Episode #51 - Interview with Jennifer Mitchell

Join us on this episode of All-In Design, as we speak with Jennifer Mitchell with Tarkett. We follow Jennifer's journey from interior designer in Texas and Louisiana to her current position as a sales rep for Tarkett. We also explore Jennifer's role with IIDA and upcoming events with our local chapter. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Recorded with microphones and other fancy equipment. This is All in Design. Hello and welcome to All In Design IDA L with Most Podcast. Thank you for listening. My name is Chad Moore. Here with my co-host Mark Griffo. Hey everybody. And we are uh it's season three, Mark. It's hard to believe. It is. It's we've done this for two years now. It feels it feels longer than that. It's shorter.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

It feels yeah, it feels it feels good. It feels right.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

Uh still no cameras. No, no, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

I made lots of jokes uh last season um that we were gonna get cameras in season three and we still haven't done it.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

But season three is an entire year. This is true.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

I also like that we we got made fun of actually yesterday about delineating the fact that we have seasons, which we do. There's not a break between them. No, it's not like a TV show where it's like runs for six months and then is off for eight. Sounds great though, kind of. We should rethink this model. But yeah, so this is uh yeah, what is this episode 51? Season three.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Yeah, season three. And that was one that like uh Jess Babbler at the uh uh our board meeting was like, Are you guys just making up the numbers? And like and it was like, well, we have had episode 73 thrown in there randomly, and technically season three, I guess, would start episode 49. Since we do we do two a month. So it would be two years would be 48 episodes, but who wants to start episode three or uh season three on episode 49? That's a sound stuff. No, no one. That's like yeah, so so 25 episodes per season.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Yep, sweet. I love it. Now we've set done. Um well, you know, getting to the so now I'm looking at our guests, no pressure. You're kicking off season three of all in the bar. You're setting, yeah, you're you're setting the bar. You can set it as low as you want.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

The debut of season three. Please set it very low. Three is always a good number.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Yeah, you're setting it, setting it uh as as high or low as you want. Uh that said, I am very happy to introduce uh our friend and fellow uh IIDA Alabama board member, uh Jennifer Mitchell with Tarquette. And um we're excited to have her on the show because you know we know a bit about Jennifer and she's got a really uh uh varied history in the industry. You've done a lot of different things, so we're looking forward to uh hearing about that. But um, the mic is yours if you want to say hello to everybody.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah, hey everybody. Uh thank y'all for having me on the podcast. Exciting. Uh I feel honored to start season three.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Oh, you should.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

You should. Um yeah, I mean, I've been in this territory for four years now.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

So um And is your territory just Alabama or is it?

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Alabama and the Florida panhandle.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yep. So and I mostly cover South Alabama and the Florida panhandle. Okay. Birmingham to South.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Yeah. Um, and but I started my career in Louisiana where I'm from, born and raised. And since I've come here to Alabama, I realize I have an accent, apparently, of some sort. So sometimes people don't understand me. Um like a Cajun accent? No, no, because it really is not Cajun. No, it's just a different I honestly, some people ask if I'm from Canada. It depends if I say house and out. Those people are idiots. And then room is another room. Room.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Oh, interesting. Were you born in Birmingham? Yeah, exactly. Mettery, right outside of New Orleans.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Yeah, yeah. So Mettery's at French, so it's does have some of that influence. Okay. So yeah, the room though was really we were looking at floor plans. I was like, what's going in this room? People are like, the what? It's like the room. What's wrong with you? The four walls were in.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

We would like you to leave, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

So yeah, um, born and raised in Louisiana, uh, I knew I wanted to be an interior designer when I was 12 years old. Obviously, I did not even know what that actually was. I just liked rearranging and repainting my room every couple rooms. Rum, there it is. She did say it that way. It really got me when Siri spelled it rum R-U-L. Dang it. You know you have a problem.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

So if you're ordering a rum drink, how does that sound?

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Just rum.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

Okay. Yep. Same. Same. Sounds different to me. Say rum rum.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

We're five minutes in.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

We don't have any rum in this room. Rum.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

This season's gonna be all about just tricking the guests and saying funny things.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

No rum in the room. There we go. I heard it.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

Slight, very slight difference.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

But yeah, so then I uh being from Louisiana, I did go to LSU. Go tigers. A little uh unpopular opinion.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

I don't I don't I've always liked LSU. There's a lot of people, Auburn, and I'm an Auburn person, Auburn Auburn and Alabama people that really don't. Oh, well yeah. I mean you know that you know this. I'm looking at you, you're looking at me like, yeah, obviously.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

There's a lot of old miss people that don't like LSU. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

There's just a lot of people in general that don't like LSU. Oh yeah, they definitely old miss. Yes, correct.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Um but anyway, so I graduated interior design there, minor in construction management, and I from an IIDA student day in Houston, because I was the closest one to us, okay, is how I got my internship in Houston, Texas. So I went to a portfolio review and a professional designer reviewed my portfolio. And at the time it was like a new thing to kind of have it as a website.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

So I brought my laptop and showed it, but this was very new back then, right? And she proceeded to tell me everything she hated about it.

SPEAKER_04 6:06

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

So I was like, okay. So I tried to explain things, you know, like designers do. This is a computer. Yeah, she's like, no, you need to hand draw, like you need to make your CAD look hand-drawn. So anyway, I was like, oh, that didn't go well. Went back to my professor and she said, Well, go talk to this other lady over here. Um, she'll be better. I was like, Go talk to that lady. Yeah. So I went to a different professional, uh, Linda Bishop was her name, and she loved everything about my portfolio. There you go. And offered me an internship at WHR Architects, which is nail page Sutherland Page. It's gone through some iterations, but healthcare design, which I never thought of.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

Do you know the name of the lady that didn't like your I don't.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

I do not know her name. Yeah. So we want to make fun of her. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Well, she's never gonna listen. She doesn't I'm sure she doesn't listen to podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

She definitely does not listen to podcasts for sure. I tell that story to students a lot because I just want them to know that like your specific design is not for everyone, but there's someone who likes your design, right? It's very subjective. So don't quit just because somebody critiques you very badly. Yeah, harshly. Um, so that's I got my first internship in Houston, did a summer internship there, and they offered me a job. So I started working there in healthcare design, something I never thought I would do because that was kind of newer back then too. Um loved it, loved working at WHR. We had 20 designers, 200 people overall. Um, but missed home. So Houston was a little bit too big for me. Right. Uh found Sisler architects in New Orleans and they had a healthcare department, so I went and worked for them. Uh and then just to elevate my career, you know, designers are always usually looking for that. I moved to the VA hospital for three years as they activated their new hospital. And then uh being that was still in New Orleans, yeah. Because uh the hospital got taken out by Katrina, so they were building a new million square foot facility. Um and then found out uh in after three years that federal employment was not for me.

