Entrepreneur Rachel Cannon

1 toKeySuccess

“I think communication is key. Tell people what you’re doing and then tell them when you’ve done it. When you don’t communicate, it creates a vacuum.”

Rachel Cannon

OWNER,

RACHEL CANNON LIMITED

What they do:

Interior design

Address:

Wrenwood Blvd #C, Baton Rouge

ALREADY CREATIVELY INCLINED, Rachel Cannon’s fascination with interior design took off at age 15 when her parents hired an interior designer before listing their house for sale. After graduating from LSU in 2004, Cannon worked for a firm for five years before the recession hit and she was laid off. She then began freelancing with the intention of going back to an office when the economy picked up. She jokes that three years later, she realized she owned a business. After going through a divorce in 2016, she says she saw her business as a lifeboat. “But being divorced and a business owner is no joke—you grow up fast.” As an introvert, she specializes in working with other introverted creatives. “Opening the floor plan is not the answer to everything. If we could be more thoughtful, we could create spaces that honor everyone’s boundaries and needs.

Cannon describes her firm’s style as vibrant classicism

and leads a team of three designers with aspirations to expand into the national market. Cannon began offering virtual consultations in early 2020, before the pandemic, in response to the amount of inquiries she was receiving from potential nonlocal clients. After the pandemic broke out in spring 2020, Cannon’s firm sold only virtual consultations for three months. “That time helped me overcome limited beliefs I had about design—I can help you without being in the room.” During the pandemic, she also developed memberships for people who follow the brand online, giving access to Cannon’s color library with every paint color she’s chosen for projects. She recently launched a new service called Easy Button, where clients and designers collaborate on a mood board for a room, for clients who want a project completed quicker. “The pandemic challenged us to think about things differently.”

—By Holly Duchmann • Photography by Meadowlark Artistry