Overcoming early challenges, she designed a healthy company
Interior designer Tonya Comer says her ability to listen to clients has been instrumental in her success.
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TONYA COMER, 43, of Fishtown, owns Tonya Comer Interiors, a design firm with residential and business clients in nine states and the District of Columbia. The Pittsburgh native grew up in a public-housing project and was raised by a single parent. She has an undergraduate degree from Duquesne and an MBA from Michigan State.
Q: How'd you come up with the idea for the company?
A: I discovered a passion for interior design working for an office-furniture company. A client asked me to design her kitchen. In 2002, I purchased an interior-decorating franchise in Maryland, worked there for five years, relocated to Philadelphia in 2008 and rebranded as Tonya Comer Interiors.
Q: The biz model?
A: I create the vision based on a client's preferences and lifestyle. My portfolio is half residential, half commercial. In residential, I work primarily with a homeowner and prefer to design one room at a time but have done entire homes. I specialize in interior architecture. I've also done a wedding hall and an art gallery in Arizona. On a commercial project, I do 100 percent of the [interior] design and use consultants. I work with architects on the commercial side and support them in the design component and subcontract work like the installation of window interiors.
Q: What do you charge?
A: The design component is an hourly fee of $150. I collect a retainer to guarantee the relationship between myself and the client. A living-room project could be $15,000 and up, including design and furnishings.
Q: Who are the clients?
A: My preferred client is somebody who's way too busy to even think about design. They might be professional working couples or executives. Most are in the I-95 corridor between Washington, D.C., and New York.
Q: The value prop?
A: I can recognize when clients aren't communicating something. When I pull together a design proposal, I might interject something we didn't discuss. I'm working on an estate home right now in New Rochelle, N.Y. The client presented me a magazine collage of seashells, orchids and other organic elements. It had serenity and the beach, but what wasn't represented was comfort and a variation in colors. I sensed she also wanted something more luxurious.
Q: Biggest challenge?
A: Rebranding myself in a market that has a solid base of designers at a time when the economy wasn't favorable. My brand is a luxury brand, a friendly brand, and it's me. People tend to think we're not approachable and there's a mystique about us. I simplify that by letting people get to know me as a person.
Q: What's next?
A: I want to make a mark in hotels and hospitality.
Online: ph.ly/YourBusiness