Who says internships are all coffee-fetching and making copies? At
Hart-Davidson Designs
(HDD) of Okemos, students become part of the business through hands-on
projects like floor plan creation, color selection, furniture
arrangement and remodeling.
“I am preparing them not just for
jobs, but good jobs,” says Leslie Hart-Davidson, founder of HDD. “This
is about helping them realize their potential.”
HDD was started
in 2001 as a part-time window and bedding design firm. Now the company
leads projects up to full-service home remodeling. But the real shining
star is the
mentoring program.
Started in 2007 and in its tenth semester, what was once a one-person
internship is now a competitive job among college students throughout
mid-Michigan.
It is not just for interior design students, either, as it
welcomes information technology, business and marketing majors as well,
among others.
It is a self-sustaining program, Hart-Davidson says, because one outstanding intern is in charge of recruiting the next batch.
The firm specifically recruits young women, an approach Hard-Davidson says was influenced by her
mother. She likes to find each woman’s “super power,” as she calls it,
or one particular personality trait that will help her succeed in
business.
As a first-generation college student who paid her own
way through school, Hart-Davidson says she couldn’t be happier about
how the mentoring program and HDD has grown.
“I am very fortunate,” she says.
Source: Leslie Hart-Davidson
Writer: Andy Balaskovitz
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