Jenna Gaidusek, AI for Interior Designers

A Passion For Design And Cutting-Edge Technology

Jenna Gaidusek just might be Wonder Woman. She currently owns two small businesses and has created and built others in the past. Currently her focuses are Jenna Gaidusek Designs, her virtual interior design business she’s been running since 2015, and AI For Interior Designers™ which she launched in November 2023 to help educate interior designers on the technology and how to use it ethically.

Jenna’s passionate about interior design – after all, she’s known that’s what she wanted to do since she was a kid and would spend hours rearranging  her room. She’s also passionate about education and spends much of her time teaching others. 

In fact, she’s got two great education opportunities coming up at High Point Furniture Market in April. AI Day offers an all-day workshop where participants will create an upholstery collection using AI to design, price, visualize, and plan the product line. She’s also hosting an AI Design Tech Summit on April 4, which will offer a full day of learning the best ways to optimize your workflow, integrate new technology, and create more immersive experiences for your design projects. Be sure to head to https://www.aiforinteriordesigners.com/ to learn more.

We had the opportunity to chat with Jenna about her journey to entrepreneurship, her passion for her work and how she found WithIt. Check out the full conversation below!

Q&A

How did you get started on your entrepreneurial journey?

After I got my degree in interior design in 2010 it was difficult to find a job, so I took a position working at a high-end furniture store in Louisville, Kentucky. I worked my way up from sales to management but I wasn’t designing and I missed that. By the time the company moved me to New York City I decided to go out on my own practicing virtually, which was not really a big thing at that time. I started Jenna Gaidusek Designs in 2015, and I’ve practiced virtually since then. Because I was in the e-design space it was very lonely and I had just had my first child, which made it even lonelier. I started a community called E-Design Tribe and from that came E-Design U, which is a school, and the E-Design platform, which was a software. All of that was created to teach designers how to practice virtually and build a community at the same time. That was acquired in 2021 and I continued on with my design firm. After the acquisition I could actually get back to designing which was exciting. Then I joined forces with Mydoma and began teaching there. That’s when AI really came on the scene. I spoke with the founder of Mydoma and said, ‘I want to teach this.’ I launched AI For Interior Designers in November 2023 and the rest is history.

Being a dual business owner is a ton of work and means juggling a lot of balls at the same time.

I thrive off of chaos.

What’s a lesson you’ve learned in this journey?

You can’t wait to start it. You just have to do it, even if it’s not perfect, or else you will never launch it. 

It’s cool that at the core of your work has always been interior design. What makes you passionate about that industry?

It’s always been my creative outlet. On the weekends when my parents had me clean my room I would spend the entire time reorganizing my room. I didn’t even know what interior design was back then but I knew that was what I wanted to do. I knew that it could help other people live better in their homes.

Do you remember when you found out interior design was a potential career?

My mom actually helped me realize it was a thing. During career days in college, we had to meet with people who could have a part we wanted to pursue. My mom found someone who was an interior designer in my community and that’s when I started to research. There’s never been a second thing. When I found interior design I knew that’s what I wanted to do. 

What’s the hardest thing and best thing about working for yourself?

You work 10 items harder than if you work for someone else because it never ends. Entrepreneurs always have ideas and always want to implement them. Finding the time to do all of those ideas can be really hard. Everything else is the best thing. I love waking up and going to work every day in my office in my house. Yes we have nannies and stuff but I feel like I didn’t really miss anything and I get to include my kids in what I’m doing.

Do you have any advice for aspiring interior designers or entrepreneurs?

You’ve got to put in the time. It’s all about getting the education and finding out what’s out there for options. I did a ton of internships by choice because I wanted to see what kind of design I wanted to pursue afterwards. Nothing is instant gratification. You have to put in the time, you have to put in the hours, you have to do the grunt work to really understand the optics of running your own business in the future. You just have to work really hard. I can’t tell you the amount of hours I’ve worked. 

AI is a pretty hot topic right now for everyone. Can you speak to its importance in the industry? 

My goal is always to educate and inform on the ethics behind it all because it’s the wild west. I definitely educate on tools and I use them for my actual clients. I think that it’s something that a lot of people might be scared of right now or not know where to start. My job is to make it easier, less scary and inform you how to use it ethically and how it can take the mundane parts of your job and do it more efficiently and make you more money because of that. 

How did you first get connected to WithIt?

It was last year and it was interesting because I was trying to incorporate the AI fabrics and materials that I was creating. I would create artwork using AI and then bring it into Photoshop. I was looking for a place to get that printed and I reached out to someone at Springs Creative. She was the one who mentioned WithIt. I didn’t realize what it was and I immediately joined after that. Nobody has any bad things to say about WithIt.

What’s been the most valuable part of WithIt for you?

Seeing what else is out there: brands, sales people who are being highlighted and all of that. It’s just connecting on a different level with the entire industry and women that I didn’t even know existed before. And I love that mentorship is an option for people. 

Why do you think an organization like WithIt is important? 

Going back to my origin story, I was working as a salesperson after design school and wasn’t able to learn about different options out there. I see a lot of entry level sales people joining WithIt and I see them getting exposure for different career paths that maybe they didn’t consider. Now they’re making connections with people who can show them a good path to get there. 

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If you’re considering WithIt membership for your professional journey, find out more about WithIt’s mission here or join today.