Dianez Pilon - FLUID mentee 2022
Since I was a kid I wanted to be an architect, then I pivoted towards interior design, which is probably a better fit for me.
I graduated in 2010 during the recession, following the financial crash, and I had a very difficult time finding even an unpaid internship, let alone work, and being of colour made it even harder, plus I had no money! I ended up getting into facilities and administration but I’ve never stopped wanting to get back into design.
I had some interviews for design roles, but it never happened for me. I can’t go back to school right now because I have a 2-year-old, so instead, I found Fluid while searching for mentorships online, over the course of about a year. It was really exciting to find Fluid and at the right price - for free!
My son will be going to school soon and that will free up some time so that I can start to build something for myself.
At this point I still believe interior design is a good fit for me.
Currently I’m a federal employee working 3 days a week from home as an administration specialist. I provide technology assistance with websites, and I am also helping the space planner with her drawings, and updating them.
Amrita, my Fluid mentor, is wonderful and I can’t say enough good things about her. I’m so happy I was paired with her. I was a little hesitant at first because she works in education and I haven’t had the best experience of education. Originally I was more interested in having someone who works professionally. However, Amrita is very patient, very helpful and she’s super positive and compassionate.
We’re in the same boat as she has a one-year-old and understands my time constraints. She meets with me in the evening because of the time difference. She answers all my questions wonderfully, and she has helped me with things that I had trouble understanding. We talk about a wide range of subjects.
Mr Google has a whole bunch of answers but it’s really important to have that one-on-one connection with someone to get an honest answer. Whether it’s technical skills, the interior design process, dealing with the client, or simply time management, Amrita has a lot of answers and a lot of resources at her fingertips that I would not have found by myself. That makes all the difference in the world. You can’t get that from anywhere else. Mentorship is imparting wisdom, and that is really what I need right now, for someone to share their wisdom and allow me to build a foundation for myself.
Her answers are truthful and reliable and very importantly I don’t have any follow-on questions. She answers my questions in the way I can rely on, and that I can use as support in my design process. She gives me homework. When we get back together she asks me to tell her about some of my designs and where I get my inspiration from. She’s helping to lead me to do things on my own.
We are trying to set a goal because we want to work towards something. However, she’s helped me realise, and this is where the compassion comes in, that my goals may need to change based on my current circumstances. Rather than feel defeated by this, or let down, it’s more about understanding where I am right now and that I can still achieve my goals, but it may not be in the same time frame.
It might be a goal for next year rather than this year. It has been very helpful, because I felt that by having a year of mentoring, I needed to achieve as much as I can in that time. This however puts undue pressure on me to do too much and to not do it well.
We need to start with getting something really good accomplished this year and build on that next year. So we are working towards a goal but that goal has slightly shifted.
Of course, Covid happened to both of us but we are still working towards completing a project.
With me being in the States and Amrita in the UK, it helps that Amrita is originally from America and from my area. She moved to the UK after she got her Masters.
Graduating in 2010 has absolutely impacted me professionally, long term. Employers now ask for 3 years’ experience for an entry-level job. Where do you get 3 years of experience from? It’s an uphill battle but now that I have more support it helps me not to give up. I’m 12 years removed from graduation and my schooling was not smooth for a host of reasons. I switched schools and switched majors, which is like killing yourself twice! You come back up to just kill yourself again. If there’s someone out there who didn’t choose the right major the first time, and then changed only to find that their school didn’t do a good job of their new major, that’s where I was. I went from mechanical engineering to interior design, and the interior design course wasn’t good, so I had to go to another school.
Also, accreditation wasn’t a requirement back then, and I went through two unaccredited programmes. I don’t think there are any unaccredited programmes now. For those who want to get their certifications and take their exams, the opportunities to do so, if you went via an unconventional or alternative route, are rapidly closing. Many of the pathways have been eliminated. Going to an accredited school is now essential. There are no more opportunities now, for example. for those who want to take a hobby further. You either have to have an architect sign off on your work or to have graduated from an accredited school. This has been going on for at least 3 years.
Those without a degree or with a qualification from an unaccredited programme, were eliminated from access to professional roles between 3 and 6 years ago. People who want to transition from another industry, are going to have a really hard time. Not everybody can go back to school.
In America we have a glut of people with degrees – in the DC area where I am, we have the highest percentage of people with advanced degrees, so my degree is devalued because I don’t have a Masters or a PhD.
For my generation, we had to go to college and get a degree, so we have a glut now. A lot of educated and qualified people but less opportunity.
My ambition is to see myself better prepared to be competitive in the market and to be able to apply for a job and compete with younger people with more up-to-date skills.
The Fluid mentoring programme is helping me understand what I want and how to get it. I’d recommend it to everyone.
Read more about Dianez’s amazing mentor Amrita here