Turning Work Into Play

Integrating Your Expansive Self

After my first year as an architecture student, I found myself scrolling through Craigslist (does anyone still use Craigslist for job searches anymore?) looking for summer internships. It came down to two options: interning at a Manhattan hospitality architecture firm or a textile designer’s studio in Brooklyn. As a student of architecture, I felt an unspoken pressure to choose the architecture firm—after all, that’s what you’re “supposed” to do, right? So, I took the position, spending the summer immersed in vinyl baseboards and designing floor plank layouts for hotel ballrooms.

Fast forward to my second year, and that same textile design internship came up again. This time, I took it as a sign and decided to dive in. I can confidently say that until I started Three Birch Hill, it was the most fun I’d ever had at a job. We were creating a line of hand-embroidered, customizable wedding linens. While learning the ins-and-outs of embroidery techniques and repeats, I learned that I had a passion and aptitude for textiles. It was a world I’d never been seriously exposed to before and I found it truly magical!

Every day, I’d walk past campus to a charming Victorian house in Clinton Hill. My boss would put on “This American Life,” hand me a roll of trace paper, and we’d just draw. Sure, my daily stipend barely covered my morning coffee and scone, but I was there early and often stayed late. I remember staying after hours to learn about velvet burnouts and even tried wet-felting for the first time in the home's original clawfoot tub. I wanted to absorb all I could - it was just so much fun.

This experience taught me that I was deeply interested in the intersection of the human body and the built environment and how I could make these spaces more special, more beautiful. It inspired me to explore Interior Design, but more importantly, it was my first taste of integrating my diverse passions into my work. It was the first time I truly enjoyed a day at work.

I try to remind myself of this daily—that I am at my best, my happiest, and my most creative when I’m exploring all parts of my expansive self. When work feels more like play, that’s when I know I’m truly thriving.