SPEAKER_03 8:14

I remember you telling me some of that. Yeah, yeah. That you got there and the project you were gonna work on wasn't really going yet, or it wasn't it's like um no, it was.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

It was. It was just that it was designed by like national architects and we were just in-house facility designers. So it was more trying to procure furniture with a federal contracting department, which is a lot of red dip.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Sounds exciting.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

But my right, my recollection from our conversation was like you got there and there wasn't as much work to do. Like you like you found like there would be times during the day you didn't have things to do.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Oh, well, I mean, yeah, federal well, it was more like I know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

The level of like quickness of getting things done. You know, when you're in the private sector, you're like, okay, we need to get this done in this timeline. And so my boss gave me my first assignment. I was like, oh, we can do that in two weeks, and then all the red tape and bureaucracy, and it's three months, and you're like, okay, well, I guess we're not getting that done in two weeks. So yeah, it was just a hard thing for somebody who likes to get things done and right quickly go quickly. So um, my firm came back and um asked me to come back and I did uh director of design. I was actually an associate there.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

This is at Sisler. Mm-hmm. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

At Sisler, yeah. So I like climbed the corporate ladder, which I thought was what I wanted to do, and then I was like, it's not like as exciting as I thought it was gonna be. Um, but also it was a lot of work, you know. Architecture firms, you have to be there minimum 40 hours a week in your seat, and then when you're in those positions, do business development and all that stuff too. Yeah, uh, and with a family and all, it was a lot. And I didn't plan to leave. I said I would never ever be in sales, but uh had it got a call from the rep who at the time was selling uh tandis carpet in New Orleans. He was moving to the Johnsonite position, and he asked me if I'd be interested, and I was like, Oh no, I'm good. And then he just kept talking because he's a rep right.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

He's in sales.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Yeah, yeah, in sales. And I was like, Well, that kind of sounds interesting, like your flexibility of your family, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

So that's Did he have any inclination that you would be interested?

SPEAKER_01 10:29

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Yeah, I just it's just interesting that like a rep would be like, you know, yeah, hey, associate like leadership levels.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Yeah, I guess maybe since I was more in business development or something. I don't know, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:43

I would be I guess you never ask the question like when do you have his number? We could call him. I do, yeah, actually. You could call him right now.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

He still works for us, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

A new a new element of the show for season three. Yeah, we don't have cameras, but yeah, we're gonna like bring people up there. Yeah, nice. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Yeah, no. So I mean that's what led me here, and it's been great. I've loved it.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

Um how old were your how many kids do you have? I have two kids.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Okay. Uh sh when I'm came to Tarquette, how old were they? Uh five and seven. Okay. Yeah. So still pretty little. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, just being able to like go pick them up from school, you know, in carpal or whatever. I was like, that's awesome. I love this.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

Yeah, I can do that now and not have to like get permission and just go do it.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Oh yeah. If I never had to fill out a timesheet again, my life is complete for sure.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

Yeah, that's nice.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

What was the transition like for you from the A and D being in the A and D world to going into the sales world?

SPEAKER_01 11:42

It was kind of tough. Because it's like when you're kind of under that microscope and you have to meet these certain, you know, you have your sales numbers or whatever you have to meet. It was a little bit stressful for sure. But um, I finally had to come to a point where I was like, I'm just gonna do my best and pray about the rest, and it's been good since then. So just not stress about it. You know, it's like definitely stressful stuff comes up, but um, I can't worry about if things are you know, I used to think, oh, if you lost a sale, it's like the end of the world, but then there's always something else. You know, right? There's enough to go around. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

And no one bats a thousand, you know, you're not gonna get every you're not gonna get every piece of the pie every single time.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Yeah, but I mean, designers and architects, you yeah. Except for Chad. Chad.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

Like, what are you guys talking about?

SPEAKER_03 12:31

I never lose, ever.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

It's amazing. How does that feel?

SPEAKER_03 12:35

That's pretty great. Pretty great. So you live in Pensacola now, so was that part of the like to take the job you needed to move?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

No. So I covered Louisiana for four years with Tarquette. Okay, and then um the team here in Alabama, Ginger, Dyson, Brett Wood, and myself, it was just them two at the time. Um, and it's a big territory, you know, um, and they needed somebody else. And my husband has always wanted to move to the panhandle. Um, and COVID basically squashed his career of uh catering management. So that was like dead, you know, and you're like, okay, now I have to rethink my life. And um he found a franchise that he wanted to open and had a availability in Pensacola, so we figured out how to transition me to this team. So that's kind of how that interesting came about. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Do you enjoy living in Pensacola?

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Um, I do, yeah. Uh we're in Gulf Breeze, so it's just south of Pensacola. It's a very, very small town. Yeah. So that's a little different coming from New Orleans, which is a very big town, uh, and a lot more culture. No, not as big as Houston. That's right. That's right. Uh I like more like this size, like Birmingham, New Orleans, those are good sized cities. Um, so lack of culture and good food, but otherwise we don't think this this episode's sponsored by Gulf Breeze. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

We don't have anything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's nice.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Just number one in the country beach. Don't worry about that. Yeah, yeah. It's gonna be no big.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

How often do you make it up to Birmingham?

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Um, at least like once or twice a month. Yeah. Yeah. It's good.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

So we should just have told people out of the gate that we're recording this in Pensacola, which is a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Oh, but we shouldn't have done that. That would be fun.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

That would have been better. Yeah. Because you know, we have taken it to Huntsville. Yeah, we have. We've been on the road before. We're in Chicago. We've been two in Chicago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:29

We'll just pretend we're in Pensacola area. I can edit that at the beginning. Just tack that on. But don't edit this part. No, no, no. Leave the sense of surprise.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

You gotta wait. If you had if we had had more planning for this episode. This is true. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Yeah. Yeah. We, you know, we may, we may have asked Jennifer yesterday. Yes. Afternoon. Yeah. Yeah. If she wanted to be on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Just over 24 hours ago.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

Yeah. Yeah. But like a good salesperson, you were like, of course.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Yeah, sorry about all those canceled appointments, guys. Right. So. No, it actually worked out perfect. So yeah, it was good.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Um, when is this gonna when are we put this one's February 15th? 15th. So this will come out before student day. Yeah. Speaking of student day. Right, right, right. Just after Valentine's Day. Yeah, yeah. Just after Valentine's Day. Um, so let's talk a little bit about your role on the board. Oh, sure. Yeah. So and then you know we can tie that to like what students can expect. Yes. I mean, you got a job from your student day years ago. Oh yeah. So no, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

I highly recommend IIDA student days.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

Um by one lady. Right, yeah. You gotta get born apart.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Well, you know, you gotta get that thick skin and keep going, persevere. Um, but yeah, so student day is uh February 27th at the Innovation Depot here in Birmingham. Um I, along with uh Grayson Dobley, work with in student affairs. So we are our main goal is to work with each um student organization at each university. So Sanford, Auburn, University of Alabama, and then hopefully Grayson's up at UNA, so we're hoping to get one up there as well. And we should have students from all four universities um at student day on the 27th. Um it's a Friday, and I highly encourage students to register. Um, but it's we're gonna have professionals there um and reps, and we'll have tables. They can learn about firms, learn about products, but we're also gonna have breakout sessions with uh portfolio and resume reviews so you can get yours torn apart and maybe find a job, you know.

SPEAKER_03 16:44

Are they are they still uh people using computers still now? Are they doing you know, I don't know. That'll be good to see.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

I guess that was a bad idea. Don't be too innovative.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

It's virtual reality goggles. Here you go. Yeah. That'd be pretty sweet.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

You have what what there's like probably 60 students already registered? 65. Yeah, that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

We expect more, they just you know aren't well they're students, yeah. Right. So they like to wait till last minute. So we fully expect more for sure. But it's it's a great um, and then we'll have uh keynote speaker. Um Andrew will talk about advocacy. Um we'll have lunch and oh, a panel discussion too with some professionals so we can ask some questions and uh another.

