Mindy Sonneman ~

would take her to job sites once a week, something designers don’t always get the chance to do.

“Once a week I would go out on the field to the homes he was building. I would meet the guy’s framing crews and then I would meet all the subcontractors. That was like a huge extension of something I've never learned before. I was actually going out and seeing what I designed come to life,” she said.

Getting out onto the job sites also helped Sonneman get to know others in the industry, which has proven to be a huge benefit.

“Because of that young age and meeting a lot of the people who are still in the field today, I've grown with them. I've been able to get respect and keep their respect because we grew up together — starting in our early 20s and now here we are in our 50s, and that's been great,” she said.

After a few years with that builder, Sonneman moved on to a lumber company to expand her skills. There she did home design, in-house sales, kitchen designs, project estimating and project coordinating.

Eventually, Sonneman went out on her own and started her business, MS Designs, launching in 2001. She primarily works on residential new builds, but can also help clients with additions, remodels and renovations.

Generally projects will begin with a meeting between Sonneman and the clients where she asks questions, finds out what they are looking for and sketches out some preliminary ideas. She then takes these notes, which she referred to as “puzzle pieces” and creates a full conceptual drawing.

From there, she goes back and forth with clients, making adjustments until the design fits their desires. Sonneman

Continued on page 12 finds that even if folks don’t know what they want in a design, they usually have a better idea than they think they do after their first meeting.

“My favorite part is actually taking the pieces I'm getting and doing those initial floor plan layouts of what it's going to look like on the inside and outside,” Sonneman said. “I like coming up with the flow of a home, of a floor plan. Usually when I'm doing that, I can visually see the whole house done.”

Depending on the project, Sonneman will sometimes stay involved through the build, but more often hands off the construction documents to the contractor.

Sonneman lives in Cloquet and has a husband and two daughters, one in high school and one in college. This year, the family is hosting a foreign exchange student from Spain. In her free time, she likes to travel, hike and spend time with her two dogs.

In terms of being a woman in the industry, Sonneman said she has been really lucky to not face any substantial challenges. While most of the builders and contractors she works with are men, most of the residential designers she knows are women.

“I believe it's still male-dominated,” she said of the industry. “But as far as women designing, I only know of a couple of men who do what I do. The rest of us are all females in this area. I think we are starting to step up and take over in the design aspect of things.”

Sonneman primarily designs homes in the Duluth area; the project furthest from home that she has worked on was for a friend in Savannah, Georgia. She has even been able to help her twin sister and her husband with their new home.

“My greatest joy is seeing these designs become homes,” she said. D

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Laura Kleive enjoys the outdoors and took her first 40-mile, three-day solo trip on the Superior Hiking Trail in September 2019.

“I especially love hiking in the fall when the leaves are changing,” Kleive said.