Pros
Meeting new people and occasionally having great clients to work with
Cons
1. RH is a predominately white company. The people in the C-suites, the gallery leaders, many of the employees, and many of clients. Being black or brown in a predominately white space of course means that POC are always being hit with micro or macro aggressions from the team and clients. It's unbearable. I worked in the South and didn't have as terrible of an experience as I did in Oak Brook, IL. Additionally, the company steals cultural motifs and the aesthetic of cultural artifacts and then profits off of the cultural appropriation. If you're going to sell "African" baskets, have them made by the people you are trying to steal from. Racism is ingrained in RH. To the point that black clients would come in and tell me "I didn't know RH hired Black people" and "I've been in here before and was not taken seriously until I met you." Examples of some of the racism I experienced at RH included being asked "Can't all black people sing and do you dance too," having my hair touched, recommending another black designer for a position and it never being taken seriously (she was not even called in for an interview and the company was desperately in need of hiring more DCs for a new gallery opening), having one of the leaders trying to "relate" to me by telling me she doesn't like "translucent white men," being told "I can conrow my hair, just like you do yours," being asked "does your hair grow out of your head like that" when having my natural curls out, and being asked "How am I supposed to tell you two apart?" when another black employee and I both had braids (our hair is two different colors mind you, and I am very short and the other black employee was much taller than I am). The entire team was also very uncomfortable when a black client requested working with a black, female designer. The other "designers" on the team were commenting on that for the entirety of the day. One of the white employees also commented in regards to the client requesting a Black designer "Well technically, we're all black." (How?!) 2. The company is so focused on creating a fake "luxury" experience for the client- including policing employees' nails, hair, attire, etc. (to the point of sending you home to get new clothes or send you to shop for a new outfit)- that they do not create a great work environment for the team. Your gallery leaders and assistant gallery leaders do not care about you as a person. They only care about how much money you're bringing into the gallery so that they can have fat bonuses each week. 3. The clients can be classist and egregious. 4. As someone who went to a world-renowned and accredited design school and has been working in the commercial design industry for years- I can confirm that RH is not real interior design. If you are a creative who truly values design, this is not the place for you. Majority of the team has never been to design school a day in their lives, but the gallery leader team will dare to try to explain to you what happens at a design firm WITH NO DESIGN DEGREE. Additionally, RH's aesthetic is very specific and very white-washed. What you can accomplish with design is very pigeon-holed. RH is retail and has no semblance to a design firm, unlike what they try to portray to clients. 5. RH is a company that claims to align itself with the value of quality. First hand I can tell you that's not true. Many of what RH sells is not quality and the way that they service their team is not quality. It's very difficult to try to be working with a company that does not actually hold up to it's values.