Sarah Opila at Swarovski in Cranston, Rhode Island. Photo: Ronald Cowie

By Geoff Hyatt

"When kids were taking out coloring books, I was already drawing lines and planning space."

Sarah Opila’s (B.A. ’89) career as an interior designer has seen her heading up projects with employers such as Marshall Field’s, Starbucks, and Swarovski Crystal, but it began with crayons. “I was very lucky to have identified my interest in interior design at the age of eight,” she laughs. “I still have my original house plans that I designed back then.”

Opila grew up in Riverside, near the Brookfield Zoo. Currently, she works as an architectural project manager for the world-renowned Swarovski in Rhode Island, designing the boutiques in which they sell their famed glassware and jewelry. Though she has always been drawn to designing interior space, her journey took a few turns before she hit her stride. “I started at Northern Illinois University. I kind of hit a time in my life when I got really unhappy there … I just hit a real bump in the road. I went to Columbia and checked out the campus—there were only three buildings at the time! I really liked it. I had to do a portfolio review with some of the professors to make sure they would accept me into their program, and that went well. Right from there, everything picked up for me.”

The summer before her senior year, she got her first professional interior design experience, an internship at Marshall Field’s. The college, she says, was instrumental in launching her career. “Meeting with a counselor and doing a videotape of yourself doing an interview, and answering a series of questions to figure out what your priorities were, really got you geared, focused, and interested in pursuing an internship.” Opila advises new grads to “take any opportunity in your field that comes your way—no matter how small. Network! Show off your work. Think outside the box. Never forget the world has infinite possibilities.”