My Story

rebeccaspiegel9@gmail.com|305.281.0880
Washington, DC Metro

My journey to design has not been a straight line, but isn’t that more interesting? I find people and their stories fascinating. I'll go first.

Here is the quick version...

I am just about to graduate with my second Master’s degree, studying Interior Architecture and Design at Marymount University. While in school, I was an Interior Design Intern for the Executive Office of the President and for a luxury design-build firm, focusing on residential and medical office design. I am a career changer and to my next role in design I also bring a vast experience in business, marketing, branding, and creative services.

Curious to know more?

Here is the longer version…

I am left-handed. Everyone always tells lefties that it means we are more creative. But I have always wondered what made me creative? A lefty is a mark of being different. But how am I different? Do I think about things in an unusual way? Does it automatically mean I am artistic? There is lefty pressure to find that big, creative outlet and I have spent some time searching for mine.

My search began as a teenager, in an immersive magnet program for photography studying composition, lighting, and searching Miami, Florida for unusual subjects (there were plenty). Always practical, in college I tried to find the best of both worlds and studied Advertising (creative, but business oriented) and History (old stories are the best ones). I had an opportunity to spend summers interning in cable news and was thrilled by the hunt for information and the exciting pace and unpredictability of the news cycle. My first journalism job brought me to DC where I quickly set boundaries that the journalism industry could not provide, and pivoted to a career in marketing. Over the following decade I worked my way up through different marketing organizations, earned my first Master’s degree in Marketing from Johns Hopkins University and ultimately landed in roles focused on managing the marketing strategy driving customer engagement and loyalty for credit card rewards programs at both Capital One and The TJX Companies.

I bought my first home and discovered that I loved transforming spaces and was extra energized by the challenge of making tight spaces functional. After a brief break to expand my family and a pandemic to punctuate my transition period, I took the plunge and went back to school to study design.

What felt instinctual, was a deliberate understanding of the elements of design which I had already nurtured throughout my career, and was redirecting towards the built environment. Balancing my personal life and the rigors of grad school was challenging, but I was at peace with the demands because I had found something that I loved. I began to understand that design fueled by research and strategy was the perfect blend of practicality and art. And as I look ahead to my future, I know that I am going to miss being a student, but aim to work for an organization where I can continue to learn and who values my full professional journey.

Design delivers in two ways which are experienced very differently:

1) When it surprises
2) When it is not felt at all...

.. because the environment delivers exactly in the ways in which users require. And I think my creative journey has been just that – unpredictable and highly deliberate.

Thanks for reading!
Rebecca

Middle school photography binder

Cable news summer internship

Production Assistant, "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"

Senior Product Manager, Capital One

Loyalty Marketing Manager, The TJX Companies

Student work, Color Theory, Marymount University

Student Work, Sketching & Rendering for Ideas, Marymount University

rebeccaspiegel9@gmail.com | 305.281.0880
Washington, DC Metro

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