Sara Duffy

“Everyone is very different, so making sure I understand everyone's strengths and weaknesses is key. It’s a question of how to support those strengths but challenge those weaknesses so that the person outgrows them. “

WomenWhoBuild, Meet Sara Duffy!

Sara is a Principal at Stonehill Taylor, a hospitality-focused architecture and interior design firm based in New York City. Her vision has been instrumental in the design of projects such as the J.W. Marriott Nashville, the NoMad Hotel and Bar, as well the iconic TWA Hotel at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Sara discovered her passion for design during her time at MTV, where she spearheaded the opening of the MTV store. It is this background in art and television that gives Sara the ability to craft thoughtful narratives for every project that she works on.

ArchNative sat down with Sara (virtually of course) to discuss her journey in design, her take on balancing motherhood and an active career, and her advice for women starting in the field.

The NoMad Bar - Photos by Benoit Linero

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey in Interior Design? What was your first introduction to the field?

I got there in a funny, roundabout way. My mom is an interior designer in the high-end residential realm. I think for me, because she worked in this field, I at first rejected it and went ahead to study art history. After school I made my way to a career in television production and landed at MTV. In the end, my job there was serving as a liaison for the consumer product division and the art direction team. When we decided to open an MTV store, I had to figure out the architecture firm to hire and work with our design team to make sure that the architect was on brand with MTV. I just loved that whole exciting process of designing a space and opening it. That was when I decided that I needed to make a change and perhaps go back to school to study design, although at that point I was still resistant to it. It was my mother who connected me with an interior designer at the Rockwell Group. She and I had coffee, and she said, ‘Sara you just have to suck it up and go back to school’. So that’s what I did. I applied to several New York schools and decided to go to FIT. 

You have a background in Art History and Television, how do the skills that you had acquired from those positions translate in your role at Stonehill Taylor? 

To know the history of art is incredibly valuable, in critiquing aspects of design, in understanding shape and form, but also in just having a really good basis and knowledge of artists both contemporary and historic. I bring that skill set to my job in terms of analyzing design and artwork that we use. Art is a really huge part of everything we do. 

“To know the history of art is incredibly valuable, in critiquing aspects of design, in understanding shape and form, but also in just having a really good basis and knowledge of artists both contemporary and historic.”

At MTV I was working closely with all of the art directors and designers there. I was also involved in the production, so that became a really valuable skill set alongside the ability to put a project together, keep things moving, understand what needs to get done, and manage people. It was the greatest thing I did for my career because I was forced into these really difficult situations where I had to manage these large projects when I was just 23 and figure out how to make all of this work.

How do you approach each project that you are working on? 

They are all very different. It depends on the client, the location, the team that is working on it, and the history of the building that we are working on. Despite those differences, all of our work has a strong narrative to it. That is how we start every project; we dive in and do tons of research on the property and the surrounding location. If it is a new build, obviously there is not a lot of research to be done on the building, however, perhaps the site is of interest or the city itself. Our team will go in to do an immersive tour during which we will spend several days exploring everything and anything about that city and coming up with a layered and smart concept about the whole project and how we want to move it forward. 

JW Marriott Nashville - Photo by: David Mitchell

What does your day to day look like? 

In a lot of ways my pre-COVID days and post-COVID days are very similar, but in other ways, they are very different. It used to be that my office’s elevator doors would open, and a metaphorical gunshot would go off and I would be off with my day, running from one thing to the next. If I was lucky, there would be a brief lunch break (although rare), and then I would rush home to get to my two kids and my husband in the evening.

Post-COVID my routine is similar, but there is a little more time for my family, which I have to say has been the silver lining of this whole thing. Both pre- and post-COVID, working out has been a big part of my life too. I work out every morning. I find that if I don’t do that, I don’t thrive as well as I should. 

Pre-COVID we were all in a conference room looking over drawings and materials and that has significantly changed since meetings are now all happening through Zoom. Going completely virtual is challenging, and I really miss the face-to-face interactions with my team.  

How do you balance such an active career with motherhood?

