Auburn University interior design alumna on building great teams and a successful business by playing with the right people

In the midst of a book tour and managing her design team, interior designer and Auburn University alumna Ashley Gilbreath is pinged with an email from her former professor, associate professor emerita Mary Ann Potter, now retired.

“I left that school 20 years ago and she’s still keeping up with me!” Gilbreath laughed. “When somebody cares about you, they’re investing in you. And that’s something that you don’t forget, especially when you’re starting out.”

A little support goes a long way

Gilbreath graduated with her Bachelor of Science from the College of Human Sciences’ highly ranked nationally recognized and CIDA-accredited Interior Design program in 2004. She says it’s that type of support that propelled her through her early interior design career experiences in New York and Atlanta, and gave her the confidence to open her own Montgomery-based high-end residential design business Ashley Gilbreath Designs in 2008.

“We admired Dr. Potter, but she also drove us crazy because she was always in our business,” Gilbreath shared. “She wanted to know us and she cared about us. When you're 19, you're like, ‘Why?’ And you think, ‘I got it, I'm okay.’ She’s now retired, but she still checks in on us. She wrote to me this month to say ‘I ordered your book. It's great. How are you doing?’ That’s the lasting experience of Auburn.”

At the helm of her interior design business, Gilbreath makes a point to create a team with that same mindset. With 15 members in her company–many that she recruited from Auburn–she provides services to clients all over the country.

“We are all over: Connecticut, New York, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama,” Gilbreath explains. “We really enjoy what we do and it is a lot of fun and a tremendous privilege to be a part of shaping a family’s home. With every project, we strive to make sure that the home reflects the client’s taste, and not just that Ashley was there. We apply our expertise to create a home that fits the needs and wants of the client and says, ‘this client’ lives here. That’s what makes us successful.”

The joy of home

You can see a few examples of that success in her spectacular new coffee table book The Joy of Home. Gilbreath is on tour this fall and winter signing the book and sharing a few of her styling and business secrets.

“We are very selective as to who we play with, be it employees, architects, contractors or clients. It’s taken me a long time to say this confidently out loud, because it’s difficult to say no to people,” Gilbreath said. “I have learned that if we don't have a team of our standard along with us, then we look bad. As a business, we play and work with people that we admire. At the end of the day that makes us successful and we have a lot more fun.”

Take chances, find your joy

For students who are just starting with interior design, Gilbreath recommends getting out and exploring your limits.

“Get out of your comfort zone. Go to a city that you don't know. Take an internship somewhere different. You need that experience. It is completely life-giving and completely priceless,” she said. “Expose yourself to the different areas of this wonderful design world and take all those experiences with you. Being in school, taking internships and short experiences is a luxury.  Push yourself and enjoy as much as you can, because it's a very sweet little season of life that you don't get back.”

As for Gilbreath, she’s taking this season as an interior designer, book author and mother of three to take it all in. She is proud of what she’s built and how her company impacts her clients.

“You remember your home. The feeling of it, how the kitchen smells, what the living room looked and felt like on Christmas morning. You’re going to remember every bit of life’s joy that happened in that house. I’m honored that I get to be a part of those memories that people make. And it's a joy to get to do it.”