Alison Victoria picks up the phone from Las Vegas, where it’s 75 degrees and sunny. Inside her workspace, the reality is different. “If you could see what I am surrounded by,” she says. “It’s samples and post-it notes, like that movie ‘A Beautiful Mind.’ That’s my life.”

That organized disorder is the backdrop for an ambitious expansion project in the Creator Economy. After 16 years as a fixture on HGTV, first as “Kitchen Crashers” host and then as the creator, executive producer, and star of “Windy City Rehab” and “Sin City Rehab,” Alison is using that television credibility to build a business spanning virtual design consulting, brand collaborations, a beauty product line, and a podcast. She is doing most of it with a team of just four people, herself included.

“I’m an interior designer,” she explains. “I am building a brand that encompasses all things beautiful.”

The ‘Yes’ That Changed Everything

Alison did not set out to be on television. She decided she wanted to be an interior designer at around age 10 or 11 and studied at UNLV in Las Vegas. The turning point came from an unexpected email. A California production company was looking for a ghost designer: someone who would do all the design work behind the scenes while the host received the on-camera credit.

“A ghost designer is somebody who does all the designs behind the scenes. You never know who they are. They don’t have a face or a name,” she explains. “And so they were like, ‘We’re going to hopefully have you say yes, and we’re not going to pay you a lot of money.’ It was like $2,500, and you’ll do all the work, and we won’t put you on television. And I was like, ‘Yes, sign me up.’”

The production company put her on camera for four days and later discussed a follow-up show concept, which Alison declined. Her own idea came to her while watching a marathon of HGTV’s “Crashers” shows, all hosted by men. She called a network executive and pitched herself as the first female crasher, focused on kitchens. “Kitchen Crashers” ran for nine seasons, during which she transformed more than 113 kitchens. For the first three years of the show, she continued to run her design firm and manage a casino and hotel in Las Vegas simultaneously.

“I never thought it was gonna last more than one season,” she says. “And it just took off.”

“Saying yes when you are hungry and eager and motivated, it’s a really good start, and it’s a really great engine to kind of start exercising,” she adds. “I would not be here today if I said no.”

A Seat at the Table

When Alison pitched “Windy City Rehab,” a docu-series following her as both developer and designer in Chicago, she refused to proceed without an executive producer credit. She was told it wasn’t possible.

“I was told no, a lot,” she recalls. “Like, you’ll never get that. No, no one gets that. And I started to think, like, people actually do get that. A lot of people on my network have that, so why can’t I? Especially for a show that I created around my own life and what I’m doing.”

She held her position. The credit came through, and “Windy City Rehab” earned her Emmy and Critics Choice Award nominations as a producer and host. That same commitment to ownership led her to launch Briefly Gorgeous Productions in 2025, with “Sin City Rehab” as its first project.

“When I created Briefly Gorgeous Productions, it was to show my staying power and my strength and my dedication,” she says. “How can I produce even more to give other people an opportunity like how I got?”

‘Kitchen Quickie’: A Decade-Old Idea Made Real

About 10 years ago, Alison tried to launch a design-in-a-box service called the “Alison Victoria Lookbook,” where clients could hire her remotely and receive a mailed package of plans, samples, and binders. The idea did not gain traction. “It wasn’t the right time because I didn’t have the right media or outlet to connect with people the way I do now,” she says.

The concept resurfaced “Kitchen Quickie”: one room, one Zoom, one designer who doesn’t fake it. Clients book 30, 60, or 90-minute sessions, or a Full Shebang package of two 90-minute calls with a lookbook of samples mailed between calls. Alison sources lighting, cabinets, and furniture in real time during the calls.

“It was booked solid the minute I launched it,” she says. “I just created somebody’s room in 30 minutes. And yeah, it’s cool.”

The success, she says, comes down to a straightforward reality: design decisions overwhelm people. “People being overwhelmed is what’s made this very successful for me and for them.”

Social Media, a Podcast, and a Beauty Launch

Alison handles her own social media, a task she describes as time-consuming but deliberate. With nearly 500,000 Instagram followers, she acknowledges the number is low relative to her television reach but argues engagement matters more than scale. “I have almost half a million, which is actually very low for what I do. But those half a million are so engaged.”

Her view on the current conversation around creator authenticity is direct. “I’m hearing, like, ‘authenticity is trending.’ Like, shouldn’t we always be authentic?”

She is heading into season two of “The Pap Smear Podcast,” produced under Briefly Gorgeous Productions, with new celebrity guests. The show is deliberately broad in scope. “The common thread with my podcast is I’m not focused on one subject. I am just focused on talking to people and hearing their stories and having something from their story inspire others.”

“My fans get to see me differently,” she adds. “They get to hear sides of me that they never do on television because with my show, I can’t cover everything.”

Greek Goddess Glow Drops

Alison has followed a skincare routine since she was a teenager. “When I got my driver’s license, the first place I drove was Nordstrom to go get eye cream at the Chanel counter,” she recalls. “And the lady was like, ‘Is this for your mom?’ I’m like, no, it’s for me.”

That commitment led to a partnership with Volition Beauty and the development of Greek Goddess Glow Drops, a serum that took nearly 14 months and 20 product iterations to complete. Alison, who is Greek and visits Greece every summer, built the concept around the glow she notices when returning from those trips. The formula uses resveratrol, peptides, and squalene drawn from Greek olives and grapes.

“I’m not looking to partner with anyone and slap my name on something. I will never do that because I will never sell out,” she says. “The entire process was us working together from start to finish.”

Her approach to vetting partners reflects years of being selective. “I used to say yes all the time when I was very young and starting out. But I worked really hard to get to a point where I could say no. And I say no a lot now. But before I say no, I do a lot of homework, researching the brand, asking questions to people who have worked with them, reading reviews of products.” 

Her tile collection with The Tile Shop has a new edition releasing in mid-2026, and her fourth kitchen hood collaboration with HOODSLY premieres at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Orlando.

The Chaos No One Sees

Alison’s team is small: three people, all on the design side, plus outside help for podcast editing. Everything else falls to her. “People need to understand that I’m stressed beyond belief. I am by no means put together,” she says. “I am a disaster.”

She trains with a personal trainer at home six days a week when possible and treats sleep as non-negotiable. “I am like a cell phone, and at the end of the day, I’m dead. My battery is completely dead, and I have to fully charge overnight so I can run at the capacity that I do.”

“Every day I wake up with anxiety and feeling stress around how am I going to go shoot my show, but design all these homes at the same time while I’m running my design firm and continuing to try to build my brand,” she says. “This is not for the weak. It is not for people who are just trying to make a quick buck. You have to have real passion, you have to have real grit.”

The Through Line

To tie everything together, Alison returns to a straightforward answer.

“The through line is my love for this,” she says. “I would not do any of it if I didn’t have that passion and feel purpose with that passion. I want to make everything around me beautiful. That will be my life.”

“I always have to listen to my gut. That has been a huge thing for me as an entrepreneur, just believing in myself. And when people say no, you say, well, I’m going to figure out a different way to do it then.”

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