SPEAKER_03 17:30

Is there a topic for it or just open?

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Um there is a topic. It's interior design chat. Oh awesome.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Good interior design. She's not pulling out her phone to look at to look at notes. No, nope, nope.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

She's gonna kill me.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Yep. She's our next guest. Oh, the next call. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Phone a friend.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

Phone a friend. Oh man. Um, but yeah, and then um another breakout is gonna be talking about strategies for like NCIDQ and licensing and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

So um it's been very successful the last several years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Yeah, I've been to I went to it when it was at the what was it, the botanical gardens or something like that?

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Yeah, and then it was uh uh the double tree on 280. And then I guess was it last year, the first year that it moved to Innovation Depot? I think so. I think that's right.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

Yeah. Which is a great space. We were talking about that before we started recording. That's we've we've had several events there. It is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Yeah, it's a really great space.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Lots of room, easy to park. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

You know, we we like to keep things simple. A little bit secretive. So we'll let you know what the topic of the show is.

SPEAKER_03 18:47

Yeah, she just gave up on I can't wait.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

I can't wait.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

So are I mean I probably should know this. Are there um IDA student city centers kind of? Or there are uh chapter I what do they call it there? Campus centers. Campus centers, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Yeah, so that's at uh UA, Auburn, and Sanford. Campus centers. Yeah. And then we're gonna we'll hopefully form one at UNA. Okay. Yeah. So I think you have to have a certain membership, just kind of like a city center. Oh like we just have to. There's a hundred million people. Yeah, official city center, right? Right. Yeah, a certain number of members. And most universities have interior design student organizations or associations that will um have uh ASID and IIDA under their umbrella. So they kind of have a mix of both. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Yeah. So it seems like going to those student days, if you meet the freshmen and you ask them what they're looking at, they're like residential. But they talk about residential. And then it isn't until sophomore or junior year they're like, oh, I'm looking at you know commercial or healthcare or hospitality.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:50

Do you think that's like partly to do with their curriculum that they start with residential or I think uh I think it's at the HGDV effect happens where a lot of them are going in, you know, again, rearranging their room and then seeing those programs and they don't know what commercial and then once they get into the program further, they start to see all the different possibilities that are out there. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Yeah, I mean a couple a couple we were talking about this a little while ago, a couple weeks ago, Sanford had their architecture and interior design first ever career fair um for that program, and it was very well attended by a lot. I mean, they probably had a hundred students, which is like all of them. I mean, it's a a lot, a lot of kids came through. And Trevor wasn't there. Trevor wasn't there. Which one's Trevor? Oh it was all of them, but Trevor. Come on, Trevor. Really need to step up. Um, but you know, just being with Sanford here in in Birmingham, and then my dad being an adjunct professor there, I've seen a lot of those students, you know, there's seniors now that I've known since they were freshmen.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

Um, and it's interesting to talk with them. And to your point, Chad, that a lot of them, you know, four years ago were like, you know, 90% of them were residential, and now it's really branched off into just, you know, they've gotten more exposure. They've had interns, internships at different terms, um, which has been really good. Um, and then there's a few that were not too dissimilar for me when I was graduating from college where they're like, I have no idea what the hell I want to do.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

And I'm like, that's good, that's part of the process. There's nothing there's that's also uh answer.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Yeah, yeah, but and that's why internships are important because you learn probably more there than you do in school to some degree about what you want to do, what type of design, where you want to work. Do you want to work for a big firm or a small firm?

SPEAKER_03 21:36

Yeah, you know, we talked about that with your dad some um, and I can't remember if we had recorded it or if it was a conversation we had prior to recording or after. But he was saying how that they do um evaluations of firms. Like he takes he takes them around to a lot of different firms here in town to see the firms and they'll do evaluations. And they'll and he said it's you know hysterical because you know within the same class, they'll go to one firm and some You know, like somebody will write, like, oh, I I would never ever work at that firm. Yeah, it was awful. They were unprofessional. There was blah blah blah blah blah. And then somebody else was like, that was the most amazing firm. You know, it's eye-opening, they were so great and down to earth and et cetera, et cetera. And it's like, so it's it really is kind of trying to find the right vibe and the right fit. And and as you know, students coming out going into the job market, if the first place doesn't work, it's it's okay to find someplace else. You know, don't think that, oh, this career's not for me because uh this just isn't working out. There's lots of different places to try.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Did you find your transitions and the the changing points in your career scary at all?

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Um not necessarily. And they were kind of more organic. Like I never planned to do, you know, you come out of school and I'm I I just thought I'm gonna work for an architecture firm and be an interior designer because I thought that's what you do. But there's really so many different avenues with with an interior design degree. It's pretty amazing, you know. So you could work for a furniture dealership or be a furniture rep, you can work for uh architecture or a design firm.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

You can open your own design firm.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Yeah, you could open your own design firm, you can work for the government. Um, I mean, one of my good friends from Louisiana, she's an interior designer for the FBI. Uh I was like, that's the coolest interior design job I've ever heard about. So she can't talk about it. No, she cannot. Yeah, but she had to go through all it took six months to get like the clearance or whatever. You know, like she had to go through all that. So kind of interesting roles that you never see and things are for sure.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

Yeah, the torture chambers.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

You can't put that in a portfolio. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Yeah, no, I guess not. Yeah. But yeah, and or work for a hospital and facilities, you know, be in sales. It's just so many different or you could we employ interior designers who design LVT. That's what they do all day. So that's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_03 24:02

And you say we mean Tarquette. So what is Tarquette? Tell us about Tarquette.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Tarquette manufactures commercial flooring. We are um kind of uh three companies combined into one. So Tarquette's like an international company based in Paris, France. But North American headquarters bought Johnsonite, Tandis Carpet, and Centiva LVT.

SPEAKER_03 24:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Yeah. So all those brand names are kind of under the Tarquette umbrella.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Do you ever get to go to Paris?

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Unfortunately not.

SPEAKER_03 24:30

No. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Or Italy where our linoleum is made. Yeah, that would also be nice. I know. I met a student once who she got to go when she studied abroad. I was like, what? Yeah. Well, that's awesome. Yeah, you're like, cool for you. Yeah. Okay, fine. Um, but yeah, no, so we and we manufacture our LBT in uh Florence, Alabama. Not Florence, Italy. Florence, Alabama. Right, right, right. Yeah, you have to make that designation.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Um that's convenient for you for factory tours and stuff. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Yeah, no, we love going to Florence and it's an easy trip. Um, also home to the only Frank Lloyd Wright House in Alabama, right? So I've been there several times.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

Um and it's got LVT, if I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Oh, in the Frank Lloyd Wright House? Yeah, I'm just kidding. It actually is not.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

No comment.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

I've never been in there.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

I think it does have some VCT in it, though, if I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

Is it the Rosebaum house? Is it always called Rosebaum? I do know something. Just never been there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

You need to go because everything's very low. So like you're tall, it would be like funny enough. You really should check it out.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

I should go and take funny photos. Florence is a pretty place, though. I mean, it's a good thing. No, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Yeah, no, it's a nice little town. Well, when I first started with Tarquette and I was in Louisiana, they were like, okay, you need to go to Florence, Alabama. And I was like, Where in the world is that? Yeah. You know, but very cute little town. And typically we can just drive up there. So yeah. And then Dalton, Georgia, carpet with everybody else in the world.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

Right, right. Yeah. Yep. We've talked about Dalton on this.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

So what's what's a typical, typical day for you?

