-POST-KATRINA-
PAST
In 2007, at the ripe old age of eighteen, Honor's parents finally agreed to allow their daughter to work with a volunteer organization.
For the entire summer, she was able to lend a helping hand as the group built houses during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Even though it had been a full two years since New Orleans suffered from one of the worst natural disasters in the twenty-first century, the city had yet to fully recover from the inconceivable amount of death, damage, and displacement that had been unleashed on its inhabitants.
Images of people struggling to survive immediately after the 2005 storm deeply affected the sixteen-year-old when she first witnessed it on the news as a high school student.
Once the government cleared the way for organizations to go in and help the residents, numerous outside companies gathered volunteers and headed over to New Orleans. Honor petitioned her parents to join one of those volunteer groups. Initially, they refused to allow their daughter to become a part of the charitable movements aimed at assisting with the clean-up and rebuilding efforts of the city.
Honor never forgot about the devastation despite witnessing what her neighbors to the east had experienced.
Heartbroken and a little confused about how she had been prevented from lending a hand; Honor finally accepted an opportunity to work over the summer with any of the local teams to create as many beautiful homes as possible at the newly cleared and decontaminated state-approved sites.
The actions of the Save Our Homes Initiative fostered in Honor a desire to learn the most creative ways in which to beautify a space and add balance to people's lives. She recalled how her parents always insisted that home should be a place to rest.
"If you desire to become successful, you must find the right balance between an aggressive pursuit of your financial goals and perfect rest. Victory is somewhere in the middle of the two. You must seek it out to find and identify your limits to achieve greatness."
Because her father was an incredibly successful businessman and an upstanding philanthropist in the DFW Metroplex, he gained the undying loyalty of other professionals and many others who found themselves in his presence. His numerous philosophical pursuits changed people's lives, and his daughter, believing him to be all things excellent in a messed up world, hung on the man's every word.
The wisdom he imparted to others transformed those who listened and implemented his instructions.
When she witnessed the many issues that still lingered in New Orleans a few years after the storm, Honor committed herself to becoming a part of the city's solutions. She therefore arrived encouraged by the lessons that her parents taught. Though she hadn't chosen the same career path as her folks, she utilized what she had learned from them to prepare herself to tackle any issues that surfaced in her world.
Her motivation to pursue a career as an interior designer came to her during the time she spent working with a team to rebuild homes that were structurally more sound while also beautifying the aesthetic curb appeal of each community.
She felt blessed to help people rebuild their dreams after witnessing the sheer number of decimated structures. Nothing in the world impacted her being as much as the screaming and tears of joy expressed by individuals who received the keys to their new homes. Because many of them had not too long ago lost everything, the sight of their happiness was payment enough for her volunteered labor.
It was during that time that she met a young local who was tasked with the job of assisting the out-of-towners. Upon her return to New Orleans after college and her time with Mrs. Nakagawa, Gillian was the guide who would one day become her best friend as well as her champion.
The local girl resonated with the heartbeat of the city. After all, she was a native. Everything there was to know came from Gillian. She knew the best hangout spots, restaurants, and all of the interesting places for tourists as well as those who were newly relocated to 'The Big Easy'.
Gillian also made it her business to inform the visitors about the places of which the out-of-towners should steer clear.
With coily dirty blonde-brown hair, the twenty-year-old Cajun was a body of knowledge in an inconspicuously small package. Compared to Gillian, Honor was ill-equipped for all that came with life in the 'Big Easy'. But as long as the eighteen-year-old volunteer kept the New Orleans native by her side, Honor learned more than she ever imagined she would.
A summer of working with the charitable construction crew instilled a sense of purpose and appreciation in Honor that she took back to Dallas once she'd returned to her hometown. Before leaving the reinvigorated city, she promised to visit Gillian during her college breaks and, of course, return to finish their charitable work once her studies were completed.
Honor diligently invested herself in her studies. Living as the privileged only child of two incredibly successful attorneys, she wasn't exactly accustomed to the horrors she'd witnessed when she spent time in Louisiana, and in many ways, she felt guilty for being so blessed.
The work she did with Gillian and the other volunteers seared within her heart a desire to do something bigger than herself. That commitment made it easy for her to never forget the memorable time she donated.
She learned during her summer away that the only way to truly understand her abilities was to take full control of her own decisions regarding where she saw herself in the future.
Honor envisioned that should she become a business owner, she could build a workforce to help out disenfranchised communities. By intentionally hiring people who may not be employable elsewhere, she figured those who struggled to obtain employment might have a better chance within her company. She also imagined that by occasionally donating her skills to those in need, she would feel better about the many wonderful blessings she had always taken for granted.
