154 – Cheryl Durst: From School Teacher to CEO of IIDA

Cheryl Durst: From School Teacher to CEO of IIDA Today in The Lounge, we have a special guest. She's not a designer... but she is one of the biggest movers and shakers in the interior design world. Welcome Cheryl Durst: savior and CEO of IIDA. Find out how Cheryl went from school teacher to CEO and how she saved The International Interior Design Association (IIDA). Changing the Furniture Manufacturing World One Hinge at a Time Benchmade Modern is trying to disrupt the furniture manufacturing world by providing quality furniture at a reasonable price. Not only quality furniture but CUSTOM products at regular prices as well! Whether a customer comes to the interior designer to use the designer discount code or goes straight to Benchmade modern themselves, their services are available! Learn more about Benchmade Modern and their Trade Program at www.benchmademodern.com Getting to Know Cheryl Cheryl joins us from Chicago but she's usually on the road traveling about 35-40 weeks a year. Cheryl grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and went to school at Boston University for Journalism and Economics with a minor in Art History. After Cheryl graduated she moved to Washington, DC where she became a substitute teacher. One of the parents of her students liked the way she managed her class, as well as her level of enthusiasm, and asked if she ever thought about a career in sales. Bada bing bada boom, he hired her at Westinghouse Furniture Systems where she wrote product literature and worked as the showroom manager. Cheryl became very involved in the commercial side of design. Afterward, she was whisked away to work in marketing at the Washington Design Center. Interior design legislation was coming to the forefront in DC and Maryland so Cheryl was in charge of putting together curriculum and continuing education courses to satisfy those jurisdictions and requirements for designers. Later she was transferred to Chicago with her husband who worked for the Merchandise Mart as a trade show specialist. By now they had their first child, so Cheryl decided she could take a part-time job with two-year-old IIDA. She was hired to be the Director of Education and little did she know, 3 years later Cheryl would be CEO. This is Cheryl's 20th year with IIDA and her 17th as CEO. Her quick transition to CEO was brought about because of financial issues with the organization. The Board of Directors came to Cheryl and asked if  she wanted to step into "fix it." They needed a complete financial turnaround, IIDA was essentially bankrupt and was going to cease to exist. So Cheryl worked to make big changes like instituting an annual audit - nothing sexy at all- but all necessary to build sound infrastructure for an organization. Cheryl had always intended to go back to school for her MBA but ended up having on the job training for a real-life MBA AND she did ALL OF THIS while she was months PREGNANT. IIDA's Mission IIDA is a professional membership organization that has created an international network to connect members worldwide and most importantly, advance the profession of interior design. IIDA connects and creates a community to educate designers about the incredibly complex profession. Cheryl says that interior design is growing evolutionary leaps and bounds, as humans demand so much from the spaces we inhabit: from hospital rooms to homes, to hotel rooms. The people who create those spaces should be and be seen as utmost professionals. When it comes to creating a physical space there are so many choices: Do you use an architect, a contractor, a decorator, or an interior designer? IIDA promotes the profession of interior design by talking about its value. Interior Designers have the challenge of explaining their value to clients. Cheryl relays that we live in a world that loves design, without being able to articulate the value that design brings.