The staging industry is highly unique when it comes to its essentiality. The necessity for staging stands throughout various accompanying sectors, including real estate and fashion. While a lucrative field, the staging world is relatively modest in identity and has been dominated by the men of the white race since its unorthodox inception. As we stand in the twenty-first century, with inclusion gaining relevance and diversity being a force, black practitioners in the staging industry are positioned to make their mark.
Professional commercial staging artist Tiffany Michelle, professionally, T. Michelle, is a practitioner who has what can be described as a pioneering experience in this current age of information and technology. Moreover, due to her identity as a Black woman, she has honed an eye for the industry’s expansion due to its necessity for inclusion. Michelle came into the field of commercial staging unconventionally. After receiving a formal education in marketing and management and earning an MBA in entrepreneurship, she went on to work for the federal government for thirteen years.
Having a keen interest in the backgrounds of television commercials, T. Michelle was inspired to learn about the process of creating such a background in commercials and television productions. Ultimately, Michelle returned to school to pursue designing and commercial staging at the New York Institute of Art and Design. Being a Black woman, she has witnessed assorted modes of discrimination in the staging industry. While an individual does not need a formal education to succeed in the staging industry, they need to be certified at a minimum. Michelle found it necessary to obtain it to increase her success.
According to T. Michelle, there is a lack in the presence of minorities and women in the staging industry. The professional staging artist describes it as a “boys club,” mainly due to the assumption that the profession’s physical component is only designated for men. Jobs in the staging industry are not as plentiful as assumed. The staging industry’s relatively modest identity makes jobs in the market exclusive. Through a challenging experience, T. Michelle learned how to thrive by taking mastermind classes and utilizing aggressive networking tactics. The problematic experience is mostly tailored around her reality as a Black female figure with a quality product, where prejudice plays a role in one’s victory.
“There’s also concerns with me putting myself out there so people can see who I am before I show up, so they are not surprised by me and the skin I am in because they are only looking at the work. If the work is good enough, I should be good enough,” T. Michelle tells Rich Black Earth.
In T. Michelle’s infancy as a professional staging artist, she began in residential staging. However, while residential staging was a lucrative field, she wanted to enhance her contributions to the industry by the opportunity of utilizing her creativity. She tried to span out where she could use different colors, textures, and themes. Hence, her decision to delve into commercial staging.
“Staging and design can be used interchangeably,” said T. Michelle. “The difference with designing a residential space is that you are staging it to sell. You want to get the property off the market and sell as quickly as possible for the highest possible dollar. Design in that realm is making it livable, functional, flow with the lifestyle and needs of the person that is living inside of the house.”
T. Michelle has since started her staging firm, which hones its necessary specialty of being Black-owned. As a way of investing marketing dollars, she developed a loyalty program working alongside clients in brokers, realtors, and title companies, where they provide gift cards to their respective clients. If the client decides to do business with her firm, the company will be rewarded with funds. She practices in several states, including New York, California, Atlanta, Texas, and Florida.
Respectively a disciplined businesswoman, T. Michelle is an innovative talent in the commercial staging business. She is set to teach aspiring commercial-stage designers how to run a firm and navigate the industry. Ultimately, the professional staging artist will delve into grander sectors like television design and sports arenas.
