The Market Makers

What does it take to walk away from a clear corporate path, bet on yourself, and build something that lasts 25 years? Scott Harper is the CEO of the Harper Group, one of the most respected and fastest-growing sales rep agencies in the gift industry. It started with his mom, a small gift section inside a family marine supply store in Connecticut, and a conversation in an airport that changed everyt...

What does it look like to steward a family business that started with a man who walked home from a POW camp and opened a general store? Alex Shuford III is the CEO of Rock House Designer Brands, the family behind Century Furniture, Hickory Chair, Hancock & Moore, and several other pillars of the American furniture industry. The first Alex Shuford survived Gettysburg, walked back to Hickory, No...

What if you could hand your designer a playlist and they could build your entire room from it? David Quarles IV is a multi-hyphenate creative—interior designer, jewelry maker, content creator, and Zumba instructor—with synesthesia and chromesthesia, which means he doesn't just hear music, he sees it. Colors, patterns, textures. A full kaleidoscope. And for David, that's not a condition. It's his d...

What if the design philosophy that built your entire career started with a bug up your butt and a blue oil painting from a vintage market? Natalie Papier is the designer behind the book, Start with the Art , lead designer on Magnolia Network's Artfully Designed, and the woman who turned Saturday morning estate sales and a house full of agreeable gray into one of the most recognizable design voices...

What if one question changed the entire direction of your career? Amber Guyton is the founder of Blessed Little Bungalow and a designer known for bold color, soulful maximalism, and black art in every space she touches. She grew up in Pineville, South Carolina—a town so small there were no stoplights and her graduating class had 57 people. She had two corporate careers, an MBA, and was climbing th...

What if everything you needed to succeed was already there? Michel Smith Boyd is a two-time HGTV Rock the Block winner and one of the most recognized designers in the country. He grew up in Thibodaux, Louisiana, a small southern town where he thought his lack of exposure would disqualify him from the life he wanted. Turns out, the architecture he loves, the hospitality that defines his work, and t...

What if the thing you started for fun—zero thought of failure, zero plan—turned into your life's work? Mandy Kellogg Rye is the founder of Waiting on Martha, a brand she started while drinking wine and watching a movie. She loved Martha Stewart, blogs were just becoming a thing, and she thought: I can do that. Three months later, Martha Stewart invited her to New York. Pottery Barn reached out. Th...

What if the only time your company failed was when you tried to be like everyone else? Matt Briggs is the CEO of Four Hands, one of the hottest brands in the furniture industry. He grew up in South Africa without TV until he was nine, went to boarding school at 12, and came to America through a Rotary exchange expecting California—and got Peoria, Illinois instead. A ski trip to Colorado changed ev...

What if your biggest superpower was also the most annoying thing about you? Phoenix Grey is the designer behind Design Daddy, a social media phenomenon that started when his partner filmed him making a bed. That video got 6 million views in less than a week. Phoenix never wanted to be on camera—he's actually a very private guy—but his partner saw something he didn't and pushed him to share his bra...

What if the secret to building a multi-hundred million dollar company wasn't thinking in quarters, but thinking in decades? Satya Tiwari is the CEO of Surya, Inc., which now includes Mitchell Gold, Bob Williams, Global Views, and Surya—serving designers across the globe. His father started the business in a small village in India focusing on rugs. In 1986, his dad made a bold move to open a U.S. o...

What if the secret to building a successful design firm wasn't choosing between creative and strategic—but refusing to choose at all? Rasheeda Gray is the founder of Gray Space Interiors , and her superpower is operating with both hemispheres of her brain at full capacity. She spent 15 years in marketing for insurance and financial services, rising to Assistant VP at Chubb Insurance. When she laun...

Dr. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell are the Beekman Boys—founders of Beekman 1802, a skin health company ranked among Inc.'s fastest-growing. They're also bestselling authors, winners of CBS's The Amazing Race, and living proof that business isn't just financial transactions, it's about community and neighbors. They share how losing their jobs in 2008 left them with nothing but 80 goats and a...