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Oh Lord, there's no typical days. I mean, every day is different. How did this one start? Oh. It's a really great start to today, you know. Um, I'm here in Birmingham, so I'm at a hotel thinking, okay, I'm gonna get up and go like work out before I go on my calls. And I hear water dripping, and I was like, well, that's weird. The shower head wasn't dripping last night, and there's water pouring from the vent above the shower. Luckily, above the shower, so it was still draining. You know, yeah, right, still draining. So I call, they come look, and I said, Okay, well, obviously we have to investigate upstairs. Well, the toilet overflowed, so that is pleasant. Yeah, right. So got to move rooms, so that's good. Yeah, room rooms.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Rooms, yeah, got a new room. So the plural version also sounds funny.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Yeah, it does. I'm just glad you got to move rooms because I was gonna like ask like not a weird question, but like, did you take a shower? The toilet leaking over your head? No, definitely not.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Yeah, no, no, thanks, no thanks. Um hard pass. So started there and then uh That was step one.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

Did you get the workout in? No, okay, definitely not.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

Yeah, moving her bag from one room to another.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Yeah, exactly. One of the packing and unpacking. Uh yeah, nope. So then I had a call that ran long, had a run-out. We had a coffee meeting in the morning. Me and Laura were uh traveling together. Laura Harris. Yeah. Um, go get the coffee. Got seven coffees in little holders, put them nice on the front floor floor mat.

SPEAKER_02 27:45

I feel like I already know where this is going.

SPEAKER_03 27:48

You do. Yeah. But there's not a floor mat, right? Did you say this? Well, no, there is a floor mat, but it's like a carpeted one. I should have.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

I know my husband's probably gonna be like, I told you you should have rubber floor mats. Um so the cold coffee cups are just not quite as big enough for the little holder to hold them. Yeah. So the first turn, the first turn. Two of them fall over, and I'm like, oh my gosh. So I hurry up and I pull over into a bus stop thinking the bus is not gonna come right now. It's fine. Like, hurry up, run around, the door's locked, so I gotta unlock it, go back around, and then here comes the bus. I'm like, I'm so sorry. I mean, they were still good, they just a little bit came out. Um, and then so I make sure they're all okay, start going again. I take the turn very, very slow, and two more fall over. I was like, oh my God. It's like a literal puddle in the middle of the cup holder of coffee. But it's all good. We got there and had the meeting, and everyone enjoyed it. Everybody's like, why did I get half a cup of wine? I was like, I did not take a sip out of this, okay?

SPEAKER_03 28:53

It just felt like two of you need to share.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

Uh two straws. See, being a rep is very glamorous. You get to do really nice places to stay, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, running errands, like getting seven, seven coffees. I always hated that kind of stuff when I was a rep. I just, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

I don't mind it, but like when it doesn't work, it's kind of like, oh, and I still haven't cleaned my floor mat by the way. It still has coffee soaked into it, so it smells great.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Sometimes I find, especially like lunch and learn, if like everyone's ordered a different lunch. So you've got the that can be a challenge. But and so then you get so stressed out. I get more stressed about the lunch I'm getting than the presentation I'm gonna give. Like the presentation is like, oh, I've given you thinking about it, but I gotta get the lunches, and then like it, you know, does I do I have the right side? Does it have the you know, there's all the little details to it?

SPEAKER_01 29:45

And if they don't say what they want, and it's just up to me, that stresses me out. Pizza. I can spend like 30 minutes on easy cater going through and just pizza, everyone gets pizza. Everyone will like. Yeah. Oh, pizza will be. We were talking about that earlier, like things you don't Oh, Laura was saying when she went to training. Like, okay, you know, you don't bring hardies to a finished presentation.

SPEAKER_03 30:13

Which you know means that it's happened. Like it's correct. It's apparently happened in the architects get. Oh, is that how it works?

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Oh, yeah, no, I've got enough friends who do too, but like, yeah, architects too, they get the the the level of breakfast and learn and lunch and learn that architects and engineers get versus what the design studio gets can be wildly different. Yeah. And I've had multiple conversations with friends of mine that are architects. It's like they will have like a lunch and learn comes in and it's like Jimmy John's and it's like white bread, ham, and cheese, and like that's it. Like there's no mayonnaise. Yeah, yeah, exactly that. You know, it's like white bread with a craft single on top of it. And meanwhile, you know, there's like a catering tray that's being rolled into the design studio and they're lighting the sternoclear Tihita bar or something. Right, yeah, exactly, exactly. So, you know, you interior designers, you guys are doing okay. Oh yeah, we're oh yeah, we always get the good the good treats.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

I used to like just leave putting the leftovers in the break room and not even sending out an announcement and seeing how quickly somebody came and got it. It's a fun little bit.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

Here I have to everybody um because we have reps that come in and do regular lunch and learns and and stuff like that to update our teams. And you know, I I feel like I would do this anyway, but especially being a former rep, I'm I very much police that with regard to our own people.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

No RBs.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

Well, yeah, no RBs. Well, no, they're like I'm policing our people in that um you there's always gonna be exceptions and deadlines come up and you're gonna have you know, you're gonna miss lunch and lunch and stuff like that. But if you RSVP, yes, you're expected to be there because those reps are emailing me a week in advance, two or three days in advance to get a headcount, and they are spending sometimes their own money on on these meals based on the headcounts that I give them. So there's that. Two, you're not allowed to RSVP, yes, the reps show up, set up the lunch. You walk over there, get your lunch, and walk back to the desk. That's that's not allowed.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:25

Um and then three, going to your comment about the break room and the swarm. Oh, yeah, you can't the the the leftovers are not allowed to be consumed until the lunch and learn's over.

SPEAKER_03 32:38

Until the next day. Until the next day. Yeah. There's flies.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

It's warm, warm mayonnaise and mustard, you know, because they're condiments, obviously. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, there has to be some like modicum of respect for that. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

And most people are very respectful, I would say.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Most people most people are. Some people just I think get a little bit of a.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

I mean, we all have our stories. We're not going to tell them into the microphone. But we do I think, but again, I mean, we joke, we could write a book. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

It'd be a funny book.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Yeah. We need somebody to like with with some drawing skills, cartoon type. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 33:14

Yeah, but most, I think, yeah, most are respectful and good. And everybody show up if they can, and or if they can't, they come in there, apologize profusely, or you know, hey, I've got this just came up. And we get it. That's you know, that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Oh, yeah, no, yeah, absolutely. Things come up, but um, yeah, most people are pretty respectful. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:31

What was the biggest surprise moving from design world to being a sales rep? Like is was there something like, oh, I didn't realize I had to do this?

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Um I guess for me, the biggest thing that I learned was really how the whole like construction side of it works. You know, from your subs and your contractors and ordering and all that, like how that works. And when people, when you're a designer and you get that call, like, oh, this has been discontinued. And you're like, No, it hasn't. Like, that's weird, you know. And then you call your rep and you're like, wait, I'm is this discontinued? No, it's not discontinued, but all the kind of that background stuff that goes on is has been very enlightening. And then you're like, dang, I wish I knew this when I was a designer, you know. Um but yeah, and it's just to your point, the respectfulness of and I look back, I'm like, gosh, I hope I was nice to my reps, you know, like and respectful of their time and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Especially the good ones, you know. There's plenty of reps where it's like that they'll never call back people. Right, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Just don't call them. I mean, that's what I tell students. I'm like, you know, like if you go out of the joke I always make, speaking of student days and and career fairs and product fairs and stuff like that. I'm like, these are good opportunities to network, there are good opportunities to meet firms, they're also good opportunities to meet reps. And when you're meeting these reps, you know, they they know firms. So uh reach out to them, right? You know, send them, send them an email, they'll be happy to get coffee with you uh or whatever and connect you, you know, a lot of a lot of the reps are in and out of Andy firms all the time. So they know who's hiring, who's moving around, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

And what kind of what kind of things they work on, right? Or just the connection.

SPEAKER_02 35:11

And culture and that sort of thing. Right. So but then I always follow with and I was like, and if you ever reach out to them and then they don't respond to you, then you just know never to spec that product. So, you know.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

That is kind of crazy though. Not reps who are not like right very responsive.

SPEAKER_02 35:26

It is we've talked about this on the show if we have it. It's just mind-blowing. It is mind blowing.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Like, I don't even know how you have a job still. I have to literally your number one rule. Right.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

It's the one thing step one that is what you're supposed to do. Step one respond. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

But to your point about the RSVPs, that's just a I think a thing in life in general is people are not great at RSVP.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

They're they're not, but it is a little bit regional. And I I am I I'm gonna Chad's looking at me like where can this happens every episode. He's like, where are you going with this one? I'm gonna pick on Huntsville a little bit. Okay, go for it. Because I love Huntsville. Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_03 36:09

I was gonna say the the the views expressed right now will be Marks and those are not associated with IIDA.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

Yeah, no, I you know, and I'll I'll in typical fashion too, I'll tell this by telling a story. And that uh uh Lauren Fry, who is on the board right now, um, and she's what director of City Centers Huntsville. What's her what's her role? Yeah. Um anyway, months this was several months ago, and they were working on IIDA was working on uh an event for A and D in Huntsville. Yeah. And there's this thread going back and forth between board members that I was included on. Um and it reached a point in the thread where they were talking about how this is how many people they're expecting to come to the event, but they really don't know because no one is RSVPing at all. And uh and and and Lauren was um at an AD firm at the time, and so she's expressing this. She's like, oh man, like this is just really frustrating that we don't know how many people are coming to this event. And I couldn't help myself and I had to chime in, and I'd be like, now, and I was like, ha ha. I was like, now you know how all the reps feel about Huntsville because this is what y'all do. Welcome to our world. Yeah, um, Birmingham's a little bit better, I think, in terms of RSVP in Huntsville. Um, Huntsville does everything else wonderfully, but they don't RSVP well. So I love how you two are just literally quiet lips. They're just like not gonna say anything.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

I mean, the only thing I'll say is being on an IAD board for many, many years, both in Louisiana and here, and I used to be city center director, so always planning events. Um, and it was hard to get people, it's still hard, even not just Huntsville. It's like okay, you know, you send your e-blast out, but that doesn't really do it. So then you gotta send individual emails. That may or may not do it. Now you gotta call or see them in person or you know, social media. Stop by their house. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 38:15

I've got your children. Are you coming? Pull up to the driveway and honk on the court. It's me.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

It's me. We got five more stops, and then we're gonna get to the event.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

But and then usually, you know, it's like some people who R Sweep end up something comes up, they can't make it, and those who don't, then they come. So it usually all kind of evens out. But yeah, it's a struggle is real every day, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

Yeah. So I heard a rumor that you're thinking about being president-elect of IDS album. This is the big announcement on this episode.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

How we're kicking off the new season is announcing Jennifer as the president-elect of Idea Album. You heard it here, folks.

SPEAKER_01 38:54

Where did you hear that?

SPEAKER_02 38:56

Thanks a lot. I didn't really get out alert. That's what we hear.

SPEAKER_03 39:00

It's a really stepped me up for that.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Last time I was president uh in Louisiana, um, COVID happened. So I think it might be a bad L.

SPEAKER_03 39:09

Okay. Yeah. That was your fault. Was it Wuhan? No. No, no. No. It was the Delta chapter of RDA.

SPEAKER_04 39:21

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

So that was a two-year presidency. Um, that Jess did, yeah. Uh Did she ask you?

SPEAKER_02 39:32

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

You can also be president even if you're an industry member as long as you are eligible to be a professional member. You can be a professional member. For example, president. Nudge nudge.

SPEAKER_03 39:50

Yeah. Well, I think you'll be great. Well, thanks. Yeah. But if I wondered, if anyone is interested, if they are looking for a president elect for IDA.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

Yep. And uh seven other positions as well.

unknown 40:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

That I can't. But might as well just be president. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

Just I mean, if you're gonna do it, go bigger, go home.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:10

You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:11

Yeah. Um start at the top.

SPEAKER_02 40:14

And you're also so speaking of your credentials, you're also eDac certified.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

I am, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

Yeah. Do you still do you do a lot of healthcare work in your role now?

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Some.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Some?

SPEAKER_01 40:27

Yeah. I mean, we're what we call in our company generalists in our market. So we're not a big enough market to have like a healthcare specialist or something like that. But yeah, that is my background. I was a healthcare designer for 15 years. Um so I'm healthcare certified designer, EDAC certified, which is evidence-based design, um, and still a licensed designer. So I do keep all that up. I don't really use it except, you know, when I'm working with healthcare designers. But um yeah, we we work on lots of healthcare jobs. Um when I was at WHR in Houston, it's Watkins Hamilton Ross, Kirk Hamilton was kind of one of the uh founding fathers of evidence-based design. So he would have these um little sessions with us and teach us about it. So it was a really interesting concept. I always loved it because it got it, it gave a lot of validity to design because we always talk about like, what do designers do? Why is it important? You know, and then I thought, oh, I'm a healthcare designer. So I'll tell people I'm a healthcare designer. And then they say, Well, what do you do? Everything's white in a hospital. I'm like, okay, nothing is good. We can't win here. But with evidence-based design, there's actual research and reasons why you do stuff that get outcomes. So I've always really enjoyed that. And that is um has extended into education as well.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

Oh, cool. Uh specific market aside, do you have a favorite project that you've worked on? Either as an interior designer or a rep or both?

SPEAKER_01 42:00

Interesting. Well, my uh most favorite project as a designer was the St. Bernard Parish Hospital in Louisiana. Uh it was taken out by Katrina, and for a long time, years, they didn't have a hospital, and they are kind of an island, like surrounded by water, and they were drawbridges. So if they had an emergency, trying to get to a hospital was a problem. Um, so we got to design with um Gresham Smith's office out of Nashville. We were the local, um, a brand new hospital, and we got the interior package. So I got to do all the design, signage, artwork, furniture. It was like everything. So that was kind of my most favorite project. Although I do have to say it took, you know, five or six years to come to fruition from start to begin. Sure. Right, right. And I just remember thinking, well, I'd do something different by now. You know, once it was built, I was like, it's good, but I don't know. Change my mind now.

SPEAKER_04 42:58

Change this, this, and this.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

But that was my favorite one as a designer. Um, gosh, I don't know. We work on so many different things. Um, I guess just off the top of my head, one of my uh favorite ones was in Louisiana. Um, we did this field house for a university. Um, and so they had like interior kind of stadium style, auditorium style seats looking out to the field at the end zone for the alumni to watch the game and they'd be eating and drinking. So we put our power bond material on the stairs. But the designer wanted a very specific color change at the nosing, and it was a three-sided stair. So we had to try to we worked together a lot to figure out like how do we make this work? How does this detail work? How many inches do we have to return so that it's a uh stable joint, all that kind of stuff. Um and then from there it was public bid. The local contractor in Thibodeau, Louisiana, got it. So he'd never really worked with this material. So I was nervous about it. So I just offered training and we did that the whole time. Our trainer and the contractor were, you know, we got him some material. I said, can you just build like a little mock-up step so you can work with it and figure it out? And he did. But they both complained about the design the whole time, which killed me. I'm like, I'm a designer. Like, you know, so the you know, all designers know the contractors don't like anything. Design. Right, right, right. Um easy. And it came out so beautifully. He did such a good job. And so I called him and was like, Oh, you did so good. This looks great. He's like, Yeah, don't tell anybody. I'm not sure. I don't want to do it again. I just don't want to lay it out.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

All future bins, I'm not interested. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

Where like we would be like, oh, thanks. Like this is great.

SPEAKER_03 44:51

No, never.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

I just want to lay 18 by 18 tile straight and be done. So that would probably be it.

SPEAKER_03 44:58

Is there anything from your days being a designer that has influenced how you are as a rep?

SPEAKER_02 45:06

She always RSVPs.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

Always RSVP. Um I mean, I think really in this position, I always said when I was a designer, I'll never be a rep. Like that was not gonna happen. Um but I feel like we're we're not selling one product, right? I'm not trying to force you to think you want something because I don't think I could actually do that. Like I couldn't be a used car salesman or whatever. But it's more just consultative. So using my design background, I can help designers get what they're looking for. And they there's a level of trust there too, with like, I'm not gonna just give you every blue carpet that's you know a medium scale pattern. Like, no, we have some unattractive things. I'm not gonna tell you about those because that wouldn't be what I want, you know what I mean? So you have that um background of it. So I think that's the main thing. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

Nice. What do you want to do next? This is the part where everybody that works for Tarquette stops listening.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

Don't listen, Eric.

SPEAKER_02 46:17

Okay, here's this is usually a rapid fire question, so I'm just gonna throw it out as a question. Now, if you could do anything outside of the industry, like completely different career, I want to be a chef. Right? Like, is there something that you want to be a chef? No, I hate cooking. Okay, yeah. No, I definitely don't want to do that. No.

SPEAKER_01 46:37

Hmm. I mean I can't, I I don't know. Not you're wearing a well-kept woman. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

I want to be a well-kept woman. That was my other answer.

SPEAKER_01 46:51

Actually, I'd always have to do something. I could not imagine just staying at home. Remote antennas. I would die. Yeah, no, no, couldn't do that. But I don't know. I enjoy where I am. Um, and honestly, like I told you before, I was in a when I was in a firm, I wanted to climb that corporate ladder, and I just thought you had to keep going, going. And it just wasn't, it wasn't bad. It just wasn't like all that was cracked up to be, right? So I'm kind of just really content where I am. It's good. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:21

Even with the toilet overflowing and car uh coffee going in the build everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

You know what's funny about it is all the things that have happened today, it's like I've been very calm somehow. I don't know. I'm like, uh, you know, whatever. What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_02 47:35

Yeah, what yeah, it's it's I think that goes back to kind of your contentment. You're like, I I get it. Like it's at the end of the day, too, it's like you're you're taking coffee to an A and D firm to have a conversation with them about fluorine solutions. Right, you know, like it's not the end of the world.

SPEAKER_01 47:52

Oh, it's true.

SPEAKER_02 47:52

You know, yeah, like it's gonna be fine, it'll be funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

But I think when you first start in sales, you think because when you're a designer, you only see like the glamorous side, right? Of the reps. What we show. Right. Yeah, you see the fun and all that. It's great, yeah. It's yeah, so good.

SPEAKER_02 48:11

Yep, yeah. All you do is hang out with people. I know. Except for the you know, 50 or 60 percent of the time where you're by yourself, yeah, you know, waiting, waiting, if not more. Someone talked to me.

SPEAKER_03 48:22

Yeah, it's 98 degrees and humid, and you're loading your car and sweat is pouring down your face. And you're like, okay, and then I gotta get cleaned up and be like, oh hey, yeah, buddy. That's when you wish you were a textile rep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

Oh, yeah. If you're not in the the hard tile, ceramic, porcelain tile reps. I don't know how they do it. That's my favorite thing with COVID was trunk shows. Yeah, I used to just travel around and meet with people outside, just open the back of my car, and I was like, hey, here it is. Yeah, yeah. So we could bring trunk shows.

SPEAKER_02 48:52

You come out here and sweat with me. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

Exactly. And I did in the middle of August. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:57

Yeah. It was great. It was nice. And then there was even there were ones where I've like trunk shows where like multiple people showed up with all their cars. Yeah, yeah. Right. Yeah, versus just yourself in the parking lot. It was like a bunch of like this is a well mini trade show out in the middle.

SPEAKER_01 49:11

There were some times where I was like, I'm not sure we're supposed to be doing this, but we're just gonna get a lot of people. Oh, we got kicked out of a parking lot one time. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_02 49:19

Yeah, yeah. It was uh this was we're coming out of COVID because this was when I was at right when I got hired at here at BI and it was 2021. And uh it was BI and several other reps that were doing little same sort of thing, like the group trunk shows. Right. And we went to um El Zoonzoon, the restaurant over in College Heights. Yeah, and the goal was to have you know, I th I think it was just like two or three firms. Like I think like Turner Batson was coming, and maybe like one or two other firms or one or two other designers. And we were just gonna show our wares and then close the trunks, and then like ten of us go into El Zoon Zone for like happy hour and appetizers, and if it turns into dinner, great, it turns into dinner. And um, and this has nothing to do with El Zoon Zune. They're a great restaurant, go there. Um we did not tell them that we were coming. Oh, and they were pissed because all they saw, you know, like because we had basically set up before we they noticed that we were out there, right?

SPEAKER_03 50:24

And haven't held a mini mini trade show in their parking lot. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:28

At like four o'clock in the afternoon.

SPEAKER_03 50:30

Probably should have given them a heads up.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

Should it we should have given them a heads up? And so by the time they yeah, you know, by the time that they had noticed us, and again we were set up, the I don't think they heard, let alone cared. Well, when we're done, we're coming to have they're like, no, like you have to like leave. Leave. Yeah. Yeah. Um it all worked out. I mean, we packed up and then we drove across the street to the summit and like did it in the parking lot there. Right. And did did you go to drinks back at the end? We went to no, we went to I think the olive branch. I think we went to that restaurant. Okay. Um, but yeah, it was just pretty fun. Like, and I knew, you know, I when the person stepped out literally on the stoop, if you will, of the restaurant.

SPEAKER_03 51:14

And their facial expression.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

I knew. I was like, there's no, like, you know, I think I was with Valerie and I was like, just go ahead and start putting things in the car. Like, there's no way.

SPEAKER_01 51:21

There's no so were the designers there yet when y'all got kicked out? Oh, that's good. No, the designers were not there.

SPEAKER_02 51:27

Uh like Anne Marie and Mary Claire at Turner Batson were on the way.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 51:31

And so luckily we had everybody's, you know, it was a small group and we had come to the summit.

