Mary Mendenhall was immersed in the world of design at an early age. Her mother was a fashion designer and her father was a developer who built custom homes. As a child, she drew layouts at drafting boards, draped fabric on mannequins, and visited construction sites. It is no surprise that she pursued higher education at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) and UCLA, then became a certified interior designer.

Now, Mary is seasoned in the field. She runs her own interior design practice and is president of the Central Coast and Valleys chapter of the National Kitchen and Bath Association and for her own designs was awarded Kitchen of the Year 2009. She is also a government representative on the board of the California Legislative Coalition of Interior Design. Mary is proud to have served as president of the Interior Design Society, SoCal chapter. She also sat on the committee that helped write the interior design certification exam.

Teaching interior design courses has also been part of Mary’s career for over 23 years. She has been at Adult Ed for three of those years, the other 20 at Learning Tree University.

“It’s such a way to give back,” Mary said. “I’ve had students go on and have great careers … how could you do anything better than help someone help themselves?”

Mary’s Adult Ed courses cover basic interior design, kitchen design, and designing with color, patterns, and lighting. In the past, she has taught classes on the history of decorative arts, history of furniture, window treatments, surfacing, and the business side of design. She has found her experience in the classroom very positive.

“I have very intelligent students—they ask good questions and they’re eager learners,” she said. “Everyone’s open and sharing ideas.”

Mary enjoys bike riding and hiking in her spare time, sometimes in groups and oftentimes solo. She partakes in similar activities when visiting her daughter, who attends Texas Southern Methodist University. Mary serves on the board for the Coalition to Stop Household Violence, increasing awareness of violence issues. She is “mother” to one 16-year-old cat, Prancer, and has what she calls a “granddog”—a friend’s chocolate lab that she takes everywhere.

But no matter where she goes, she is always attuned with the basic design elements of movement, color, shape, and texture.