Business Women Awards 2019 | HONOREE
Janelle Blakely Photopoulos, Blakely Interior Design
WHAT’S THE SECRET to building an award-winning interior design company while caring for three children, one with special needs, and going to school?
“Late nights,” said Janelle Blakely Photopoulos, owner of Blakely Interior Design.
Despite not getting a lot of sleep, a life creating pleasing, functional interior spaces for her clients has been her dream.
Her interior design business was sparked when she bought “the ugly house on the street,” as she calls it, and transformed it. Word of her work got out, and suddenly she had other projects underway.
But even with a knack for color, fabrics, furniture and accessories, she decided the Rhode Island School of Design Interior Design Certificate Program would give her a foundational knowledge that would add to her competitive edge.
“I needed to learn the technical aspects – to earn my stripes, if you will. It did mean a lot of … late nights. I sacrificed sleep more than anything else,” she said.
At the time Photopoulos entered the RISD program, in 2011, her younger son was a baby, her daughter was a toddler and her other son was 5.
Since then, she has earned awards from interior design website Houzz for the last five years, and from the Rhode Island Home Show. Her company also won a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses entrepreneurial program’s Revenue Growth Award – increasing its numbers by 187% over a six-month period in 2016.
Blakely Interior Design now has a staff of five working in its renovated space at the Lafayette Mill in North Kingstown. Though the firm serves mainly residential clients, it also does commercial work, having designed South Kingstown’s Matunuck Oyster Bar and Flawless Medical Spa in East Greenwich.
Photopoulos, who has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from Syracuse University, spent years fine-tuning her project-management skills in the corporate world.
She also learned the skill of “developing a rock star team” and keeping members motivated.
And she’s imparting her knowledge to future designers and marketers through internships involving local college students and a work-immersion program at Rocky Hill School.
“It’s rewarding to … watch them develop,” Photopoulos said.
Last year, Blakely Interior Design produced a Facebook video series, “Design Dish,” which offered weekly design advice. The episodes offer information and education to the general public and exposure for local vendors and artisans.
The company also launched Blakely Gives Back, the firm’s philanthropic arm. It leads the Rhode Island chapter of Savvy Giving by Design, a nonprofit that transforms bedrooms of children with medical issues at no cost to the family.
It’s a cause that resonated with Photopoulos.
“I’m a firm believer that the environment you live in greatly impacts your mental health, your ability to heal,” she said. “It’s important from more than just a general design perspective.”
Another thing she has learned is the idea of work-life balance for women such as her isn’t realistic.
“Any female entrepreneur that goes out looking for a state of balance? It doesn’t really exist,” she said. “Your areas of priority are like buckets. You fill them up as best you can. If I had important deadlines, I’d focus on that bucket. But once those deadlines were met, I’d dedicate time to the others.”