Today we’d like to introduce you to Tara Dennis
Hi Tara, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My family back home in Australia are in real estate development, so real estate and development are in my blood. My dad’s dad started the family business in the 60s and my dad’s side are all involved, so I was raised in an entrepreneurial / business environment – real estate and business is our favorite topic to discuss. I graduated high school and went straight into a bachelor of business degree. upon graduating, in the thick of the GFC, I ended up at JLL, first on reception and then in the Capital Markets team. It was incredibly hard work, very demanding, but I loved every second and it’s where I formed my strong work ethic. After two years there I realized I was missing creativity and so I went back to Uni for a Bach of Interior Architecture. At the beginning of my third year of uni, a friend reached out to see if I was interested in helping him design the interior of his new jewelry store. I said yes, and that was the start of what was then called TDCA – Tara Dennis Creative Agency (such a bad name !). 10 months later, I had a proper business, one staff member and zero time between studying full time, working for those two design firms 3 days a week and TDCA. So I thought, something has to give and I am not giving up my own clients, so I quit the two design firms and became full self employed, at the age of 25. It happened naturally and organically and we have followed that ethos ever since. In 2018 I relocated to the USA and handed the Australian business over to one of my junior designers, Hayley Richards, who then became my business partner and we re-branded to Archie Bolden. Now, we have multiple offices around the world with more staff and open projects than I can count.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No road is smooth! Some struggles include:
– Telling my TDCA staff that I was going to move to the USA in 9 months. They saw it coming and were expecting it (I visited every 6-9 months). It was a struggle as we didn’t know what it means for TDCA. We didn’t know if the business could survive without me there. All of my staff at the time decided to take jobs elsewhere while Hayley said she loved working with me and wanted to stay with me “to the death, whatever that looks like”. It was tough time, but it all worked out in the end.
– In 2023 we experienced exponential growth and went from a handful of staff to many, and one office to a few. We very quickly had to implement new systems and processes to manage everything effectively, so there were some months that were incredibly messy and tenuous as we all rapidly adopted new software and procedures. The staff were very stretched and we were worried about burnout, but managed to come out the other side in one piece.
– General project stretches. I always say yes and work it out later so that means there were some instances where we were in over our head and had to quickly add staff or software or processes to get to where we needed to be, but each time it has resulted in a new division, project type or expertise.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Archie Bolden?
Archie Bolden is a full service Architecture & Design firm, and we are now stepping into the planning, graphic design and landscape design, as our clients like our one-stop-shop approach and we like the cohesion between all of the different divisions. We have projects all across the USA and AUS with a large focus on the east coast of both. We’ve grown rapidly and are about to open a new office in West Palm Beach in FL. We are super excited about the expansion into Florida as we love the sand and water and feel like FL is as close to home (Aus) as we’ll be able to find in the USA!
At Archie Bolden, we are motivated by people. We want to work with good people and we want good people on our team. We are a services business that is in the design industry – this custom service mentality drives everything that we do. It’s very important to us that our clients get the best version of what they want and what the project needs – not what we want. We like to work with people that we like, that we can spend time with, that we can build professional relationships with. We are not transactional – we believe in the long haul. So we spend a lot of time getting to know our clients and investing in them, because they are investing in us. So that’s why we work across so many sectors of the industry – good people aren’t in one place! We take on projects of all sizes and types – spec & custom single family, boutique and large multi family, student housing, cafes, bars, restaurants, offices, med spa, car showrooms, dog day cares, art galleries…. pretty much anything aside from jails and schools, but I could be convinced !
We prefer a modern/contemporary design aesthetic but can also step into transitional/traditional/decorative if that’s what the brief for the project is – it’s all about the brief. But we do like everything to be considered, refined and intentional – no unnecessary design elements. Functionality and practicality is also very important – there’s no point having a beautiful kitchen if it’s not easy to cook in, or a good looking restaurant that doesn’t have functional circulation.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
In the tough times, remember why you started. It could have been a feeling, a thought, a goal or a dream, but whatever it was, in the beginning it was pure. Remember that purity and allow it to guide you when decisions are hard and impactful.
I wish I had known the power and value of saying no. not often – yeses open more doors. but often enough to remember its important and value and use it as redirection of unnecessary energy. I also wish I had paid more for better employees. The better the employees, the better the business,
Contact Info:
- Website: www.archiebolden.com
- Instagram: @archie.bolden
Image Credits
brash and the kitchen are by Katie Bricker
the dark moody with white chair is Emily followil
others are 3Ds produced in-house
