Dunn-Edwards Portraits: A Design Education Opens More than One Career Door

Lashonda Brown is always planning her next move. She doesn’t wait for opportunity - she seeks it out for herself, no matter the amount of prep or leg work involved. For the gregarious Brown, sitting around is never an option. “I don’t like being complacent - not having some kind of movement, or growth, or some kind of a challenge,” explains the Modesto, California-based Dunn-Edwards Property Services Representative. A good challenge motivates Brown, but it’s design that really excites her - and ultimately seeing her work come to life is the greatest reward.

Getting into the design industry was a departure for Brown who grew up in the Bay Area watching family members opt for paths in industries like nursing and teaching. However, during her time in undergrad, studying Business Administration and HR Management at Cal State East Bay, Brown found positions working at a paint manufacturer and then at the Expo Design Center, the former full-service design center subsidiary of Home Depot. Brown says that while her interest in design started with small things - designing her first apartment, an obsession with HGTV - it was her time at the Expo Design Center which was ultimately formative, cementing her desire to move into the design field full time; and eventually propelled her toward attaining her Associate’s degree in Interior Design. “I worked in the lighting department, which I really liked because I got to help people design the lighting theme they would have in their home,” says Brown.

It was that experience in lighting design that sparked Brown’s enrollment at in her Associate’s degree program at Las Positas College in Livermore, California. While concurrently working at Expo Design Center, Brown recalls a school experience vastly different from her undergraduate one. “It was definitely eye opening because it was the first time I ever did things like a design board,” Brown explains. At the time, there was a large emphasis in the program on hand drafting and drawing. While Brown found the most joy in her lighting design class, it was the art classes that challenged Brown the most, as drawing was something she hadn’t done much of since childhood. However Brown credits her Painting/Drawing class and its professor, Sian Oblak, with one invaluable lesson. “It really taught me to slow down,” says the Property Services  Representative whose natural inclination is to always be on the go, executing in the most efficient manner possible. The lesson in taking one’s time is something Brown took to heart; providing her the realization that being methodical can often lead to better work and ultimately a better outcome. “Professor Oblak taught me to take my time, to be more meticulous about myself, so I can perfect things.”

During the great recession, the Expo Design Center closed its doors. Not one to wait around for an opportunity, Brown again took it upon herself to make things happen. This time, she moved down to San Diego to be closer to her brother - a move which would also be the beginning of Brown’s nearly decade long relationship with Dunn-Edwards Paints. In San Diego, Brown drew on her past experience with paint and her interior design degree, stopping into a local Dunn-Edwards retail location to inquire about available opportunities. “They didn’t have anything then but said they’d keep me in mind. Sure enough, a week later I got a call and started at the Kearny Mesa store as a Customer Service Lead.”

Brown will celebrate her 10-year anniversary with Dunn-Edwards in June 2022. Between promotions and transfers to accommodate her desired location and lifestyle, Brown’s career with Dunn-Edwards has spanned the length of California. A longing for the Bay Area brought a transfer home to the San Jose store; it was then followed by a promotion to Certified Customer Service Lead; this was then followed by another promotion to Assistant Manager. Eventually, Brown’s desire to own property in California took her to the Central Valley where she has served as a Property Service Representative for the last three years - and is also a homeowner.

Brown’s upward trajectory might be summed up by her gumption and tenacity. When a nearby store needed a little extra help Brown was there to chip in; if Brown could shadow a manager, she did it; if there was time to learn about the store’s budget, Brown took it. “I did the work before ever getting the promotion. I always thought, let me take it upon myself and learn the things that I need to,” Brown says of her initiative and work style. It’s this same initiative and her incredible people skills that Brown utilizes each day in her current role working with property owners and managers on repaint projects that span from residential duplexes to shopping centers. A large part of Brown’s job is cold-calling or canvassing which - before the pandemic - often required Brown to walk into businesses and strike up relationships with the owners.

“My job is to make theirs easier,” Brown explains, and while her role is not traditional design, a great deal of making her clients’ jobs easier is, in large part, thanks to her design background. ”I do color placements, I support renderings, I still do the [design] boards. There is still an aspect of design here even though my position is technically sales,” she notes.

When the Pandemic hit and physical offices closed, Brown, similar to others in marketing, faced a landscape that was transformed from traditional means of reaching out to and communicating with prospective clients. “You had to think outside the box,” explains Brown, who has not only a naturally magnetic personality but is also a creative problem solver who enjoys tackling new challenges. Supported by Dunn-Edwards, Brown turned her networking and marketing efforts online, focusing specifically on the LinkedIn social media platform.

From Brown’s home office, which is painted in her favorite color, Evergreen Forest (DET534), she harnessed LinkedIn’s capabilities, using it as a tool to build relationships rather than just a megaphone. During this time Brown also discovered Canva, a graphic design platform that allows non-graphic designers to create custom yet easy-to-make marketing collateral. Brown was drawn to the platform precisely because it allows her to develop her own supplemental marketing to be used on her personal LinkedIn account - and speak to her clients in a way that makes sense for, not only the times, but her style of conducting business. “I’m just trying to give people advice as opposed to always trying to sell them something. And I think that builds trust,” she says.

Through the use of Canva and LinkedIn, Brown created a regular marketing series in which she offers painting tips to her network of property managers, building owners, and real estate investors. It’s a Pandemic-based marketing plan that echoes the one she had in place before COVID: creating lasting relationships through genuine interactions. “I’m here giving tips that are beneficial to everybody whether you use [Dunn-Edwards] or not - and eventually, you will come over to use us.”

Dunn-Edwards, which has enjoyed seeing Brown develop her series, has implemented her infographics as a company-wide internal marketing tool. Despite working in an area of business that completely changed overnight with COVID, Brown put her cleverness and ingenuity to work and found a tact that works for her and her clients - and is today known throughout the company for her distinct approach on LinkedIn.

Brown’s experience over the past two years goes to the advice that she offers to today’s design students: to find a specialization. “Your niche makes you stand out, and a go-to,” she says. When you find your niche, Brown explains, not only does it make you a go-to person, it’s more personally fulfilling, as well; when it’s something you naturally gravitate towards, you're more inclined to find joy in it.

Brown found joy in the design world, initially, through lighting design. And still today, in her role as a Property Services Representative, Brown shares that she still hearkens back to her love of lighting while educating clients about their most common misconceptions about paint. “The same paint color doesn’t always look the same in every application or lighting scenario,” notes Brown. “When you go from color chip to rendering to wet sample to dry sample…people don’t think in that way most of the time.” It’s a good thing for her clients that Brown does, however. She drove by one of her finished projects the other day. The client utilized the exact colors and products she suggested. “I like seeing the finished result, that’s what gets me,” Brown says with a smile. With a design education it’s possible to curate a wide variety of dream jobs, including those on the business side of the industry. In Brown’s case, she has proven this – with hard work, big dreams and excellent networking skills – she keeps reaching new heights.

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