RISING UP
In June 2017, Keia McSwain received one of phone calls—an abrupt conversation that made her pulse quicken and her mind race. Her beloved mentor in the interior design industry, Kimberly. Upon her arrival, McSwain received some life-altering news: Ward was losing a private battle with stomach cancer, and she wanted McSwain to take the helm of the (BIDN), a nonprofit Ward founded in 2010 after realizing that the work of her fellow Black designers wasn’t nearly as lauded or valued as that of their white peers.
