Melanie Gowen

Born and raised a few blocks from Chevy Chase Circle, Melanie is a third generation Washingtonian. She attended the National Cathedral School for Girls high school, sang in the Washington National Cathedral Girls’ Choir, and danced at the Washington Ballet School. She graduated from Cornell University, graduating with a B.S. in Design & Environmental Analysis and a focus on Business Entrepreneurship. Melanie's parents are both Washington based concert pianists and piano teachers. Her father is on the University of Maryland piano faculty, and her mother is on the Washington Conservatory of Music, National Cathedral School for Girls, and Chevy Chase United Methodist Church Preschool faculties. Melanie grew up loving design, history, and homes. In high school she was awarded a fellowship to study Women in the Renaissance arts in Florence, Italy, where her love for wines and architecture was born. She returned to live in Italy during college, as a student at Lorenzo de’Medici Institute concentrating in international business marketing and retail design. At Cornell she went on to become Wine Spectator certified, and her research focused on design as a tool for change in hospitality, healthcare, and corporate business environments. Upon graduating from Cornell, Melanie worked in finance at Promontory Financial Group in Washington, DC. During the financial crisis she helped her client's problem-solve to implement better risk management systems. Immersed in the mortgage foreclosure review for a major multinational bank corporation during the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Melanie gained keen understanding of the nuances of the mortgage banking system. Following her true passion for design, she parlayed her project management, negotiating skills, and working with diverse clientele into founding her own interior design business in 2014. Melanie took her first client project in Nantucket, where she moved full-time and built her portfolio of residential interior design work. She specializes in historic preservation, though her projects range in style and client needs. Melanie became licensed as a real estate agent in Massachusetts, and she has over 8 years of experience helping clients find and design their dream homes. She has worked with developer owners to design spec homes for sale as well as with investment property owners to design and market rental vacation homes. Developing clients in her home geography, as friends moved back to the Washington area, she helped her parents renovate the house she grew up in and Melanie added Maryland and Washington, DC to her real estate portfolio. She purchased and recently renovated her own home in Chevy Chase Village. She is thrilled to be involved again in her local community. Organizations she has volunteered for include the Children’s National Medical Junior Council, Share Our Strength Taste of the Nation, Washington Ballet, Chevy Chase Historical Association, and Nantucket Preservation Trust. Melanie provides unparalleled advice for both longtime residents and newcomers, in assisting clients in all aspects of the purchase and sale (and design) of their home. When not looking at houses, on a job site, or in the design studio, Melanie enjoys running in Rock Creek Park, walking in the neighborhood with her dog Stella, playing tennis and sailing, and entertaining family and friends.