It is a constant challenge, and I often worry that I am not so successful at it. The worst days are those when you realize you missed two calls from your kids because you were stuck in a meeting and weren’t focused on your phone. That always kind of breaks my heart. But, at the same time, particularly having two girls, (even though I’m sure this is the case with boys also), having them see me as a strong part of a company and as a leader is valuable for them and something that was certainly very valuable for me when I watched my mom run a firm. 

It is hard and there are days when you feel like you can’t make it all work. But I do feel that this new reality has made it in a sense a little bit easier in that I am present. So, if something comes up, I can say “give me 10 minutes, I just have to finish this call and we can figure this out, whatever it may be.” The hard part about it is that we are in each other's space all the time. I have teenagers, which I think is less challenging than if you have small kids in this situation. However, they are desperate for independence and alone time. They used to come home from school, and they had those four hours to themselves.They talk a lot about how they miss that. 

Being a working mother is challenging but also incredibly rewarding.  However, you have to set limits on both sides. For example, pre-COVID, I had to leave work at 5:30pm because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t get home until 8 pm and then I couldn’t make dinner and would have been too tired to be there for what my family needs.  So that was my limitation, 5:30pm and I was out the door and not on my email until after dinner and time with my daughters.

And honestly, my kids going back to school under these strange circumstances with COVID feels like a full-time job as a parent. I need to be monitoring the many emails, understanding what’s happening, should my kids go back to school, or should they not go back to school. Staying on top of it has been really challenging. My husband is a huge part of this process. so I’m not doing it alone—He is amazing, and we are a great team.

“...having two girls, (even though I’m sure this is the case with boys also), having them see me as a strong part of a company and as a leader is valuable for them and something that was certainly very valuable for me when I watched my mom run a firm. ”

Tell us a little bit about fitness and how you utilize it to carve out time for yourself in your day to day? 

Fitness has always been very important to me. You have to be intentional with fitness. You have to start every week with a plan: ‘these two days I am going to work out, and these other two days I’m going to take a long walk’. Obviously, that thinking doesn’t always work, particularly pre-COVID, when I was traveling a lot. But I’m finding if I don’t carve out that time it’s not good for me or the people around me. Exercise is a great stress relief for me. It’s that moment where I can just be focused on me. That isn’t to say that during my Pilates class I’m not thinking about a work meeting, for example, but it just grounds me for the day and allows me to keep going. For me, it’s essential. I don’t think I would mentally survive if I didn’t work out. For my family too, COVID made it even more apparent that we have to expose ourselves to nature. We have been making an effort to make it to the beach or go hiking, even if it's only for an hour, just to be outside. It’s imperative. 

What is the most challenging aspect of your role? What is the most rewarding? 

Quite frankly, I think the answer is the same for me. Managing people is what I love the most about my job but also what I find the most challenging. 

I manage a team of 30 people. The experience of watching someone come in at a junior level and grow into an experienced designer, who can present to the client and take ownership of their work, is so amazing. I love watching people develop to that extent and being there for them. However, the challenges come when you also need to push people and have expectations for them to grow into something great. Everyone is very different, so making sure I understand everyone's strengths and weaknesses is key. It’s a question of how to support those strengths but challenge those weaknesses so that the person outgrows them. We find that when a team is working well together a project just blossoms. While I love design, the people really make the position exciting. 

What is one piece of advice you have for women entering the field? 

While most fields are male-centric, the hospitality industry in particular is very male-centric. In almost 95% of my meetings I am the only woman. While that is definitely starting to change, it is still a challenge. As a woman, when you walk into the room, you really have to be a little more prepared and thoughtful. I have a lot of strategies to cope with this. The first thing I do when I walk into a meeting is to say hello while I am still standing, I try to create an inviting, calm atmosphere rather than something adversarial. I also try to be in the room before people arrive so there is a sense of inviting them in and controlling the space. When I present, I stand and am very strategic about where I am standing, making sure that I am always seen as a leader. 

That being said I’m not always the only woman in a given meeting. There are many more female executives now in the big hotel chains than there were 10 years ago—which is really exciting. Additionally, I do have a couple of clients who are women. So, another strategy I have is to watch those women and see how they are handling the situation and positioning themselves in these meetings. I am very careful to watch and learn from them. 

TWA Hotel- Photos by Eric Laignel