DAConnie: Designing Woman

If you are a friend of Design Alliance and you have visited our showroom, chances are you have had an encounter with the small, but mighty Connie Bloodworth. A designing woman, she has spent over 40 years—13 of those years behind the desk at Design Alliance—helping others create beautiful environments. And at the end of May she is retiring.

Connie showed signs of a future in design as a young girl through her way with color, sparing her mother from design disasters by using her natural color-combining skills. Later, Connie’s love of interior design and her innate business sense gave her the confidence to open her own interior design studio in the 70s. After a few years, she took a break from the business to design her own life as a wife and a mother, making marriage and children her priority for a while. However, the idle brain of a problem-solver and multitasker cannot thrive when dormant, so in 2002, when a beacon of beautiful aesthetics crossed her path through a position at Design Alliance, she was ready!

She joined forces with owner Joy Solleder and co-worker Donna Erickson who had built Design Alliance over the last seven years. Connie took on the position of Fabric Showroom Manager, with wallcovering and trim, settling in to her “corner office” for the next decade. In 2013, Joy Solleder sold DA to JoEllen Collins and Joy Crowe and Connie took over the position of Furniture Manager for the next year and a half. Today, 13 years later, she longs for more time with her husband and grandchild and has decided to retire from her full time post at Design Alliance.

If you have been lucky enough to have Connie shine her light your way, you know she is your champion. Her charming smile will disarm you as she sings your praises, like your very own publicist! Having Connie on your team is always a plus. She is determined to find a solution, fearless to pursue the persons of interest, motivated by information and a directory of who’s who and what’s what in this industry.

We will miss her and her design tales from “atop her foot,” her enthusiasm for a new idea and her generous spirit with what she knows about this business of design. We know that Design Alliance is what it is today, in big part, due to the passion and participation of one DAConnie and her love of design.

We wish her well, as she is needed at home to care for her husband, John, currently on the mend.      

We also expect to see her smiling face in here from time to time as she works on her own projects and on projects for DA. After all, a designing woman can’t simply go “cold turkey!” And, if you need Connie’s help with a particular project, don’t hesitate to ask—she’ll be available for consults by appointment.

Come say "goodbye" on Thursday, May 28. We're hosting a retirement party for Connie from 11 am to 3 pm.