SPEAKER_03 51:37

Everybody kind of knows that truck show, so everything's right by the trunk to let back in and move quickly. Oh, yeah, no, it's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

Those were the easiest things. Um we actually did one in a small town just in the parking spots alongside the street. Yeah. We had furniture in one of the parking spots, carpet.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

We did that on uh Morris. Yeah. It's probably the same, probably the same run. Right. Of like it was like a tour kind of thing over the week. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:03

Yeah. I mean, you had to do something. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:05

And everyone was trying to scramble to figure out how to do it, like how to crack this nut, which you can't call on people, but you need to call on people. Right. What was nice was the manufacturers that were like, hey, um just do what you can. Like the as far as quotas and like all that, you know, that all just kind of went out of the window. Right. There was there was no more pressure.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

But you didn't need to worry about that because you win 100% of the time.

SPEAKER_03 52:27

I was uh the other reps, the rest of the country were really angry with me because I was messing things up uh for them. Right. By actually selling stuff. Yeah, by Chad. Meaning is quota. What a jerk. I know. Yeah. Well, we are uh we're over 50 minutes in, so you want to do rapid fire? You started the rapid fire, kind of. Kind of. I kind of do.

SPEAKER_01 52:48

I don't know if I'm good at rapid fire, but I'm not sure. Well, it's okay.

SPEAKER_02 52:51

Here's the thing. I'm not good at rapid fire either. Uh Chad's pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 52:57

The I I I intentionally write questions.

SPEAKER_02 53:01

He has a list of questions that he kind of brings out and then sometimes I make up stuff and then then they get derailed into conversations and backing up from the mic just like.

SPEAKER_01 53:10

When do we get to do rapid fire questions, Tegle?

SPEAKER_02 53:13

That's happened. That's happened before. Yeah. Yeah. Um it happened with uh Molly and Ainsley. We had them both on at the same time. They had their list of questions and they find one. And they started with those.

SPEAKER_03 53:25

Like we started, let's kick off the podcast. And they're like, all right, we've got questions for you two.

SPEAKER_02 53:29

Like, okay. I'm I'm saying this knowing that Molly and Ainsley know that that uh uh I I love them. Um fun is a word. It was a ride. It was it was it was it was a ride. Uh uh. It was a ride that we couldn't get off. Ainsley took over the podcast like in the first five minutes.

SPEAKER_03 53:50

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 53:51

They did give us a heads up that they were gonna that they had rapid fire questions for us, but we did not realize this once we got past like the introduction. That it was starting. That she was like, okay, here's your first question, Marcus.

unknown 54:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

So um, I'll just start with a classic. Okay. Good. Uh blue or black ink? Black. Peace cake.

SPEAKER_03 54:13

All right. Here's my first question. What is the real-world difference in scratch resistance between contour rigid core and ID latitude glue down?

SPEAKER_01 54:25

Wow. Damn it, I had that question too.

SPEAKER_02 54:31

Chad also researches his question. I see this.

SPEAKER_01 54:34

Um, both contour and latitude have our tectonic coating, which is UV-cured polyurethane on top. And we've introduced that at the end of 2018 and had no scratch and scuff claims since.

SPEAKER_02 54:46

Damn. Damn, you're a good rep. Wow. Nice. Nicely done. Thank you. I want to say that that um, as far as I know, you were not aware that that question was coming. No, definitely not.

SPEAKER_01 54:58

It just made me laugh because I thought these were like blue or black ink questions.

SPEAKER_02 55:03

Oh, no, it's over two years. Like they had like Mickey product questionnaires. Very specific brand name. Shout out to our good buddy Mickey Davis. He would, he would give us, you know, we had kind of like yeah, blue or black ink. Like one one, uh, an early one was underline or highlight.

SPEAKER_01 55:22

Oh highlight.

SPEAKER_02 55:26

Yeah, see, and then they've devolved mine have devolved. I will say. Yeah. Yours have always been a little bit more creative. Chad's elevated. Yeah, yeah, elevated, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 55:35

What's what's your third favorite color?

SPEAKER_01 55:38

Oh. Blue.

SPEAKER_03 55:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 55:42

Do I know my first? I do now. Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_03 55:45

I don't.

SPEAKER_01 55:46

Oh, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 55:48

Tell me. Just tell me later. Like, is that actually your third favorite color? I would say, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:55

First favorite. I love pink. That's my favorite color. But I don't really wear it because it's not a good color on me. Love black. Wear that all the time. That's a great color. Black's always good. And then blue. Okay. Sweet.

SPEAKER_02 56:06

Uh describe yourself in three words.

SPEAKER_01 56:11

Oh. Um. Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 56:14

Got too. And blue. There you go. I was going to say Neapolitanized cream, but that isn't. I guess that kind of works out. That's close. Close. No, I missed that. There's no blue.

SPEAKER_01 56:26

Actually, not at all. Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_02 56:28

Don't don't listen. Let's cut that, Chad.

SPEAKER_01 56:35

I'm colorblind in my brain.

SPEAKER_03 56:37

In that there are three colors. It's just like it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:40

Well, this will be my, I guess to explain myself, especially being here in Alabama, I'm from New Orleans. So I'm okay. Nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:50

All right. If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be and why?

SPEAKER_04 56:56

Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 56:58

RSVPing. RSVPing. There's a thing.

SPEAKER_02 57:03

I should have been looking at my um uh do you have a favorite book?

SPEAKER_01 57:08

Oh unfortunately not because I don't have time to read or watch TV actually. Oh damn it, that was nice. I know, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 57:16

TV show or movie?

SPEAKER_01 57:17

Oh, TV show? I mean friends on repeat, that's all I usually put on when I'm traveling. Some shows on Netflix, nothing right now, but yeah, mindless stuff. Okay. To work more.

SPEAKER_03 57:30

This is a classic question we've asked several people. What's your go-to non-swear swear word? Like your kids are around, you want to swear.

SPEAKER_01 57:38

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 57:39

What comes out? Or do you just let it fly? I do.

SPEAKER_02 57:46

I swear in front of all children. I go out of my way to swear in front of children.

SPEAKER_01 57:51

Can we not swear on this podcast? No, we have. We have. Okay, okay. Well, just a quick story. One time, my daughter, she was probably like three, and she says, Oh shit. And I was like, Where did you hear that? You can tell me, like, you're not in trouble. It probably came from daycare, and like I had to get it out of her after 15 minutes of saying, You're not gonna be in trouble. She's like, Well, when you're driving, that's what you said. Like, dang it.

SPEAKER_03 58:17

I've got a friend of mine, he's an architect in town, and his son let the F-bomb drop at school and going to a Catholic school. So the principal's a nun. And so he gets brought in front of the principal with um my friend, who's the architect, the father, and she's like, you know, where did you hear it? And he totally threw the dad under the bus in front of the nice. Yeah. It's like from my dad. Yeah. Well, that really is concussion now. Yeah. It should have been a discussion before going in. Hey, hey son, if this comes up, raising an honest child with a colorful vocabulary.

SPEAKER_02 58:56

Right. You should be there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:58

Again, I'm from New Orleans.

SPEAKER_02 59:00

Right. Yeah. Um, are you a kill the spider or catch and release person?

SPEAKER_01 59:07

I do not get close enough. I am a call my husband or son to come and kill the bug. And I'm definitely not catching releasing. Sorry. Okay. Death. Death. Death. Yeah, death.

