In this episode of Interior Design San Diego, host Rachel Larraine Crawford sits down with hospitality designer, educator, and ASID leader Shannon Rice to explore how design can literally change the trajectory of a family’s life.

Shannon shares her journey from 20-year-old receptionist at a flooring company to hospitality-focused designer, business owner, long-time instructor at Design Institute, and past president of ASID San Diego. From there, the conversation dives into the heart work: Humble Design—a nonprofit that fully furnishes homes for individuals and families emerging from homelessness.

You’ll hear how ASID San Diego partnered with Humble Design, why thoughtfully designed spaces help break the cycle of homelessness, and the many tangible ways designers, students, and industry partners can get involved.

In This Episode, We Talk About:

• Shannon’s winding path into interior design, from cocktail waitress and receptionist to hospitality designer and firm owner
• What it’s really like to work in hospitality, franchise hotels, and property improvement plans (PIPs)
• How teaching at Design Institute fuels Shannon’s love of mentoring emerging designers
• Shannon’s ASID journey—from student member to president, and now Humble Design liaison
• The origin story of Humble Design and why furnished homes dramatically reduce the rate of families returning to homelessness
• Rachel’s personal connection to housing insecurity and why this work feels so tender and urgent
• What happens on a Day of Joy install—from warehouse prep to the “welcome home” reveal
• The emotional impact of kids seeing their very first bed and a space made just for them
• How ASID designers can leverage projects to support Humble through furniture donations and more
• Volunteer warehouse days, student involvement, and upcoming donation drives in San Diego and North County
• Simple ways to support Humble at ASID’s annual holiday party and beyond

Key Takeaways

• Design truly impacts lives. A thoughtfully furnished home isn’t just “pretty”—it can be the difference between a family maintaining housing or slipping back into homelessness.
• Humble Design is changing the cycle. Families who receive Humble’s services almost never return to homelessness, in part because they finally have a space that feels safe, dignified, and worth fighting for.
• Community over competition in action. ASID San Diego’s partnership with Humble shows what happens when designers, students, and industry partners rally around a shared cause.
• Designers have unique leverage. We’re already inside clients’ homes and job sites—redirecting gently-used furnishings to Humble is a powerful, practical way to give back.
• There’s a place for everyone. From warehouse volunteering and student internships to donation drives and fundraisers, there are meaningful roles for designers at every stage of their career.

How Designers & Students Can Get Involved

• Redirect client furnishings to Humble instead of sending them to landfill
• ASID designers can request free pick-ups for qualifying donations via Humble’s website
• Join quarterly warehouse volunteer days through ASID San Diego sign-ups
• Support Day of Joy installs and annual fundraisers (like the bathroom refresh package)
• Students can seek out Humble-adjacent internships or volunteer hours through SDSU, DI, Mesa, Palomar & more
• Bring a gift card (Target, Walmart, TJ Maxx, etc.) to the ASID holiday party to help cover critical “one-off” items like cribs and baby supplies

As a highly skilled interior designer with twenty-five years of professional experience and fourteen years of focused business development and self-growth for her own design firm, Shannon has found great reward in the Interior Design industry.

As a senior level project manager for both residential and hospitality related fields, she has advanced knowledge in developing scopes for project opportunities and building seamless experiences for both the client/s and the assembled team/s. Residential design has always been a passion, particularly major remodels. Working on homes in Southern Italy, Barbados, New York City, Hawaii and several states across the United States, Shannon doesn’t see geography as an obstacle. Working as an in-house designer for a major Vacation Ownership Developer connected her interest to hospitality design, opening doors for many projects and opportunities such as converting hotels from one brand to another and overseeing branded property improvement plans for several hotels across the country. She even had a small part in a revitalization of a historic hotel site in Barbados, her husband’s home country, called Sweetfield Manor. And, most notably, added to a closed Designer list of only 14 firms for Marriott’s new City Express brand.

President of Payte Miller Interiors, Inc. has afforded her many great experiences and with that brought a desire for her to give back. Shannon’s volunteering journey began in 2004 when she joined the NEWH (Network of Executive Women in Hospitality) San Diego Chapter as Scholarship Director for five years, graduating as Board President in 2010. Obtaining her NCIDQ Certification in 2009 catapulted her into becoming an active professional member of ASID San Diego where she has served on the Board as Membership Director and President of the Chapter in 2021. Teaching Undergraduate level coursework at the CIDA Accredited Design Institute of San Diego in 2009 started her interest in mentorship and supporting students and emerging professionals. She continues teaching Hospitality and Commercial Design studio courses, Business Practices and Building Systems, fulfilling her passion of giving back, teaming-up, collaborating, and building a foundation of relationships across all aspects of her career.

In 2020, her compassion ran over when she discovered a local non-profit called Humble Design, an incredible organization who works to change lives and communities by custom designing and fully furnishing home interiors of gently used donated goods for individuals, families and veterans emerging from homelessness. The mission has become her second job, although 100% volunteer where she spends time in the warehouse sorting donations, doing craft projects and repairing furniture. Not just behind the scenes, but also contributing to the “Day of Joy” where volunteers move all the furnishings into the homes, stage and install for a long 8 hours with an oftentimes emotional home reveal. To take it a step further, she serves on the fundraising committee soliciting donations for their annual fundraising event, raising $200K annually.

Shannon doesn’t take all the credit for her professional successes without mentioning her foundation, her family. Contributors to her success she recognizes her husband David of 15 years, her sons Ethan (21) and Dillon (14) along with her late mom Cindy, who all give her the motivation she needs to keep doing the work. Her family is her rock, and she never shies away from talking about how blessed she is to have such an amazing cheering squad.

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