing took me down a path of mental healing as well. I gained a new appreciation for everything. I slowed down and I created a new company philosophy: “My children and my health will always come first. If this doesn’t sit well with you, we are not meant to work together.” It weaned out the ones that weren’t meant to be and kept the ones that were. Eventually, my husband’s career relocated our family to Houston, Texas. My husband’s plea was if I could be as successful as I was in tiny Wisconsin, just think of the opportunity Houston has in store for me. Coincidentally, I continued to fly all over for my Midwest clients and Houston took almost five years before it really started to meet me. In the interim, I was selected as the “Mom with most Gusto” and got served breakfast in bed by Mario Lopez on ExtraTV. Holding onto your principles does get noticed!

Coincidentally at that same five year mark, Hurricane Harvey hit and turned our world upside down. We nearly lost everything financially and the best analogy is my husband and I were like two freshly graduated college students starting all over with nothing… but with a house and mortgage and three kids and two cars and a whole lot of overhead on top of us. We emerged and I was soon back out creating spaces, building out commercial offices and designing professional NBA and NFL player’s homes. Ru Paul flew us out to LA to tell our story on national television. If our story of faith helped to move even one person, it was worth the humility! Because boy oh boy did they Hollywood my look! (crying laughing). I was presented with my first full house renovation project in Memorial Houston when COVID hit. All plans came to a halt and all business stopped. I turned my spare time into meeting the needs for the occasion and started sewing masks for elderly and first responders as masks were nowhere to be found at the start of the pandemic. And we all know the story from there right? (deep sigh) The Texas Freeze of 2021 changed the market demand from design to build.

Nobody was thinking about glamorous remodels, millions of families in Houston just wanted their flooded homes put back together. Having 20 years of onsite construction project management and five years of hands on construction for my husband’s own real estate flips, I had to change my supply from designing and furnishing to designing and building. I was overwhelmed by the amount of clients who wanted my expertise as both the creator and the applicator. I truly believe had I only maintained my position of designer, I would have had to close my company doors. Instead, I expanded and used my knowledge of construction and architecture to expand my business. In addition to being a police officer, I grew up with a father well versed in the construction industry, and being a daddy’s girl (as long as I met him where he was at… at the jobsite), I felt confident in my abilities. My home also suffered from the Texas Freeze, which made the sorrow and hurt of my clients all too surreal. With our community already trying to still recover from Hurricane Harvey in 2017, COVID in 2020 and then the Texas Freeze of 2021, I felt compelled and obligated to offer myself in whatever capacity available to help build it back up.

Not only did I complete three major renovations in 2021, I completed them as both the designer and the builder. My clients were skeptical at first; as it isn’t every day you find a woman behind a jack hammer. (Laughs) But in due time, they have become my greatest cheerleaders! They were amazed at the level of expertise and fine craftsmanship I was able to deliver to them. My critical eye for design made for no sloppy work and any errors immediately addressed on my jobsites. Additionally, JBIA started location management and set design for a hopeful television production after seeing our work on a local talk show. This city is so ready for the film industry! Just needs the right players and community to work together to make it happen. And here we arrive to today. I now have the challenge of growing this new baby out of what was, into what is. In doing so, I have opened so many new doors to new ventures that await Jessica Brown Interiors (JBIA) in all of our magnificence!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
A smooth road would be the last word to describe my journey. Learning how to successfully run a business while being a full time mom and wife takes one hell of a balancing act. The number of times I have wanted to quite and throw in the towel can be counted on more than my ten fingers and ten toes. Humility pie has been swallowed on multiple occasions and some clients really didn’t like working with me. Let’s be real, the world is a hard place to maneuver through but God. My faith and my support system are key for me. I have a very small handful that have been that plaque of support surrounding me.

The most difficult part of being an entrepreneur is knowing when to say no. When the bills are tight and tuition is past due and the car needs repair, that low ball number can be very tempting. But twenty years of experience have taught me that the value you place on yourself is the value the customer will treat you. I used to feel bad telling a client what something was going to cost until one day I saw a quote that said, “Were they able to negotiate the Jordan shoes? Were they able to negotiate the Prada purse? Were they able to negotiate the college tuition? The customer will pay for what they see value in.” And that is the bottom line. If I am valued, I am hired and paid. When I was not hired, I used to question why the client didn’t see my value. Now I have come to learn that my value is not based on them, they simply are not ready for the greatness I have to offer. It took me years upon years to value myself.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As my story tells, I am creatively resourceful. Whether I am working with a thousand dollars or one million dollars, I pour all of my talents into making sure the space comes alive! What does this mean? It means I make it happen. My dad was a police officer and my mom was a nurse until my senior year in high school. We were a very comfortable middle class family. My great grandparents were affluent, my grandparents were affluent, I saw affluence. Yet, my parents still wanted to have a beautiful home to raise and love on my siblings and me. I watched them remodel room by room and sometimes hire, sometimes jump in and do it themselves. Now, as a homeowner, I hire, and sometimes and have my boys join me and take on a weekend project ourselves. We all want beauty. We all want a space to enjoy. When I create, I think about what it will take to make that happen so my client can afford it. I always tell them, I am someone’s client too, I like to save money too! (laughs)

I saw, I nail, I sew, I upholster, I sand, I stain, I tile, I install hardwood, I can do murals, I can hang drywall, I have a framing nailer, I hang light fixtures. I challenge myself daily to walk in the shoes of my tradesmen so I can truly and fully appreciate them. It also helps my clients to respect them more when they see someone like me at their side. It is not uncommon to see me jump in at a jobsite and get to work. I also have done all the work alone. I have taken the most random objects and turned them into beautiful design features or used them as accents on installs. Upcycling, Repurposing and masterfully creating looks that make the client’s eyes sparkle with awe.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Take the risk. Take the chance. If you fail, you’ve lost nothing. If you succeed though, if you succeed, you’ve gained everything. Tomorrow is not promised. Yesterday can’t be redone. Place yourself in the most vulnerable positions and watch the blessings unfold. I am approached and asked to do a lot of things pro bono. If I am in the position to be able to do it, I will. Why? Because we all started somewhere from someone’s kindness taking a risk on us. My very first client hired me to renovate her third generation home. I had just left “Devil Wears Prada” and she took a risk with me. That leap of faith gave me the confidence I needed to push forward. (She has three that I have worked on now by the way.) Have I been burnt helping others? Yes. But I have never seen it as a loss. I always look at the opportunity of what I learned from that relationship. Knowledge is always more valuable than dollars. Although dollars are nice. (Laughs)

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Image Credits

Humke Group Photo + Design, LLC

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