SPEAKER_03 59:21

Death by swear words. When do you recommend moisture mitigation systems versus floating products?

SPEAKER_01 59:31

I think your safest bet is to always moisture mitigate. Okay. Um we do not actually have floating products. Um for commercial, glue down is the way to go. It's more secure. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:43

That reminds me I would like to talk about the floors in our house. No, I'm just kidding. Um what are are we done with that? Pretty much, yeah. Yeah, see that's the other thing. He actually pays attention to like how many. So we've each have five questions.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:00

I write down five questions. Yeah. And so when I get done with the five questions, I know we're done. I just go. Of course he has a whole list of chat stops.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:08

Yeah, tells me to stop. All right. Yeah, some of these are just, again, we've talked about this on the show, they're just kind of terrible. But, you know. Do you have a you know we'll ask you something. Bonus. Ask you to ask us something. Does there something you want to know from us?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:25

I feel like I just made it about us, but you know. The second hour will be about us.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:31

If you could change anything in the industry, what would it be?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:39

I just want to make a bunch of jokes about Huntsville, but I feel like that's not true.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:44

I would say uh bids. I think the bids system is broken.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:48

Yeah, I agree with that.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:50

Yeah, I'm just gonna uh draft behind that one. Because it doesn't do the client any good to like race to the bottom of the lowest common denominator.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:01

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You're right.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:03

You know, um I think I think it should you should interview the dealers that you want to work with, then work with a design firm and the dealership to come with a package and a cost plus, you know, kind of you know this is what our net net's gonna be, and then we're gonna attack on this much for you know profit and installation and follow-up and whatever, but they see everything and that's how you negotiate it. Yep. But yeah, that's that to me, that's the biggest problem in the industry are bids.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:31

But yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:33

I'm sure that's across the board. Yeah, too. You know, yeah. GCs, everything. Oh, you're right. You know, right, right.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:38

Yep. All right. So we usually finish this with a custom-made song for you. Mark's gonna sing it. No. It's a uh it's an AI made song that we'll make that we'll tack on to the end. Okay, but um I need you to give me a genre of music.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:56

Oh yeah, this is easy. Rap.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:58

Rap, perfect.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:59

My son's been making rap songs. Oh. Rap chat, it's like a AI. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:05

Anyway, so sweet. How old is he again? Fourteen. Fourteen. Yeah. Okay. Are they clean? Or but I mean you're from New York? Oh yeah. There's yeah, there's a lot of colorful language.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:16

Actually, his his his are clean, yeah. Okay. They make a whole video with it. The daughters aren't.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:20

The daughters are filled with Hilarious. Um and then uh I usually I ask for uh the uh the hook or the uh the refrain or whatever. What what should be the kind of thing?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:37

Yeah, see this is where you gotta lean back and think.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:40

Yeah. What's the what's the the theme for the roundtable discussion? I do know that.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:47

That's NCIDQ and license, sure. Uh that's not too fun though.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:52

Um just the course. What should the course be?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:57

This could be another phone a friend. We've had like three or four she could call her son.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:02

Oh, he could come up with something. I need you to give me a line. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:08

We could AI it. Um I don't know. Something about design. Can I just give you ideas and you come up with something? Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:17

Okay, something about design and also uh I am from New Orleans.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:23

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, design interior designers in New Orleans. Oh, which by the way, I have rum, rum. I've taken out some uh Alabama designers in New Orleans. It was a very good time. We had a lot of fun. Yeah. Um, yeah. What was the last thing you said? Oh, rum.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:42

Rum. Rum. Rum. Yeah. Spell it rum.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:46

Rum rum. Yeah. I think we got it.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:52

Wait, are they gonna do it right now? No. Oh no, no. Oh yeah. Oh no, but I'll send it to you before before it goes live. See, not that it'll change, if we'll still use it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:03

It would be really impressive though, if I did it right now. Yeah. Or if he there's this dude that I follow on Instagram, and I wish I could remember his handle, but he's lives in New York and he walks around uh on the street and he has this huge uh like shoulder harness and this whole keyboard DJ setup in front of him. And what he does is he's really, really talented, and he goes and he makes beats on the fly.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:33

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:34

And just has people that come up to him and rap. Like just freestyle.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:41

And apparently everyone in New York City can rap. It's it's pretty amazing. I'm gonna find the handle, I'll send it to you. It's pretty cool. But like he does all but he plays the keyboard and he does all this stuff and he mixes all this stuff. And just hopes people come up and start rapping. Well, now he's famous enough to wear one. I mean, like in the last few months, he had like Wyclef Jean like find him and come meet him. And so people who I guess are probably aspiring rappers, uh into theme ender for this this episode, um, come and find him. To like, they're like, oh dude, like I see you on Instagram. Like, this is what I want. Like, I want a reggaeton, you know, Bronx beat. And then he mixes it like right then and there, and these people grab the mic, and I'm just like, these people are really talented. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:27

They had a guy on America's Got Talent who made up freestyle raps, and people just pulled things out of their purses or their pockets, and he had to incorporate them into the rap.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:35

It's quite a talent.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:36

So are you an aspiring rapper?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:38

I am. That's this is my moment. We'll close the episode with me announcing my next career as a rapper. Yeah, that's where just the show cuts off. That's where the that's that's where you put in the song. Rapid fire. What is your rap name? Yeah. Oh my god. Uh well, my handle on Instagram is Mare Griffo.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:57

So Okay, all right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:58

Yeah, I'll probably stick with Mare Griffo.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:10

Thank you for coming out.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:12

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:24

Step in the room, yeah, you heard me right. Samples in my bag and the specs are tight. From LVT planks to rubber towel strong. If it's under your feet with target, you can go wrong. Hello A's rich like a French courtesy. Performing so clean, it belongs in the magazine. Healthcare, workplace, K-12 halls. Crock it on the floor, yeah, we cover it all. She vinyl smooth, transitions tight. With cool sketch and keep the footsteps light. Hospital corridor, two corporate suite. Durability built for the daily beat. Sustainability goals, yeah, that's part of the plan. Circular systems bigger than a brand. From Birmingham bus to the Gulf Coast tomb. I'm bringing that all the heat to the room. I'm from New Orleans. Where the rhythm hits hard and the hustles routine. I'm from New Orleans. Bring that soul to the speck in the in between. In the room, let the good vibes bloom. I'm from New Orleans. I'm from New Orleans. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Second line stride with a sales call closed. Mood board stacking everywhere I go. Patterns with punch, neutrals with class. Florence so good. Make a design of guess. That's as deep like a bio knife. Would look brain. Done just right. Rule down, click, I roll it out smooth. I read the drawings and I make my move. Traffic is wild, then I might say one thing. But back in the room. I'm a flooring queen. When I say wrong, yeah, I mean that wrong. Little New Orleans twist in the way I boom. From spec review to final install. I'm there from the first call to the last walkthrough hall. Urban street bouncing my cadence and tone. But I'm sharp on the details, some middles on phone. Performance layers under every design. Style on the surface, strength underneath the line. I'm from New Orleans. I'm from New Orleans. Where the culture runs deep and the grinds unseen. I'm from New Orleans. Bring the fire to the floor so it stays pristine. From Just Ben Horns to the jobs I zoom. Spect it folding around. I'm from New Orleans. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm from New Orleans. From the Bayou Breeze to the boardroom boom. If it's all in design, I'm on in the wrong. Yeah, yeah, yeah.