The newest addition to our #5MinutesWith series is Laura Umansky, an innovative designer and tastemaker based in Texas. In 2006, Laura founded her award-winning interior design firm, Laura U Interior Design. Her dynamic and talented team focuses on high-end residential projects around the world, and each project is grounded in the philosophy that a home is where a family builds its legacy. One of the most impressive things about her work is the fact she doesn’t prescribe to a singular style, instead creating spaces that she calls “classically current” — avoiding trends in favor of perfect reflections of her clients’ personalities and joys.

Read on to get inspired:

MY LIGHTBULB MOMENT:
My junior year of undergraduate school when I realized that interior design is an actual profession! It was too late to change major, but I made up for it in grad school. Now, I get to do something creative and challenging and everyday is different. And my clients value my work. How amazing is that!?

I CAN’T START MY DAY UNTIL:
One word: Coffee.

SUCCESS IS:
Having everyone around me inspired, engaged, and creating their best work!

YOU’LL NEVER SEE ME WITHOUT:
My Samsung watch, my Remarkable, and my Google Pixel. Wow, I may need to re-evaluate things.

MY DREAM COLLABORATION:
I would love to have been able to work with John Staub, a renowned residential architect in Houston (he practiced mainly from the 1920s to the 1960s). I have been lucky enough to renovate his past work for my clients, but a collaboration would have been fabulous.

THE ONLY PLACE BETTER THAN TEXAS:
Just one? I can’t choose. Rome in the Spring and Aspen, Colorado in the summer!

WHEN I FEEL UNINSPIRED:
I get away. I love to travel. It can be a city visit (Rome, London, New Orleans, NYC) or a reconnect-with-nature retreat (Colorado, Mexico, California); I typically just need a few days to gain some perspective and I’m back!

ADVICE I WISH I HAD 5 YEARS AGO:
Invest in a property for our studio instead of renting and building someone else’s property portfolio. Assets, assets, assets.

IN 5 YEARS FIND ME:
At the helm of THE best design firm creating Classically Current interiors alongside the amazing team at Laura U. And in our own building.

ABOVE ALL ELSE:
Work hard, have fun, be nice, and dream big (this is our family motto!)