Fighting The Good Fight

On August 4th, 2011 we held a regulation celebration hosted by ASID (American Society of Interior Design), IIDA (International Interior Design Association), and IDAF (Interior Design Association Foundation). It was held at The Art Institute of Tampa, and was one of the most exciting business events I have ever attended. This event was able to occur since the Florida House bill 5005 did not pass after storming its way to the senate. I was so thrown away by the amount of people that arrived to the event, and at one point, being president of The Design Alliance, had to speak in front of everyone there. Intimidating, is all I can say about that experience. There were at least 200 people who attended. Students from three different schools, four Senators, and one House of Representatives were amongst warm my heart, and to know that a community of designers can come together for a common cause is breath taking. We are not the “occupation” so many others want us to be, or believe that’s what we are. I feel as though we are a family in some way, and that we see and understand the need for our career choice to be a profession. To know that each designer in that location had the right to sign and seal construction documents is such an amazing thing, and If you think about the situation logically, almost every other profession in the building industry has to have a license in order to do what they do and have their own company and firm. We have the right to a profession just as much as anyone else in the building industry. As each senator and representative took the stage to talk I felt more and more comfortable that the public is becoming aware of what we do.  Events like this make me have so much confidence for when January arrives and they try to deregulate our profession again. I cannot and will not back down; I will let the public know who we are and who I am. Together I know that we will fight the good fight.