Lilse McKenna owes her first big break to a cold call. Fresh out of college, she discovered a desire to break into the design industry thanks in large part to the shelter magazines she eagerly poured over during her study breaks while preparing for the LSAT. After scuttling her law school ambitions, her plan of attack was simple: Get in touch with New York’s top designers, and see if they’re hiring.

The first of those calls effectively set her design career in motion. After landing an internship with Meg Braff, McKenna soon found a full-time design position as an assistant to designer Lindsey Coral Harper—and several years after that , a job within the firm of Markham Roberts. Yet even as she soaked up the wealth of design knowledge surrounding her in each role, she couldn’t shake the d

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