Nina Ferrer was the host and designer of “Clean House NY” and the expert designer on “The Holiday Special” for the Style Network and was a competitor on the fifth season of HGTV Design Star, the network’s top-rated reality competition show, showing her bold personality and design expertise. As a design Architect for Ralph Lauren and Anthropology, Nina completed projects both domestically and internationally.
I had the opportunity to interview Nina recently. Here are some of the highlights of that interview:
Jill Griffin: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Nina Ferrer: I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and I’ve always had an internal drive since a very young age. I knew how to use my presence, confidence, and creativity to my advantage which ultimately led me to pursue a career in architecture and interior design.
Griffin: Tell me about your start in architecture and design. What do you like most about what you do?
Ferrer: I graduated with honors from Pratt Institute but prior to that I believe my start of falling in love with this was something I learned at a very young age. I grew up in an old Victorian house, on three lots of land that in Brooklyn was nearly unheard of. My mother’s love for this house and her eye for design really inspired me and instilled the same passion for architecture as her. It’s always been important to me for people to be happy. I’m able to be a part of that when people buy or design their dream home. I’m a part of great moments in people’s lives and it’s important for that journey to not be one that is filled with fighting or animosity which is quite common and something I like to eliminate. I try to help them see each other’s ideas and at times it really does feel like I’m a therapist. Prior to opening my business, I was a designer for Ralph Lauren and I knew that I wanted to have a thriving career while also being a present Mother, something I longed for as a child was a non-negotiable as an adult. I saw so many women who were pushed out of their executive positions soon after giving birth and I knew if I wanted the life I had dreamed about I had to start making some personal decisions to set myself and my future family up for success.
Griffin: Are you able to bring your children to work with you, when needed?
Ferrer: Absolutely! It’s a part of being a business owner that I love. If I need to have my kids sitting next to me, with me at a job site, that’s where they’ll be and I love that they’re able to watch what I’m doing.
Griffin: Please give me three pieces of advice that you would tell a young woman who is starting out in her career and would hope to see herself as you one day?
Ferrer: Whether you are a man or a woman, someone is always going to be looking to point the finger. So how do we avoid this? You need to love what you do and be fully submerged in architecture and design. This profession is a calling and shouldn’t ever be looked at as a job. Learn about trends and the newest appliances. Subscribe to online and print resources. Be ahead of the curve in everything you do.
Secondly, you have to be an art historian. Understanding different styles, time periods, and trends are imperative to guide your client in the right direction.
And lastly, understanding construction in this industry is very important. As a woman, you can’t just think that being an artist or designer that you shouldn’t understand how a house is built or know how the kitchen cabinets are installed, how the hinges work, how the drawer slides, etc. Don’t expect people to educate you if you want a job. Be more educated and aware than anyone on your job site. That’s how you’ll be successful. Know more than everybody.
Griffin: Is there anything I missed that I should know?
Ferrer: I think what people need to know is that you can have it all. I was never afraid of tradition. I’ve never been a person that was afraid to admit that I wanted to be married. You have to find a partner that supports you and your dream. So even though I was home, raising my kids, I never stopped working. And I never stopped building my business. I never stopped auditioning or doing shows while we had kids.
It doesn’t need to be a romantic partner. Not everybody is going to find the husband, wife, or whatever that looks like for you. Maybe it’s your circle of friends, family, or business partner.
Not everybody’s going to find the husband, or wife, or whatever that looks like for you.
Griffin: Thank you. Lots of wisdom here. So greatly appreciated.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
