Providing renowned furnishings & exceptional service to the hospitality industry
About Allison R. Okon
Founder & Sales Rep
HER MISSION
Allison is passionate about helping designers achieve their vision. Like them, she has an artistic eye for aesthetics and truly enjoys facilitating the creative process.
HOW SHE WORKS
First and foremost, Allison believes in what she does. She loves her job and enjoys working with the design community in whatever capacity that might entail: introducing and educating the client to her multi-lines of hospitality furnishings; collaborating with the designer; showcasing new product; creating a custom design; or offering a CEU class. Allison realizes she is merely a resource for the designer to utilize in the creative process; providing him or her the best possible solutions while encompassing all aspects of a project--design aesthetic, product functionality & practicality, quality assurance, budgetary concerns and deadlines.
She has no problem working round the clock alongside her clients to assist them in getting the job done. Allison understands the stresses and demands that are put upon her designers. She has the ability to listen and empathize with her clients' concerns regarding their projects and offer viable solutions when needed. Allison wants to earn their respect. Her outlook is such: she is not seeking out a one-time job with a designer but looking to build a lifetime partnership with him or her.
HER BACKGROUND
Allison has what one might describe as an eclectic background. Though she was born and raised in Dallas, she ventured out to New York City in her mid-twenties to pursue a screenwriting career (wanting to write for ABC's daytime drama All My Children) and somehow wound up a diamond buyer for Tiffany & Co. In in her thirties, she briefly relocated to London where she studied interior design to further her innate design abilities. Afterward, she journeyed to Chicago, working primarily in management and sales for a Dallas-based medical device company. Then in her forties, when the entire country was in economic straits, she found her network of friends were in need of her help. As someone who once suffered with anxiety and panic attacks, and overcame it, she thought it time to share her knowledge and experience and pay it forward. She attended graduate school from her alma mater Southern Methodist University and received a Masters of Science in Counseling Degree. Soon after, she became a Certified Life Coach and continues to help others in need achieve their personal and professional goals. However, it wasn't until 2015, that she found her true-calling, working with designers and purchasers helping them achieve their visionary creations in the Hospitality arena.
HER EDUCATION
Allison holds a Master of Science in Counseling Degree (2013) and a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema (1993) from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. In March of 2014, Allison received her coaching certification from Coach Training Alliance in Ft. Collins, Colorado—an accredited coaching program and one of the very first to achieve the approval of the International Coach Federation (ICF).
AFFILIATIONS
Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH - Dallas)
International Coach Federation (ICF - North Texas)
THE EXTRAS
In her spare time, Allison spends time with her two dogs--Great Pyrenees siblings, Sheridan (the girl, left) & D'artagnan (the boy, right), that she rescued in April of 2016. In addition, she runs a life coaching business on the side and co-facilitates a weekly, teen, all-girls therapy group in Dallas since the spring of 2010. There, she listens to struggling adolescents and teaches them self-confidence and coping skills to help them better adjust to their current situations at home and in school. She runs a long distance book club called the LDBC connecting her friends from coast to coast in the United States once a month--where her mother is also a member. Other hobbies of hers include: interior decorating; creative writing (screenplays & novels); reading (fiction, historical fiction, classic literature, mysteries, biographies); watching television (Downton Abbey, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Alienist, Grace & Frankie, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones; and older shows like The Nanny, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Friends, Gilmore Girls, Penny Dreadful; Scarecrow & Mrs. King, Moonlighting, Dawson's Creek, Thirtysomething, Babylon 5); listening to music (rock, pop, standards, oldies, big band, opera); attending local events (theater, museum exhibits, concerts, The Dallas Arboretum); dancing; traveling when possible; and spending quality time with her family and friends. She especially misses watching the soap opera All My Children and occasionally views old episodes on YouTube.
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