Amy Myers, a Miami University interior design graduate with more than 20 years in luxury retail design, interior architecture and design, told a Miami audience “there are lots of ways to be a designer” at a talk on April 22.
Although Myers moved to New York City upon graduation in 2003, the Philadelphia native has never felt far from the strong connections she made in Oxford.
Myers is managing developer of design and development at BHDM Design under owner and creative director Dan Mazzarini, a fellow Miami graduate who she said was a close friend. BHDM Design is ranked 31 in the RedHawk 50 program, which recognizes the 50 fastest growing Miami-alumni-owned or led businesses.
In the Alumni Hall session, sponsored by the department of architecture and interior design, Myers talked through her career path, noting how many classmates have taken unique paths.
After sharing the Merriam-Webster definition of the word “passion” in her slide deck, Myers, 43, said it’s been the driving force in her career.
“Passion is not one thing and it’s different for everyone,” she said. “To me, it’s motivating. It’s engaging. It’s the thing that makes you put your phone down.”
Myers tied her professional work to hand-drawn renderings she found from her days in the studio.
“I think the students like that, seeing how you go from being a student to a 40-year-old, ”said John Weigand, professor and interim dean for the College of Creative Arts who has taught at Miami for 32 years.
“I recruited Amy and Dan and all those people and I taught them all the way through and we did field trips together,” Weigand said. “You get to be friends as well as a teacher. There is such a Miami loyalty, everybody says that all the time, that it’s much stronger than other universities.”
During the talk, the crowd leaned forward and began to chat with each other as a picture of Myers’ graduating studio class was shown on the screen.
“I’m still friends with 80 percent of these people,” said Myers.
Studio culture creates a tight-knit community, senior Lillia Kleeman agreed.
“I would not have gotten through studio without my classmates. We are a tight-knit group of 18. We’ve spent over 10 hours a week in studios alone for the past four years,” said Kleeman. “Those friendships will last as we enter into the professional world as designers.”
Myers said her strongest connections are with the people she still sees in New York. On February 26, Google opened its newest office in New York at St. John’s Terminal. Myers recalled a “surreal” moment at the ribbon-cutting while New York Governor Kathy Hochul was speaking when she realized she was surrounded by former Miami alumni.
“Right in front of me, I see four people who I went to college with who are all about my age group,” said Myers. “There’s those feelings in New York. Miami has impacted my life in New York.”
