An original photograph shot with a Nikon D3200
Hi! I’m Tracey Harbaugh. Let me take you on my journey.
After twenty years of raising children, I decided to reshape my future and pursue a dream career. Three years of ghostwriting as a freelancer taught me that dreams change. What we think will be our destiny for the rest of our lives stops fulfilling us. Or, it ceases to pay the bills.
The pandemic stopped the flow of new writing jobs, and I saw myself at a precipice. Writing became a safe option. No longer did it feel new, creative, or exciting. There is no opportunity to become a bestselling author when another person’s name goes in the byline.
I had a second dream I convinced myself to let go: interior design. With college classes moving online during the COVID lockdown, I saw a chance to shoot my shot. I gave it one semester. Would I struggle like I did through my first college degree? Could I actually do this?
Spoiler: I’m so doing it.
Three years of ghostwriting taught me the skills needed to excel in interior design: negotiation, communication, client relationship management, proposal writing, and project bidding.
Photography classes caught my attention early on, and I found a correlation between the skills used in photography and interior design. Both need an awareness of color, balance, harmony, light, space, shape, line, texture, contrast, emphasis, and rhythm.
My goals include education design in the K-12 market with a focus on crime prevention through environmental design. I want to pursue residential kitchen and bath design, the hospitality industry, and furniture design. In the future, I would love the opportunity to collaborate in tile, lighting, and accessory design.
