Alumni Spotlight: Jasmine Niernberger ’07

“You know what? Maybe it didn’t start with a deck,” Niernberger corrects herself. “It started with needing a place to live! In 2017, my lease was up on a new construction, luxury building in Northwest D.C. While I loved living there, I looked at what I was paying and realized that - with the help of D.C.’s first-time homeowner down payment grant program - I could actually spend less per month and own. The catch was, the condo I fell in love with was a fourth floor walk-up and a complete gut job with bright blue carpet and a big sign on the fridge that said ‘Do Not Open.’ So, I needed to renovate it, but my renovation budget was limited. I found a contractor willing to do the construction after hours at half his normal rate, but I realized that to afford the renovation, I needed to roll up my sleeves. So, I drew up plans, bought a sledgehammer, and got to work. It was a total adventure - but I really loved the creative problem solving around space and budget and the whole process of transforming an eye-sore into a beautiful home.”

 

Niernberger’s circuitous path to her current endeavor is not unusual for her. As a senior at St. Andrew’s, she was nominated for a Posse Scholarship, earning a full-ride to Bucknell University where she intended to study architecture. But it wasn’t long into her college career that she switched and instead majored in English and Sociology. Later in her time at school, through the Posse Program, she became a summer scholar intern for Deloitte, a company traditionally associated with financial services. That’s how she first became involved with consulting.

 

“The Posse Program had created a relationship with Deloitte and they had an information session around what consulting is,” Niernberger said. “I had never heard of consulting, but they described wanting to hire folks who were creative, folks who thought about problems differently and those who enjoyed problem solving. And I thought, ‘Well, that sounds a lot like me.’ 

 

“They described the role by characteristics, not by actions, which really attracted me and allowed me to resonate with it. It was an amazing place to start a career.”

 

After three years at Deloitte and a brief sojourn in New York City, she returned to the DMV, working at Toffler Associates for seven years and rising to become a senior associate. Her condo purchase came a few years into her time there.

 

Then came the deck. Jasmine and her business partner, Noah Jacobs, took their first official job, to build a backyard patio for a neighbor. And it was on that job that they discovered they had plenty left to learn.

 

“We thought we priced it really well, but we were so eager to please the client, that when they came back and said, ‘Oh, by the way, can you use Brazilian Ipe,’ we said, ‘No problem! Sure!’

 

“Well, it turned out that Ipe was only the most expensive decking board period  - three times the cost of pressure treated pine. But we had given the client our word. So instead of making money on that project, we broke even. In the end, though, between the confidence of building a top-notch product and all the referrals we got - it was the best decision we could have made.  After that first job, we never had to advertise - we were off to the races.” 

 

In 2020, during the pandemic, they launched the design side of the business when a client who had recently bought a condo (sound familiar?) hired them. With support from a former classmate, Jill Wiedenmayer ’07, who now goes by JR Coffin, they came up with a design plan. Now, four years later – and two years after leaving her strategic consulting job – Brightwood Design+Build completes residential and commercial renovations. And while there are a lot of differences in her professional life now – accounting, understanding taxes, and all the other aspects of running a business – there are also many similarities.

 

“I’m still consulting – it’s simply a different topic,” Niernberger said. “Instead of strategic guidance, executive alignment, and change management for large government and commercial organizations, I am now working with individual homeowners and families. The methodology hasn’t changed, I’ve just applied it to the design+build world.”

 

As her business has grown, Weidenmayer née Coffin isn’t the only St. Andrew’s connection to play a role. Niernberger credits Mr. Wyatt’s art class for helping her as she promotes Brightwood on Instagram. 

 

“Understanding how to frame a picture,” she said. “Understanding the importance of visuals and the feelings that visuals can connote. That attention to detail is really important and allows you to connect with new folks. And in this business, you don’t have to reach millions. You just have to start with a few good clients, do quality work you’re proud of, and the business side takes care of itself.”