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Dallas Designer Goes From the Army to Reality TV With New Bravo Show

Monica Wilcox Worked Her Way Up — and Now She's a Rising Force

BY // 04.26.19

Monica Wilcox, a Dallas-based interior designer, is getting some national TV exposure. Wilcox is starring on the premiere episode of Bravo’s Best Room Wins!  which will air on Wednesday, May 1.

Wilcox is not only an interior designer, but an entrepreneur who prides herself on her ability to transform lives through thoughtfully designed spaces. She’s also an army veteran.

After growing up a military brat and spending her childhood in several different countries, Wilcox ended up spending five years in the United States Army. She served on special assignments, including one in Egypt. From her travels, Wilcox says that her favorite design inspiration comes from Europe and Italy.

“I’m fascinated by the architecture and how old everything is,” Wilcox tells PaperCity.

The U.S. Army paid for Wilcox to get her degree in business management. When she got out, she got a job at Bassett Furniture as a salesperson. She quickly became the top salesperson. Her secret? Wilcox wouldn’t just sell one piece of furniture. She’d end up putting together an entire room for customers.

After being a manager for awhile, Wilcox decided to branch out and get her real estate license. Her business card read: “Let me find and design the home of your dreams.” Soon enough, the designing aspect took over.

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Monica owns M Wilcox designs in Carrollton. She resides in McKinney with her two sons and husband. Best Room Wins! isn’t the first show that Bravo has approached Wilcox about being on. A year ago, Wilcox almost filmed a reality show for the network, but things didn’t end up working out and the show never became a reality.

The Bravo Challenge

Eight months ago, she got the call to compete against other designers across the country. On this new Bravo show, designers are assigned a couple and compete to create a million dollar look for a $25,000 budget. Wilcox flew out to Los Angeles and the competition began.

“It was a lot harder than I thought,” Wilcox says. “The most challenging part was not knowing where to go. A lot of the other designers were from L.A.”

It also didn’t help that it takes an hour just to drive to one or two places in Los Angeles traffic.

Competitors not only had to decorate, but demo and remodel the room. Thankfully, Wilcox’s homeowners were easy-going and open to her ideas.

“I really liked my couple,” she says. “I got to do everything that I wanted to do.” Which isn’t the experience all of the competitors had. I mean, the homeowners do have to live with the room when it’s all said and done.

Hosted by interior designer, Genevieve Gorder, the show has different guest judges each week. Judges include Whitney Robinson, Elle Decor editor-in-chief, and famed designers Jonathan Adler, Kathryn Ireland, Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Thom Filicia, Jeff Andrews, Jamie Bush, Molly Sims, Jason Wu and India Hicks.

Along with designing all throughout Dallas and competing on reality shows, Wilcox created her own online design school called Design Mecca. The school launched a month ago and includes 36 courses geared towards teaching others how to excel at being a designer. Video courses break down the business and provide tools to succeed not only as a creative designer, but as a business owner.

Best Room Wins! premieres next Wednesday, May 1 at 9 pm. Watch the trailer below:

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