Nicole Yee (Past President), Marie Whitehill (Treasurer), Kelly Banks (President)
Vanessa Nielson (Vice President) and Carrie Yoshida (Secretary)
Kelly Banks is the owner and lead designer for Designing Women Interiors, LLC. With a career that started in the design arena more than 30 years ago in the furniture business, she moved into Banking and Human Resource Management for 25 years. She left her last banking position of SVP and Regional Manager to pursue her love of the design world in 2003.
Designing Women Interiors was started in 2004 and has grown into a successful interior design and staging firm in the Bay Area. She has expanded the company to collaborate with a local design builder and has completed projects in not only the Bay Area, but Southern California and Washington D.C. as well. Partnering with successful Real Estate agents all around the Bay, Kelly and her team have enjoyed consistent growth and creative satisfaction. Her staging division manages the “total home prep” to assist Realtor’s and sellers in bringing homes to market. Kelly’s ability to leverage her business experience and people skills has allowed her business to grow and prosper in this challenging market while keeping her clients satisfied.
Kelly has been an Associate Member of the Interior Design Society, [IDS] since 2005. She is currently the President of the Bay Area Chapter. She is a member of the Window Coverings Association of America [WCAA], as well as a Pro Member of the Real Estate Staging Association [RESA]. She is also a certified professional with the Interior Redesign Industry Specialists [IRIS].
Vanessa Nielson, is the owner and principal designer for Interior Reflections. Her firm specializes in commercial and residential interior design, including kitchen and bath renovations. With a BS in Home Economics Education, a composite degree including interior design, from Brigham Young University and a MS in Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco, Vanessa combines her talent and her training to run a very successful firm.
Interior Reflections successfully works in cooperation with home improvement contractors and homeowners throughout the East Bay to create fresh and enduring designs for its clients. Interior Reflections has flourished on and continues to be driven by the referrals of satisfied clients and contractors. Vanessa is also an expert in window coverings and is a Priority Dealer with Hunter Douglas. She has created custom window coverings to compliment all styles and client tastes for several years.
Vanessa began her career teaching interior design, and received the Outstanding Contribution to the Profession Award from Brigham Young University. Vanessa continues to share her expertise through design seminars such as The Magic of Light and Color, Creative Accessorizing, and The Elements and Principles of Design.
Vanessa is former President of a local Business Networking International chapter, former President and Co-Founder of Business Success Team, a business networking group, and currently serves as their Membership Chair. Vanessa is also currently Vice President of the Interior Design Society’s Bay Area Chapter.
Carrie Yoshida, Owner of Visual Harmony has been providing decorating services to homeowners in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2003. She brings to her successful business over 25 years of corporate management in the color and graphic printing industries, focusing on production planning, color analysis, and personnel management. As she always wanted to pursue her dreams of owning her own business, she started Visual Harmony by staging houses and working with realtors and homeowners to transform their homes into designer showcases. Carrie's eye for beauty, color, and balance gives each home she decorates a very distinctive look and a competitive edge in today’s challenging real estate market.
Carrie’s artistic passion for the arts allows her to express her decorating talents, while applying the principals of Feng Shui, the Asian art of creating harmony and balance. She integrates her expertise in customer service and home decor by truly promoting a wonderful sense of warmth and a peaceful feeling into her clients’ homes. Carrie’s company has grown from initially providing staging services to also offering interior design, furniture and fabric selection, color consulting, as well as space optimization and de-cluttering services.
Carrie is an Associate member of the Interior Design Society (IDS) and is currently the Secretary of the IDS Bay Area Chapter. She is also professionally trained and certified as an Interior Redesign Industry Specialist (IRIS) and a certified Staging Professional. In her spare time, Carrie enjoys painting with watercolor and acrylic media.
Marie Whitehill, Treasurer
The skills, expertise and professional network she acquired in banking served her well as she transitioned into residential real estate. As staging homes became an important element of real estate transactions, Marie was increasingly called upon by colleagues and clients to provide consultations related to staging and interior design. With a growing clientele, she founded a successful home staging and design company and is now the sole owner of Transformations, a full service design firm serving clientele on the Peninsula.
Marie has a strong presence in her local community, serving on the board of directors for the San Mateo Police Activities League, an advisory board of a local bank and as a volunteer for UCSF Medical Center, The Salvation Army and a battered women's shelter.
Marie is a Associate Member of the Interior Design Society (IDS) and currently the Treasurer of the Bay Area Chapter. She received her training and certification as a Professional Redesign Industry Specialist from Interior Redesign Industry Specialists (IRIS) as seen on HGTV. Other Professional Affiliations includes: Window Fashions Certified Professionals(WFCP), Window Coverings Association of America (WWAA) and received her training as a Certified Color Professional with Color with No Regrets (CNRCC).
Nicole Yee, Past President
Nicole Yee is the creative force behind San Francisco Bay Area-based NY Interiors. Nicole earned a Bachelor of Science degree in photojournalism from Boston University in 1992. Following that, she worked as a portrait photographer and a window display artist until entering the world of corporate finance in 1994. Over the next ten years, as Vice President of Marketing and Electronic Commerce for two mutual fund companies (Montgomery Asset Management then AXA Rosenberg) Nicole acquired the skills necessary to see vast creative projects through from concept to completion. After a rewarding decade focused on print and electronic design, she decided to pursue further creative expression as an entrepreneur.
Leveraging the design principles and color theory that she gleaned over the course of her marketing career, she shifted her focus to interior design and launched NY Interiors in 2004. In 2009, she expanded her business to her native New England Seacoast.
Nicole is an Associate Member of IDS, as well as the Founder and Past President of the San Francisco Bay Area IDS Chapter. She is also professionally trained as an Interior Redesign Industry Specialist and is a member of the national organization IRIS (Interior Redesign Industry Specialists). She was named "IDS Designer of the Year" in 2010 and her work has appeared in renown design publications such as Coastal Home, Design New England, Women's Day Remodeling and Makeovers, and Maine Home and Design.
