Interior Design Alumni

Attention Alumni!  Keep in contact with the Interior Design Program.  We are currently looking for graduates who are interested in sharing their career experiences in Interior Design.  Its a great way to showcase your talent, portfolio, or business while keeping in touch with fellow classmates. 

If you are interested in posting to the Alumni page then please email:

Holly Barker, Program Head, Interior Design at hdbarker@randolph.edu or

Ann Smith-Palenchar, Instructor, Interior Design at aksmith-palenchar@randolph.edu

Kristi Shackleford

“If I had known then what I know now, I would have just started off at the community college and skipped the university thing. I got more out of (RCC) than I ever got at the university. … My education at Randolph Community College has meant everything to my career.”

Kristi Shackleford loves her job as a showroom designer and gallery assistant in the Contract and Home Office Division at the sprawling Furnitureland South facility in Jamestown, billed as the world’s largest home furnishings showplace. “It changes on a day to day basis,” she said. “The furniture is coming in and out, the colors and trends are constantly changing.”

Kristi credits her workplace success to her education at Randolph Community College. “It has meant everything to my career. The knowledge that I gained at Randolph Community College gave me the foundation to build on,” she said. “It was tough and challenging, but it was fun.”

Kristi originally enrolled in college classes at Gardner-Webb University, but wasn’t really sure what she wanted to do. She had always been interested in the creative process, colors and art. At the time, her father Bob Shackleford, was the dean of student services at RCC, so she learned about the Interior Design program there.

“If I had known then what I know now, I would have just started off at the community college and skipped the university thing,” said Kristi. “I got more out of (RCC) than I ever got at the university. People don’t realize what community colleges offer. They pack into two years what you would learn in four years at a university.”

Kristi said that while she was a student at RCC, she built a network of friends in Interior Design and RCC’s Photographic Technology program, and she now works with many of those people in her job today. “The internship program at RCC is great,” said Kristi. “It gives you great opportunities to network. That helped me get my foot in the door (of the industry).” She graduated from the Interior Design program in 2001. While in school she completed an internship at Viewpoint Studios in Greensboro and ended up working there for over three years after she graduated. She has been with Furnitureland South for nearly five years.

Outside of work, Kristi is the mother of 12-year-old Brianna and she is a member of Guilford College United Methodist Church. Her mother, Brenda Shackleford is a principal at an elementary school in Shelby, and her father, Bob, is now president of Randolph Community College.

Kristi Shackleford
RCC Interior Design graduate
Showroom Designer and Gallery Assistant
Furnitureland South, Jamestown

BONUS:
Kristi is not the only Randolph Community College graduate we found working at Furnitureland South.

Heather Robbins Johnson, who is a gallery manager and designer, graduated from RCC’s Interior Design program in August 2000. She started working at Furnitureland South in September of the same year and has been there 10 years.

Kathy Johnson, also a gallery manager and designer, graduated from RCC in 2001 and has been with Furnitureland South for eight years.

Kelly Beane, a 1998 RCC graduate, has been with Furnitureland South for four years and is a designer in the leather gallery.

At right are (standing from left:) Kristi Shackleford, Kelly Beane, (sitting from left:) Heather Johnson, and Kathy Johnson.

Randolph Community College

Creating Opportunities. Changing Lives.