Research and training taught her that she could turn her talents into a lucrative business. As she made plans to grow her own company, Honor realized her dream would never come to fruition without money.
Of course, she could have asked for her parents' help, but she needed to do it on her own. Instead of asking them for money, she lived with them most of the time as she wrapped up her interior design training and internship.
After she had been hired by the company where she completed her internship, Honor convinced herself that she would never feel comfortable borrowing money from others. Staying with her parents for a short time only made it easier for her to focus on her efforts including the one choice Honor decided to make official once she stepped into the lifestyle her parents had planned just for her.
Years of researching the logistics of owning and operating her own interior design business in New Orleans prepared her for the move she was desperate to make. It was a shame that the man, with whom she had begun to form a bond, had other goals that weren't in line with what she had already planned before they met. Even though her parents had arranged with their friends for their son to become Honor's intended, she wasn't prepared to invest herself in a relationship that would eventually leave her as miserable as she had witnessed in other arranged marriages between wealthy families.
As soon as she had enough money to turn her dreams into a reality, Honor presented Mrs. Nakagawa with a letter of resignation that included a two-month notice stating she wanted to leave in the right way.
Within those two months, she found and trained a replacement to take her spot at the Japanese interior design firm. She remained with the company until day sixty to make sure her replacement was up to speed with the job before she left.
Soon, Honor was ready to make her way back to New Orleans. Eager to begin her new business venture, excitement bubbled up inside of her as she acknowledged that she had the perfect feisty Cajun in mind to help build a team and get the business up and running.
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-NO REST FOR THE WEARY-
PAST
Honor's parents made every attempt to convince their daughter that relocating to New Orleans was nowhere near safe. They offered to give her the start-up money she needed if she would agree to remain in Dallas. No matter the tactics, they found their efforts were inconsequential in convincing the young lady to change her mind.
As a twenty-five-year-old professional interior designer, Honor rolled into town ready to make her mark and Gillian joined her within a few days of her friend's arrival. Shortly after the ladies reunited, the dynamic duo opened the boutique doors.
They struggled for the first couple of years but Honor believed in herself so much, she refused to give up and go home.
Though Honor had tons of passion and bright ideas, locals found it hard to trust an outsider. Had it not been for Gillian, Honor would have been a failure in no time flat. Above all things, her friend's familiarity with the region became the very reason she quickly found herself impressed by the local woman's people skills and her ability to secure the best results.
Luckily for the business, her employee possessed a certain charm for winning people over which was why everyone affectionately called Gillian a "sweet talker". It was amazing how she could convince a person to do darn near anything.
It never occurred to her that she would find anyone who outworked her until she and Gillian worked side-by-side on a few projects—one day she came to realize that her assistant was her lifesaver and a slave driver all wrapped up in one cute little package.
From time to time, Honor found herself trying to decipher the things that flowed out of her assistant's mouth but failed miserably to understand the dialect. When Gillian spoke Creole, which was the English, French, and Native American language that made Creole what it was, it was impossible to understand a word of what was said.
With every "no" or "I already have someone" she would use that Creole charm of hers to convince people to give their company a shot. This helped Honor to truly appreciate her friend regardless of the petite woman's frequent grumblings that made little to no sense to her ears.
Since no project was too small, they redesigned clubs, homes, as well as mom-and-pop restaurants to stay ahead of other interior designers, Honor found herself working seven days a week for the first nine months her business was open. They threw schedules out the door as they worked long days and nights to complete every job to the client's specifications.
Because time and vision were of the essence, the women suffered to secure their place in a brand new New Orleans.
With their drive and determination, Touched By An Angel Designs became well-known for uniquely transforming the ambiance of any space. They also earned a solidly respectable reputation because they never missed a deadline.
Building their presence as disciplined artists, they became a highly sought-after interior design company by their third year in business.
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-TRUE GRIT-
PAST
For some time, Honor had no idea what a day off looked like. It was her responsibility to work onsite and make sure her employees stayed on task. Because she often employed people with less-than-desirable work and criminal histories she needed to make sure everything was completed on time and without issue.
Honor held nearly every aspect of the business on her shoulders, including the need to make sure the office staff and subcontractors got paid.
Gillian took care of everything in the office except for payroll.
Since the business was growing by leaps and bounds, Honor and her friend had an understanding that the office assistant would receive proper training from a reputable school. Then payroll would be turned over to Gillian as well.
Their dedication to the job and each client earned the two ladies a solid name in the revamped city and the surrounding areas. The team's attention to detail and Honor's vision became the hottest commodities in a town full of people who were known to indulge in their excesses.
Only those who possessed the wealth to enjoy prestigious artistic works were lucky enough to acquire her services.
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