What if the secret to building a successful design firm wasn't choosing between creative and strategic—but refusing to choose at all?

Rasheeda Gray is the founder of Gray Space Interiors, and her superpower is operating with both hemispheres of her brain at full capacity. She spent 15 years in marketing for insurance and financial services, rising to Assistant VP at Chubb Insurance. When she launched her design firm, she didn't quit her day job—she worked three jobs simultaneously for three and a half years: corporate 9-5, mom and wife from 5-9, and building Gray Space from 9 PM to 2 AM.

Rasheeda shares how she turned a stuffed animal into a designer book bag at 12, why she suppressed her creative side early on because "you can't make a living being creative," and how her corporate background became her competitive advantage. She talks about her detailed questionnaire that converts emotions into design choices and how her husband became a licensed general contractor during COVID so she could stop relying on unreliable contractors.

She explains how a DM to designer Cheryl Luckett and her first High Point Market in 2017 shifted her entire business model toward profitability, and wraps with her vision for the next decade: product licensing, television, and evolving Gray Space into a brand, not just a design firm.

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