Jude Kamal on starting and scaling a business during the pandemic
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The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard for everyone, including young, self-identifying women in career and business. With this ongoing interview series, we want to highlight women entrepreneurs who are rising to meet its challenges, but also to its new opportunities.
Jude Kamal, Registered Interior Designer & Founder of Sansa Interiors
Jude, tell us more about yourself, your passion for interior design and architecture, and your new business!
I’m an interior designer and a lover for all things design. I love creating and exploring new design concepts. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be an artist and then I somehow stumbled across being a designer. My company; Sansa Interiors Inc., revolves around creating full blown interior design services mainly serving Toronto and the GTA. We focus on functionality of spaces and bringing a tailored and holistic approach to our clients. Our designs are wild and bold, infused with a balance of colour, volumes and layering through texture. We do both high end custom residential and commercial design, so each project is different and unique.
You founded Sansa Interiors right before COVID-19 hit Toronto- early 2020. What was that experience been like, and how has your first year of entrepreneurship been during the pandemic?
In one word: Insane.
I actually started thinking of starting a company one week before COVID-19 hit, but by the time we registered and launched the business it was April of 2020 so at the rise of the pandemic.
I was terrified of the unknown and the uncertainty, but I had made a promise to myself that I’ll be okay if it fails. I knew that I had to build the courage to focus and remember why I started it in the first place.
Being an entrepreneur had its own set of challenges; from hiring a team to getting sales, learning to put off fires, to making sure projects are on track… PLUS doing the actual design work! I spent a week scribbling a quick goals and objectives plan, as well as a sketch of how I see this operating. My goal is to continue to bootstrap the company instead of seeking funding.
In 4 months, you hired two designers, secured big clients, and continued to run several side hustles. How did you do it?
The first two months were really crucial. I worked 12 hour-days to get the word out. I reached out to every single person on my Facebook friend list, contact list and email list. I made each message personable and I had genuine conversations with each and every individual. Because it was Covid-19 and I had no way of meeting new people I had to use what I had on hand. That landed our company three projects! It was a big deal.
The second phase of outreach included social media and utilizing my personal platforms to create awareness and remind people of what I do. We met so many cool local artists and business owners through that process, and we started getting referrals. I really believe that the lockdown was a blessing in disguise for my business, because I would not have thought of any of these solutions if it was during “normal” times. People were also spending much more time online so that helped us get their attention better and a wider exposure.
By July of 2020, we had about 10 projects lined up and it got really crazy for me to manage them all alone plus still focus on business acquisition, so I went back to some of the people I had spoken too earlier that year and brought on our first design intern. I personally did not have growth planned or even in mind. I just wanted to design cool but useful spaces!
When fall hit, we started getting more repeat clients come back to us, like Mean Bao and home owners who renovated and sold homes (especially with the housing market being on fire!). That is when we hired a junior designer to support us with all the drawings we needed to produce.
What types of skills and brand characteristics do you think make someone successful in interior design?
Whenever I tell people that I am an interior designer, their first answer is always “that’s so cool!” and I say “Trust me, it is not as glamorous as what you see on TV shows”. Being an interior designer requires you to be on your toes at all times, you have to be a great multitasker and have phenomenal attention to detail. I don’t think there is a set equation, but the two things I’ve learned were:
Be a good listener, clients will almost always tell you their problems. Listen, listen, listen so you can solve them through design.
It is all in the details: detailing millwork and coming up with creative ways to make the space flow from one corner to the other is so important for people to feel at ease and truly experience the space you designed.
What are the education and/or work experiences would you recommend for other young women professionals who are interested in this sector?
I would definitely recommend getting involved with ARIDO (Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario) even if you join as a student or intern. It does help to go to school for interior design as well because you will learn and connect with like-minded people.
One more thing I would recommend to do is your NCIDQ exams and certification, especially if you are serious about pursuing interior design, because you will not be allowed to call yourself an interior designer without being certified.
Have there been any local resources or communities you’ve tapped into as an emerging entrepreneur?
I initially joined a business accelerator community called the Founders Fund, it is for women led by women. I managed to meet really cool entrepreneurs that run amazing companies. We set up a weekly- accountability call and we support and help one another. I was really lucky to meet these amazing women.
How do your personal values show up in your work?
I have a few ideals that I like to always apply to my work. The first and the most important one is our clients’ happiness. Then comes passion towards interior design, high quality of work and work ethic. The last thing is “have fun”, which everyone gets thrown off by but I love.
I’ll explain a bit further: if you are having fun doing your work then you are at ease, you are relaxed and you don’t feel like you are working. You are passionate about what you do, so you focus on creating a beautiful masterpiece. When we are having fun, we produce much better work and our clients can see how happy we are working on their project. That automatically guarantees an overall successful project.
When we create, we are constantly asking ourselves: “Could this be better? How can we make this better? If I were the user of the space, what would I want to experience the most?”. I usually get everyone to participate in concept creation, in sharing opinions and we review our drawing sets multiple times for accuracy before they are sent out. High quality is so important in the world of Interior Design.
In terms of work ethic, I personally am very strict with myself and how I start my days. I break down my days into 30-minute increments to stay productive. Some days I work 13 hours and other days I try to rest by working 4 hours. Our team has a super flexible schedule, everyone can choose when they’d like to work and we have two calls a week to keep work on track.
I don’t like forcing people to work 9-5 because everyone is different, some people are creative early mornings and others thrive past midnight. That’s how we keep it simple.
How do you practice self-care as an entrepreneur?
Good Question! I actually think of self-care as staying active so that is my main form of “self-care”. I do yoga every morning before anything else. At noon I go for a long walk rain or shine, it gives me a nice mental break. Then in the evening I either read a book or do high cardio workout. Another thing I do is, block out my calendar from 8:30am-11:30am because this is when I most productive. During this chunk of time, I don’t book any meetings.
I don’t think self-care should be a separate portion in your life, I think it should be embedded into your daily routine.
What are you excited about for the future?
I am excited for a lot of things; for growing, evolving and all the new people that I will meet. Excited to travel and explore and slowly unravel all the wonders that will come my way.
Jude Kamal founded Sansa Interiors to pursue her passion for interior design and architecture. With over 7 years of interior design experience in both residential and commercial projects, Jude has led multi-disciplinary projects across Canada and built a very distinctive design approach. Her energy and love for interior design creates a highly collaborative studio. Prior to founding Sansa Interiors, Jude worked on commercial interiors for brands including Hudson’s Bay, The Bagel Stop, La Barista Cafe, Paramount Fine Foods, Dal Moro’s, Freshii & many more.
Jude is a Registered Interior Designer and is a member of the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario (ARIDO). She is also an NCIDQ certificate holder (meeting legal and regulatory standards for the interior design profession in Canada and the United States). Jude has a bachelor of design (Environmental Design) from OCAD University.
She is heavily involved within the interior design community, from being a mentor for ARIDO interns to speaking IDS, and she continues to support new design talent.