Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Mallette and Rita Dielle Broussard.
Defined ID, LLC was founded by two professionally trained Interior Designers, Michelle Mallette and Rita Dielle Narcisse Broussard, who have a combined ten plus years of experience. The pair met while working together at one of the top hospitality design giants in Dallas, Texas. As the only two black employees, they immediately supported one another and became close friends. Both always had dreams of becoming entrepreneurs. When they realized they shared a lot of the same goals, they decided they would be a perfect match in business as well. After a few years of working together, they decided to become partners and in January of 2020, Defined ID was born.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not, there have been some challenges getting started, building clientele and learning how to market ourselves to the public. As designers you are only taught how to design. But, starting a business is challenging because you have to learn other roles that are needed to make a successful business. Over the past few months we have learned a ton about marketing, sales, and how to build lasting relationships with people as well as other businesses. We wear many different hats daily. It’s exciting and challenging at the same time!
We’d love to hear more about Defined ID.
Defined ID, LLC is an Interior Design studio that offers services to residential and small commercial clients. Just like us, every space has its own individual character and story. As designers, it is our mission to look beyond the surface, understand the personality of the space and create a design that highlights it’s true identity. The ID in “Defined ID” stands for Interior Design, but it also represents “identity.” Every interior has its own DNA, our goal is to define exceptional and memorable spaces for our clients to enjoy. One thing that we are proud of is the relationships that we have built in the industry even before we became a company. Many people we have worked with previously have reached out wanting to help us however they can. We are so thankful for the outpour of support that we’ve been flooded with since going public. A successful business thrives from genuine relationships with others. We are young Black women who are on our way to success and nothing makes us more proud than that!
What were you like growing up?
Michelle: As a young girl from Detroit, Michigan, I was indirectly taught about the design world. Admiring the beautiful interiors, architecture, artwork, fashion and all-around creative culture of the city was my earliest exposure. Growing up, I was naturally into any and everything. My personality was grand, courageous, outgoing and I’d like to think that I never really changed. I danced, sang, was theatrical, I cheered, swam and played softball. I was always trying to keep up with my older brother, who was also my biggest inspiration for becoming a designer. He has always been into architecture and footwear design and opened my eyes to all of the possibilities the design world has to offer. From then on my passion took over and I never really thought about another career option!
Rita Dielle: I grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, where I was very curious, artistic and loved making crafts with my grandmother. I loved of art, design and architecture as early as I can remember. As a kid I was a daydreamer with a huge imagination. I would flip through photos in magazines imagining myself in the spaces and visualizing what I would be doing there. I would create these crazy stories in my head that were centered around that particular space. At the time I thought this was completely normal! I even started creating rooms out of shoe boxes for my Kelly dolls. I would paint the inside and find random knick knacks around the house to make furniture with. As I got older, I realized that my love for interior spaces was actually a career.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://definediddesign.wixsite.com/website
- Phone: (803) 873-2551
- Email: definediddesign@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/definediddesign/
Image Credit:
Headshots: Sopha Rush photography
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