Kelly Wearstler has had a decades-long career as an interior designer. In addition to celebrity clients like Gwen Stefani and Cameron Diaz, Wearstler owns her own product line and has designed hotels around the world.
In college, Wearstler studied interior, architectural and graphic design. Her accolades include Architectural Digest’s AD100 and Time Magazine’s The Design 100, and she was the first interior designer to teach a MasterClass.
But before founding her design studio in 1999, Wearstler was working as a waitress to support herself and pay off her student loans. Now, over 20 years later, the 57-year-old South Carolina native credits her days waiting tables for teaching her how to work with the diverse clients she has now.
“[It taught me how to] just be a good listener. You had to be a good listener, and then you also have to know how to ask the right questions. Both go hand in hand,” Wearstler tells CNBC Make It. “I was also very shy and it really helped me to speak up. Every time you go to a table, you have a speech and say ‘Hi, I’m Kelly’ so that really helped me.”
Wearstler says she doesn’t see the moments she creates for her design clients as all that different from the experiences her customers had when she was a waitress.
Your home is a place you’re constantly nurturing. It’s important you’re authentic with your home.
Kelly Wearstler
Interior Designer
“It’s very social and I’m all about taking care of people. I love giving them an amazing experience and it’s what I do now. It just happens to be visual and I’m not serving food,” she adds.
During a panel at SoFi‘s first home lending event, “Designing the Future of Homeownership,” Wearstler said that she believes being a good designer is all about knowing what’s happened in the past.
“Being a great designer, you have to know history. It’s all about having a home that has an old soul and new spirit. Your home is a place you’re constantly nurturing. It’s important you’re authentic with your home,” she says.
“You have to ask yourself what is most important to you and make design choices really personal to yourself.”
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