Interior designer Celeste Alexander

celeste alexander

Celeste Alexander
Owner and senior designer
Celeste Alexander Spaces, aka #teamCAS, is an interior design team that has been transforming boutiques, residential, and commercial spaces for over 15 years throughout metro Atlanta as well as nationwide. With a team of independent professional architects, carpenters, designers and CAD designers they are sure to meet the needs of every client they serve.
Completed projects: Vino Libro, Azul Day Spa, Cure Nail & Body Bar, Canvas Lounge, The Loft at Castleberry, to name a few
Member organizations: Certified Interior Decorator, Decorati Design Member, Window Covering Association of America, To The Trade Only, ADAC, Americas Mart, Philanthropy Efforts of Choice
Championed social causes: Lupus Foundation, 40 Girls & Some Shoes and Beyond the Game


What inspires you to show up to work every day?
I love transforming houses into homes. I’m passionate about serving the everyday people. I grew up in the black power era and roots so I love to visit old slave cabins. I enjoy what I do and I know that I’m contributing to the overall happiness and healthiness of my clients. I’m raising the bar; interior design is not just for celebrities.


How did you determine your career path?
It was trial and error. I would start in the right direction and something would distract me, like a job in a whole other direction —bank telling, legal assistant. I attended a stat program [and] they encouraged me to pursue interior design on a college level and by the third semester, I was headed to divorce court. Then one day, I decided I would focus totally on design and decorating daily, even if it was for free.

Define innovation methods you apply to your business and life.
Nothing innovative — just an old tried and true method of sticking with the team; team work makes the dream work. Listening to clients and finding a way to meet their needs and desires at a profitable margin.


Describe goal setting methods you use and how you evaluate your success.
Believe it or no,t this dream board thing really works. It keeps you clearly focused on what’s in your mind, especially when you’re a visual thinker as I am. I stay focused, if I’m wanting something that costs, I stop spending money on the wrong thing and I go back to the old school method of work and save.

Name three books that changed how you saw life and you recommend to others.
The Bible, it contains the instruction for life and business;
You Deserve It by Lisa Nichols because I learned that your deep-seated belief system produces your outcome; think bigger bolder and believe you deserve the life you want; and
The Interior Design Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Profitability, because creative people don’t like to do paperwork and it’s the paper your after.

Describe why lifelong learning is important to you?
There is always something to learn to keep up with your industry: new products, new technology, etc. You want to stay current. You must grow to live; learning keeps you living.

What are the three most important factors of being a successful women?
Respect, reputation, relationships, and my fourth; resourcefulness

Technology plays what role in your daily life?
I use technology for basic office tasks and keeping up with the world at the slide of a finger.

What social media or digital tool has made the biggest difference in your life and why?
I love Facebook because I’ve met and connected with people I would have never met. I’ve been exposed to all kinds of new ideas from around the world. And [I] can keep up with my family in several different states.

If you could change one thing in the world what would it be?
Borders … People should be free to go where they please.

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
I like me, but I would change the way that I’m an all or nothing personality and I’m working on that.

Who or what motivates you and why?
When God gives you a gift, a talent, a lot of passion, three daughters and five grandchildren, that’s every reason in the world to keep going.

What are the do’s and don’ts for young women in business?
Do keep your integrity; it will pay off.  Stay your course, take business classes, walk in authority, do something everyday toward your goal. Don’t fake it until you make it; become it, then you will make it. Recognize distractions. Never, never, never give up.

How do you grow from past business failure?
Resilience. You cry, you pout, you shout and turn it all around; learn your lessons in the failure. Be resourceful about your lack . I’m on my seventh studio location so I know about failures. This time I’m not alone, I have a great support system and better business management skills.

Name three of your females role models and share why.
Most people equate success with money but I think about the women who have raised productive children that contribute to society — the women who have managed to survive the struggles of average life and maintained; the women who keep it all together when they are left with nothing and rise from the ashes. Those are role models. Then there is Maya Angelou, because she was succeeding at a time when the world was spread apart and in racial turmoil. It was her graceful intellect, not her looks, that elevated her.

Retired Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore. She was the first woman to serve full-time on the benches of the Atlanta Municipal Court and the City Court of Atlanta and the first African American woman to serve on the State Courts of Georgia. She is the first woman to serve as Chief Judge of the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia’s busiest trial court of general jurisdiction and the first African American woman to serve as Chief Administrative Judge of any Judicial Circuit in Georgia. And, it was her graceful intellect, not her looks that elevated her.I had the privilege of her becoming a client of mine.

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