Becoming Accredited: A Conversation with Hazel Myklebust, NCIDQ

People

At Cuningham, nurturing a culture of innovation means supporting all team members to pursue accreditation within their chosen discipline. From designers and project managers to administrative support and technology teams, we believe everyone has the potential to advance their career and bring growth to bear for our clients and firm.

To explore how this support brings value to our everyday work, we created a series called Becoming Accredited. For this installment, we sat down (opened a Zoom window) with Cuningham’s Hazel Myklebust, NCIDQ, to discuss her journey becoming a Certified Interior Designer and how it helps her contribute to Cuningham’s purpose-driven design environment.

Magen Raine Gladden: The tremendous impact interior designers bring to the built environment is often misunderstood by those outside of our industry, so I’m excited to talk with you about the role of accreditation in this context. What motivated you to become a certified interior designer in your field? How has achieving the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) helped you grow as a professional?

Hazel Myklebust, NCIDQ: Throughout school and the early years of my career I have always had a personal goal to become accredited. I have been doing the work of growing as a designer along the journey to becoming certified. Having that work confirmed through accomplishing a longstanding goal solidified the value for me.

Because every state has their own approach to becoming certified, I wanted to ensure that I could pursue my career without any roadblocks. In addition, becoming accredited has created opportunities to share that though aesthetics are a big part of interior design, the profession is most importantly about creating safety and well-being of the occupants of a building. Interior designers collaborate with architects and engineers every day to ensure that spaces are safe to occupy create opportunities to better live one’s life. I currently get to design schools, and before this, I designed libraries. These project types have allowed me to assist in creating beautiful, inviting spaces that are accessible to all.

Magen Raine: Are you currently mentoring or being mentored? If so, how has that impacted your desire to become accredited?

Hazel: This season I have become a mentor to one of Cuningham’s summer student interns. I believe my accreditation – and the journey getting there – has given me the confidence in my work to step forward and ask for this responsibility.

Magen Raine: Did you take advantage of any Cuningham-provided resources and/or support on your journey to become accredited?

Hazel: Cuningham graciously paid for my application, exam, and state registration fees. Cuningham also provided continuing education credit that allowed me to utilize QPractice during testing season – the firm has since expanded their benefit to provide full membership to anyone preparing for the NCIDQ. They also provided access to code libraries and time off to sit for the exams.

Magen Raine: Work-from-anywhere has been a hot topic in the industry lately. You are someone who is fully remote — what does that look like as an interior designer? What have been some of your successes?

Hazel: I truly enjoy working fully remote for Cuningham and appreciate being able to work and collaborate with team members from all over the United States. We have online resources and amazing product representatives that support our field; it really has been quite similar to pre-pandemic times to maintain project work. I created a small library here in my home and order samples for projects, as needed. Team members in our office locations also provide project support where needed, and we have an amazing knowledge base in our full network of interior designers, too.

Shortly after joining the Cuningham team, my family decided on an out-of-state move; that decision was made so much easier by the support of the firm’s work from anywhere policy. I spend little time commuting for childcare, and I get to reinvest that gained time in my family, personal goals, health, etc. I get to spend more time on project work, and my work and home life is more balanced.

Magen Raine: Thank you for sharing a bit of your story with us, Hazel! To wrap up, how does your work and team help support our purpose-driven environment?

Hazel: The autonomy we have at Cuningham creates opportunities to pursue the aspects of our fields that most intrigue us. We all know the firm’s purpose, mission, and values, so if there’s something we want to do that aligns, we are handed the reigns. I believe this is a large part of what creates our success. When we can work on something we personally care about, it is a much more genuine process. “I have an idea” is often met with “you should do that.”

Learn more and check out our current opportunities on our Life at Cuningham page.