Distinguished for her impressive career and eye for interiors, Kara L. Brown has specialized in corporate interior design for a decade. She began her vocation in interior design at Hanlon Architects, where she worked as an interior designer from 2015 to 2019. Today, she excels as an interior designer for Bergmann in the Rochester, New York, area, a role she commenced in 2019. In this capacity, Ms. Brown is responsible for developing designs from concept to completion, including space planning, the development of three-dimensional sketches, concept and photoreal renderings of detail-oriented architectural and interior design construction drawings, staging of model apartments and amenity spaces, as well as the selection and specification of finishes, lighting fixtures and furniture, among other duties.
Demonstrating commitment to her field, Ms. Brown has obtained the National Council for Interior Design qualification certification and has been active with several industry-related organizations. She is currently engaged with the International Interior Design Association Rochester City Center of the New York chapter, serving as co-director of the planning board. Before embarking on her professional journey, Ms. Brown pursued an education at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in interior design with a minor in art history and was the recipient of an Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar Award in 2014. A lifelong lover of art, she enjoys interior design due to its problem-solving nature, along with its combination of art, math and science.
Among her professional accomplishments, Ms. Brown is most proud of her work on a substantial office project where she renovated a large warehouse into an office building for a trucking company in Ohio. She also recalls her first experiences visiting projects on-site as memorable moments, as seeing her drawings come to life was surreal. Additionally, she is proud of her undergraduate honors exhibition at the Bevier Gallery for Nancy Chwiecko and the School of Design Exhibition at Gallery R for Kelly Gagliardo in Rochester, New York, in 2012. Upon reflection, Ms. Brown attributes much of her success to the mentors in her field throughout her career, along with the network of designers in her area, from whom she has garnered vast knowledge and expertise.
Alongside her career in interior design, Ms. Brown is passionate about color guard, which consists of teams of performers who perform choreographed dances and routines with various equipment to enhance and interpret the music of a marching band or drum and bugle corps show. Since 2019, she has been a color guard instructor for the Medina High School marching band and a color guard caption head for the White Sabers Drum Corps Inc. In addition, since 2012, Ms. Brown has been a color guard instructor for Gates Chili Color Guard Inc. and a winter guard show designer for Gates Chili Color Guard Inc. Likewise, she was a member of the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps and the Patriots Winter Guard programs.
Long dedicated to civic advocacy, Ms. Brown contributes to the Spencerport Girl Scout Service Unit and the American Cancer Society, where she participates in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and has supported the Relay for Life fundraiser since 2007. In the earlier years of her career, between 2012 and 2014, Ms. Brown also served as a notetaker, documenting and organizing notes for deaf and hard-of-hearing students at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and garnered experience as a student manager of the Midnight Oil Coffee Shop. In 2014, she worked as a food service team member at Seabreeze Amusement Park and as a photographer for School Pictures Inc.
Looking toward the future, Ms. Brown plans to continue designing and start mentoring young interior designers. As she has learned so much from the senior designers in her field, she hopes to serve budding industry professionals in a similar capacity. Additionally, she plans to educate herself on sustainability in design. A distinguished Marquis listee, Ms. Brown currently resides in Rochester, New York.
