My name is Jeremy Sackler.  The rest of my answer is less simple.

Florida State University

Tallahassee is an interesting place.  For a state capitol, it's surprisingly low-key.  If you can handle the summers, winters, mosquitoes, rain, and lightning, it's actually sort of beautiful.  Tallahassee shaped my life in a lot of ways, and that's all thanks to Florida State.  FSU's Department of Interior Design was well-renowned when I first arrived for undergrad in 2011, and it's reputation has only gotten better.  The program was ranked as the "Most Admired in the Nation" for 4 out of the 5 years I spent there, and with good reason. My professors during my time there were incredibly knowledgeable, and demonstrated an unbelievable level of compassion and respect for their students time and time again.  We were gifted with amazing facilities; the William Johnston Building was everything I could ever ask for in a building where I routinely spent 40+ hours per week.  My peers were motivated, talented, and inspiring, and we all drew on the feeling of community to keep ourselves going at one time or another.  Really, the whole "Most Admired" thing refers just as much to everyone on the inside of the department as it does those on the outside, so it was a no-brainier to stick around for grad school (after a brief intermission, that is.)  Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed my time at Florida State, it eventually had to come to an end.  But if I learned anything there, it's the importance of making the best of every opportunity.  So as I walked campus for the last few times, climbed the front steps to Johnston, greeted the now-familiar door handles on my way to class, I savored the moments, and the memories they brought forth, taking everything in so that I might bring what I learned with me as I moved on to the next chapter in my life.

Michigan

After grad school I was ready for a change.  I'd lived in Florida for most of my life, and convinced myself that I wanted to experience seasons.  Needless to say, I was not making a fully informed decision when I condensed my life down to what could fit in/on top of my car and moved to Ann Arbor.  My first winter was rough.  My second winter was worse.  Newfound weather struggles aside, Michigan has been good to me.  I've had the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented people, and learned a lot from them.  Back in Florida, the vast majority of my work was in the high-end residential sector, but here I've been exposed to a much wider swath of projects.  From less-involved interior upgrades to comprehensive new-construction build outs, learning how to work and design in different environments and within different constraints has left me with a much deeper understanding of the role of interior designers within a project team.  As I've developed this understanding, I've also tried to be more conscious of how different and changing project parameters can influence different stakeholder groups.  I've learned to do what I can to avoid and ease tensions, from prioritizing whatever work is needed to move along the critical path, to alleviating client anxiety by adding context to the situation surrounding their particular project and set of circumstances.  I've learned that it's important to keep everyone mindful of the fact that we're all on the same team.  I've also learned that a beer or two can help in that regard.