Listen to the full interview with Laila NOW using the player at the bottom of this post or by going straight to this episode of The kbbreview Podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Alternatively, search ‘kbbreview’ wherever you get your podcasts.

Having been brought in to one day take over the running of Haus of Design, business manager Laila Kamiabi already has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders.

As the daughter of the studio’s founder, Amir Kamiabi, Laila started her career in the industry earlier this year after getting experience working across property and hospitality. 

To support her goals further, she’s also undertaking a degree apprenticeship in chartered management, with the hopes that she’ll one day be able to take up the reins from her father.

And one of the best ways to get experience in the unpredictable world of KBB retail is to just throw yourself in and learn by doing a little bit of everything, which is a strategy she’s embraced wholeheartedly. For instance, Kamiabi has completely taken over the studio’s e social media presence, also having an active hand in supporting the company’s HR, operations and project management.

“My work’s quite different day to day,” Kamiabi explains. “A lot of it is now on the admin side, making sure orders are on track, and then a lot of my time is spent on marketing as well, checking social media, seeing what’s doing well, making content and checking the leads coming in.”

In fact, since taking over the company’s social media, Kamiabi has also spent a lot of time working on a YouTube channel for the studio, with the novel aim of educating the public about the benefits of German kitchens. One video, for example, which has already amassed over 68k views at the time of writing, is a handy primer to walk consumers through the entire kitchen design process, from initial design to installation.

In anticipation of one day running the business herself, Laila says she’s made a conscious effort to get to know what every one of the studio’s staff  members does, to better understand how the company runs from a top-down perspective. 

“I need to make sure I know how everything works, day to day, from start to finish,” she explains. “Because we’re a small company, It’s a lot easier to connect with people and learn how they do things in their own way.”

And having gained knowledge of the rest of the business already, this year will see Laila adding design expertise to her portfolio as well.

“That’s the main area that I haven’t dug into yet, but I’m really looking forward to learning everything about it as well. After that, I’ll be moving on to handling jobs from start to finish.”

And aside from just growing her skillset, Laila says her work at the showroom has made a massive impact on growing her own confidence. 

“When I started, I was quite shy and introverted,” she recalls. “I think by doing the YouTube channel and things like filming in public, I’ve really had to put myself out there.”

So, with her proactive approach to her own professional development, as well as her growing knowledge of the business itself and all of its many bells and whistles, Laila’s projected path to eventually take over the running of Haus of Design really demonstrates everything that our Rising Star category is all about.

You can listen to the full interview with Laila on this bonus episode The kbbreview Podcast.