What if the moment that changed your entire career came down to grabbing a price tag at the same time as someone else at an estate sale? Tamara Day is the designer and host of Bargain Mansion, author of Laid-Back Lux, and the woman who proved that luxury doesn't require an excess of cash— it requires vision . She didn't go to design school. What she had was a grandmother who taught her to create w...

What if your job was to dismantle everything your family built over four generations—not because it failed, but because it was the only way forward? Rob Spilman Jr. is the CEO, Chairman, and President of Bassett Furniture, a 122-year-old American company that started as a sawmill in rural Virginia and survived the Great Depression, World War II, globalization, and the near-total collapse of domest...

What if your biggest career break came from standing at a cash register and asking a stranger with eight assistants to teach you what they do? Mikel Welch is a designer, TV personality, and design expert on the Drew Barrymore Show who built his career on pure instinct, relentless faith, and the willingness to work for free. He moved to New York with $500, a miniature schnauzer, and a borrowed couc...

What if your job was to create something no one had ever seen before? Not just new, but completely unprecedented. That was the charge Steve and Elaine Wynn gave Roger Thomas when designing Wynn Las Vegas, and it changed everything. Roger Thomas is the legendary designer behind Bellagio, Wynn, and Encore—spaces that redefined luxury in America. For 40 years, he partnered exclusively with Steve and...

What if your biggest advantage wasn't knowing what you wanted to do, but knowing what you definitely didn't want to do? Doug Cofiell had that moment sitting in a college marketing class. He looked around at all the corporate politics in the case studies and thought: this is not me. That clarity led him to take over his dad's rep agency, Ivy Stone, and turn it into one of the most respected firms i...

This week, a special holiday message. Jon shares his favorite insights from the designers, entrepreneurs, and dreamers who joined us this year on the show, reminding us all to keep building, keep pushing, and stay true to who we are. Thank you for listening and for being part of the Market Makers community. Happy holidays, and here's to 2026!

This week, host Jon Pertchik sits down with designer Peti Lau, founder of Peti Lau Designs in Los Angeles. Peti shares how a lifetime of exploration and creative discovery led her to interior design, and why no experience is ever wasted. Born in Israel to Chinese-Vietnamese parents, Peti grew up expressing herself through music as an opera singer and pianist. After her father's passing when she wa...

This week, host Jon Pertchik sits down with designer and entrepreneur Megan Molten, founder of Megan Molten Interiors and Shop in Charleston, South Carolina. Megan shares how following her instincts and staying authentically herself became the foundation for building one of Charleston's most recognizable design brands. Starting with a pharmaceutical sales career that felt secure but unfulfilling,...

This week of The Market Makers, we bring you another story from our Scale Up series. We're sitting down with Alaina Kaczmarski, CEO and co-founder of The Everygirl Media Group. Back in 2009, Alaina was struggling to get her foot in the door in the media industry, so she opened her laptop and started a blog. Three years later, she and her co-founder launched The Everygirl, an online magazine built...

This week, we're taking a short Thanksgiving break while the team recharges with friends, family, and maybe a second helping of pie. Host Jon Pertchik sends good vibes to all the business owners navigating the busiest week of the year - Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday all happening at once. Here's hoping you're making the most of the rush while finding a little time to rest...

This week, host Jon Pertchik sits down with designer and entrepreneur Christi Barbour, co-founder of Barbour Spangle Design. Christi shares how building around people, not aesthetics, became the foundation for a thriving design practice and a revitalized creative community in High Point. Launching her business in her sunroom in 1997, she expanded one room at a time before growing into one of High...

Today on The Market Makers, Jon sits down with designer, author, and TV personality Sabrina Soto. Sabrina’s connection to home started early, during a period of financial struggle when creating beauty on a budget became both a necessity and refuge. That instinct later became her signature - making a name for herself as a pioneer of, budget-friendly design and reminding the world that style isn’t d...

In this first episode of Scale Up Stories , a special series from The Market Makers , host Jon Pertchik sits down with Bob Maricich , Executive Chairman and former CEO of ANDMORE - and Jon’s predecessor. From humble beginnings in Black Eagle, Montana, Bob went on to build one of the largest physical market platforms in the world. He shares how he steered companies through foreclosures and financia...