dunderhead hostile: Home Staging Academy

Los Angeles, CA area	The Academy of Home Staging was founded by Kim Kapellusch, owner of the eminently successful Style my Space Home Design Company. Based in the Santa Clarita Valley, Kim serves the greater Los Angeles area, earning praise from Realtors and homeowners alike for her keen sense of style and unique ability to bring out a home?s best assets. The true measure of Kim?s success is found in the hundreds of thousands of dollars she has made for her clients who have sold their homes faster, and at higher prices, than they otherwise would have. Kim is a former real estate agent who has more than 20 years of experience in home staging, model home design, consulting for remodel projects and investment flips, redesign, set design, and art direction. A recognized expert in the field of home staging, Kim has been featured in The Signal, Daily Breeze, and San Fernando Valley Business Journal newspapers, on public access television, SCTV, KCET, and the Jeff Eisenberg radio show. Seeing continued industry demand for skilled home staging professionals, and a lack of effective hands-on training programs, Kim established The Academy of Home Staging with the goal of creating a valuable resource for interested students. With a focus on teaching quality design, along with sound business practices, The Academy is unique among industry training programs.

Tampa, Fla area	Meet Mary Ellen Fortier, Trainer and Vice President of Trainers, Florida Mary Ellen Fortier Advanced Certified Home Stager and Redesign Consultant Certified Home Staging and Redesign Trainer Member of RESA, Florida Chapter of RESA Mary Ellen brings close to 20 years experience in building homes, remodeling existing homes and designing interiors into beautiful and functional living spaces. In addition, she offers a unique service to clients with Consult to Build ??? helping clients through the process of building a new home. And for those clients with rental properties she stages these properties to attract the most renters who want to come to relax and rejuvenate in her client?s vacation homes. Combined with 15+ years in Executive Marketing roles in Fortune 500 companies where she managed over 100 employees world ? wide, Mary Ellen has brought her love of interior design and marketing together to provide a unique teaching experience to The Academy students. She will bring her knowledge of design, marketing, staging and building to the classroom to teach students how to build their next successful and rewarding career in one of the fastest growing design segments today ? Home Staging and Redesign.

Washington DC area	Nicci Parrish, founder and owner of Impress Me! Home Staging, LLC, a premier home staging and redesign company in the Washington DC metro area.She brings over 15 years of experience exceeding client?s expectations and developing creative and innovative learning solutions for Fortune 500 companies and public sector organizations. Nicci has a Master of Science in Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation from Syracuse University.She is an adjunct instructor at Prince George?s County Community College where she has taught hundreds of aspiring home stagers in the Washington DC metro area on the fundamentals of starting a home staging business. Inspired by her students? passion to learn more about the home staging industry, Nicci joined The Academy to provide other aspiring home stagers an opportunity to experience a one-of-a-kind coaching and mentoring home staging program.Nicci is a member of Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) and has been featured in numerous print and on-line publications including the Washington Times Home Guide, Baltimore Home Improvement magazine, and the Washington Post.

Dallas, Texas area	Michelle Lynne?s love for ?all things interior? began as a youth when she would re-arrange the furniture while her mom was at work and would make her brother help her with placement of the heavy sofa. Every week was a new design! As an adult, she received her degree in Marketing & Management and went on to become General Manager for a national restaurant chain where she learned the practice of ?mis en place? which translates to ?all things in their place??fueling her obsession for aesthetically pleasing and organized spaces. She then went on to become the Area Director for one of Dallas? largest recruiting firms, responsible for over 100 employees, including the creation of the practices, procedures, and the profitability of the division.In 2007 she made the decision to pursue her passion and began the process of creating ?by Michelle Lynne?, Dallas? premier resource for home staging, organizing & design. Since then, Michelle Lynne has become a member of the Texas Association of Interior Design, the Real Estate Staging Association, and the National Association of Professional Organizers. She has achieved her RESA-Pro designation, held the position of Vice President of her local RESA chapter, is one of the founders of Showings To Closings, a monthly seminar given to Dallas area real estate agents, and is also a RESA Approved Instructor, providing course instruction for MCE credits to Texas real estate agents.Michelle Lynne currently oversees a staff of five stagers and a warehouse full of inventory. She enjoys sharing her business acumen, sense of humor and experience in the staging industry and has found her niche as an instructor for the Academy of Home Staging.

Kara Woods New York area, New York Boston, Mass	In 2007, Kara Woods founded Staged to Move, one of the first professional home staging companies in Northern Fairfield County, Connecticut. Combining a background in consulting, information technology, and training?with a decided talent for design?Kara offers staging expertise and business know-how.Those in Kara?s classroom find her teaching style personable, comfortable, and approachable. She enjoys figuring out students needs and translating the abstract into practical, on-the-job examples. She appreciates the Academy?s certification course for uniquely offering hands-on experience with all three staging environments (occupied, vacant, and staging consultations). In addition, she is proud to be a member of an organization that believes in providing the best education through the use of project coaching, organizing, and achieving a competitive edge in the staging business.Kara values results from her work and her teaching. ?The seemingly small changes that I make as a stager, and my work as an instructor, affect how people live and interact. That?s a great day of work to me! I feel wonderful helping to make that happen.?Kara has been featured on FOX Television and named the 2010/11 Professional Woman of the Year by the National Association of Professional Women for outstanding leadership and commitment in the staging and design profession. Out of 75,000 applicants, Kara was one of 4,500 honored as a member of the 2011 Presidential Who?s Who Among Business and Professional Achievers. In 2009, Kara?s company won the Designers Challenge Award at the 2009 Association of Design and Education (ADE) Conference. She is trained in design and business management and the North Eastern regional vice president of the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA).