A woman who sought safety in a flooring store after leaving an unsafe marriage discovered an unexpected career path and purpose in the industry through mentorship, learning and helping others find their place in the trades.
- In 2021, the author started going to her family's flooring store as a safety measure, and eventually took on operational, sales and marketing responsibilities.
- Mentorship from sales representatives and contractors became crucial to her growth, especially after her uncle unexpectedly passed away in January 2024.
- She discovered that flooring sales involve understanding customers' life moments—whether rebuilding after floods, preparing nurseries or risking everything on renovations.
- The author graduated from an interior design program through a scholarship from Women In the Floorcovering Industry (WIFI) and now works in interior design.
- She emphasizes the importance of mentorship and creating opportunities for young professionals, particularly women and underrepresented groups entering the trades.
If you would have told me years ago that I would end up building a career in the flooring and remodeling industry, I probably would have laughed. In 2021, I was building a completely different life in social media marketing and online resale. I was about to have my first baby. And I was in an unsafe marriage.
In 2021 my uncle Kurt retired, so my dad took over his flooring store, Ultimate Flooring. Around the same time, my own life was quietly falling apart behind the scenes. Even though the police had been called to my house multiple times, my family had no idea what I was struggling with. Then, not long after I had my daughter Winnie, an incident occurred between my family and ex-husband that resulted in the police issuing my dad a protection order—but not one for me or my three-month-old daughter.
I felt terrified, exhausted and completely uncertain about what I was going to do next. I was back living at my parents’ house and if I ever left the house, it had to be with my dad so that the protection order applied to me, too. That’s why Winnie and I started going to the flooring store every day.
At first, I was simply there because it felt safe. I would sit in the showroom with my daughter, answer phones when needed, help organize paperwork, talk to customers, clean displays … whatever needed to be done. Nothing glamorous. Nothing planned. But little by little, the store stopped feeling like a temporary escape and started feeling like a purpose.
My daughter Winnie and I started going with my dad (pictured above) to the flooring store every day because it was the one place we felt safe.
In a small business, there is no hiding from responsibility. If something needs to be done, someone has to figure it out. And before I realized it, I was learning everything: scheduling, bookkeeping, customer service, marketing, vendor relations, operations, sales, problem solving. I began to see that, while my dad was really good with the customers, he wasn’t an expert in the products—he had only a short time in the flooring industry prior to taking over the store. So I started talking to the reps more to get a better grip on flooring and design.
Then, in January 2024, my uncle who founded our company and was our guide in the industry unexpectedly passed away. The reps stepped in and took me under their wings. They taught me about the products and the industry as they watched my daughter grow from infancy to toddlerhood. They became less like business colleagues and more like uncles to me. My relationships with contractors also deepened as I witnessed these small business owners solve problems, survive slow seasons, and work long days under deadline. I wanted to learn as much as I could to better help our trade customers.
My uncle Kurt, who started the store and is pictured here, passed away in January 2024, leaving my dad and I (and Winnie) to find our way in the flooring industry.
When it came to our homeowner customers, I quickly learned that flooring isn’t just flooring. When someone comes into the store, it might be because they’re rebuilding after a flood. Or they’re soon-to-be parents preparing a nursery. Or they’re business owners risking everything on a renovation they hope will succeed. I’ve been a part of personal moments of customers’ lives. It’s these experiences, and the relationships that blossomed from them, that have rebuilt my confidence and given me purpose.
At the same time I was learning about the flooring industry and how to run a small business, I was learning how to be a mom. I hired Sam Robinson to watch Winnie while we were at the store. During Winnie’s naps, I would give Sam paperwork to file and other office tasks. It was only a matter of time until she was as fascinated by the flooring world as I was, and what started as a babysitting gig turned into a business partnership and friendship.
Sam Robinson (at right) started babysitting my daughter at the flooring store, and now we’re business partners and speak about mentorship together at industry events.
Mentorship has been a major through-line in my career, from learning from the reps in the early days to guiding Sam in her flooring career. It’s taken me from being unsure if I have a spot in this industry to showing others that there’s space for everyone. Through working with interns and programs like Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates, I started seeing how many young people simply need someone to believe in them before they can believe in themselves. I saw how many people enter adulthood without guidance, confidence or opportunity, especially in industries like ours, where knowledge is often learned through experience instead of formal education. To keep our industry going strong, it takes people like those sales reps reaching out to the next generation and taking young people under their wings.
There are so many opportunities for young professionals in the flooring industry—we just need to show them where to look. I recently graduated from an interior design program, something that wouldn’t have been possible without a scholarship from Women In the Floorcovering Industry (WIFI). That scholarship did more than help fund my interior design education—it validated something I had spent years learning: There is space for me in this industry, not despite my unconventional path, but because of it.
A scholarship from Women In the Floorcovering Industry (WIFI) allowed me to take the next step in my career: interior design.
The more I learned about design, remodeling and the construction process as a whole, the more I realized I wanted to help bridge the gap between beautiful design and real-life functionality. I understood both the emotional side homeowners experience during renovations and the operational side contractors face behind the scenes. Today, that journey has led me into design work with All In One Frey’s Contracting & Home Improvement, where I now help clients navigate remodels and renovations from both the construction and design perspective.
Looking back, none of this happened the way I thought it would. I did not enter this industry through a polished career plan. I entered it carrying a baby into a flooring store because it was the only place we were safe. Now when I (and Sam!) speak at industry events, mentor young professionals or encourage women entering the trades, I think about how powerful one opportunity can be. One mentor. One safe place. One person willing to say, “You can do this.”
I started going to the flooring store to keep me and my baby safe. The confidence and community that I (at left in the photo above) have found in flooring is beyond what I could have imagined.
