EXCLUSIVE: Interior Designer Brigette Romanek to Host Miami Legal and Business Summit

MILAN — Believe it or not , Brigette Romanek — the Los Angeles interior designer whose client list includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Beyoncé, Demi Moore, and Joe Jonas — is still learning about the business and legal side of design.

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That’s why she’s teamed with Julia Nikishina, founder of New Age Financial, a firm that assists interior designers in growing, sustaining and improving their financial practices. Together they will host the first “Empower the Designer,” an upcoming summit-slash-retreat in Miami from Sept. 25 to 27 at the St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort.

In detail, the three-day event will include key financial workshops focused on analyzing financial statements, saving money with proactive tax solutions and maximizing employee benefit structures. A legal workshop will help designers with creating effective employee handbooks, contracts, understanding non-disclosure agreements and how to protect businesses through client agreements and staffing issues. A leadership workshop was enlisted to embolden designers’ leadership style, decision making and communication skills and developing a team.

In an interview with WWD, Romanek said in interior design , business is constantly changing.

“It can be as simple as knowing how much cash do you have in the bank? How much belongs to your client? How is that run? So it’s really a way to have some comfort and develop a process and have some structure, some procedures that give you the confidence to create your contracts or give you the confidence to know that what you’re doing is OK,” said Romanek, a self-taught designer who grew up on the south side of Chicago with her single mom, Paulette McWilliams, a singer who traveled the world with the likes of Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and David Bowie.

In 2018, the aesthete founded Romanek Design Studio and made the AD 100 list, the year she opened her business.

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Guest speakers include celebrity interior designer Jake Arnold ; Seth Kaplowitz of the Kaplowitz Group, a group that provides legal and strategic counsel to architecture and design businesses; and certified executive coach, master workshop facilitator Angela Parker, founder of the AMP Leadership Collective who teaches entrepreneurs, founders, and creatives how to heal, lead, and scale with ease. The first 25 attendees will be privy to one-on-one sessions with Romanek and Nikishina, as well as the top speakers.

Her business turned six this year and she’s now focused on helping the growing community of interior designers.

Romanek admitted that when she started, she didn’t know interior design would turn into a career and she learned through a lot of trial and error. “I was having fun with friends… but I realized that I need to turn this into something because I do need to hire someone to help me. And what does that look like? I’ve never hired anyone before. And how do I go about doing that? And what is that process and what are the legal ramifications?”

Tickets are $4,600 and can be purchased online.

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