Our Team
Leslie Rinehardt is a founding member of Theory of Place. As Director of Interior Architectural Design and Construction, she leads in all entrepreneurial endeavors and strategic insights to engage stakeholders and key partnerships to build relationships, and develop market opportunities. In this effort, she works to conceptualize spacial programming that aligns with Theory of Place’s vision and values.
Rinehardt is also a principal at Rinehardt | Miller Interiors in the NYC metropolitan area, where she has been in business with her partner Marvin Miller for 20 years. Leslie not only collaborates with, but, directs a number of architects, subcontractors, tradesmen, and artisans to create environments that are not only functional and well designed, but meticulously thought-out for her residential and commercial clients.
Her many years of experience as a project manager, and eventually as Vice-President of one of New York’s most prestigious boutique design-build firms, where she managed projects up to $10M, puts her in a unique position to oversee many aspects of the construction and design process. Her direct interaction and collaboration building-out projects for some of New York’s finest interior design luminaries have given her access to knowledge, ideas, and professional experience unparalleled in the industry.
LESLIE RINEHARDT | Co-Founder, Director Interior Architectural Design and Construction Management
Marvin Miller is a founding member of Theory of Place. As Creative Director, he oversees and develops interior design concepts, color/finish selections and furniture selections for residential and commercial projects.
He leads the creative design direction during the conceptual and schematic phases, as well as all visuals aspects of the company that go out the door. He is the primary contact for clients on all interior design projects, and builds effective long-term outside partners in all realms of the industry. He also insists on maintaining an exceptional level of trust and transparency in his client relationships, which has garnered loyal repeat business over the years.
Miller is also a principal in the design-build firm Rinehardt | Miller Interiors in the NYC metropolitan area, with his partner Leslie Rinehardt, where they have been serving their clientele for over 20 years.
The duo has partnered once again to form Theory of Place, and use their extensive skills and experience to create environments for a completely different market. This design enterprise led by a social mission, seeks to address the need for good design in all sectors, and incorporate socially responsible design, which emphasizes the needs and experiences of people.
Miller’s prior 7 year experience as a project manager before he started his own company, was for one of New York’s finest boutique design-build firms, which as he puts it… “was like attending Harvard for Design & Construction”. He worked with some of the most notable architects and design luminaries in the industry, and honed his keen sense of style and intuition for what works for his clients.
His passion for detail and human connection in the built environment is without a doubt noticed by the end-user.
MARVIN MILLER | Co-Founder, Creative Director
Kara Ingraham is a founding member of Theory of Place. As Director of Business Development and Operations, she drives a social enterprise committed to addressing social equity and creating social change through the power of design in transitioning communities. Central to her role is the innovative framework for the nonprofit, formed by Theory of Place; We Live We Learn (WLWL), a co-housing paradigm addressing the traumatic experiences of unhoused adolescents, those identifying as LGBTQIA, and or unaccompanied wards of the state aging out of foster care with no means of support at the beginning of their adult life.
Kara has always been a strong proponent of using media to affect social change and Theory of Place represents the culmination of a career path that chose her with the greatest of fervor and intention.
Ingraham launched her first media company before age 30, determined that her enterprises would serve a public good. Her publication Inside PR was a groundbreaking examination of the public relations industry. Its ongoing analysis of the top 50 global communication companies and PR Agency Report Card set the industry on its head, sparking rededication, re-examination and redirection in an industry unaccustomed to internal reflection. Her magazine Reputation Management elevated the conversation about public relations both inside and outside the industry. RM embedded Reputation as a bankable corporate asset and highlighted the ROI of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Other media endeavors include Eagle View Press. This singular statewide forum addressing African Americans in Connecticut was a necessary bridge between political voice and community activism. With EMMI Publications, Kara developed a content company that still delivers traditional and digital cultural narratives at a time when those voices are not always appreciated.
Taken through the disciplines of public relations, community activism, education, housing and economic opportunity, Kara Ingraham’s journey has been both deliberate and autonomous. All the while using a qualitative metric to bring value.
KARA INGRAHAM | Co-Founder,
Director of Business Development + Operations
Deirdra Govan is a accomplished and accredited multi-hyphenate designer, with a carefully crafted body of work that spans over 20 + years within film & television, fashion & beauty, and the architecture & interior design industries.
Her work is an intriguing combination of visual storytelling and the intersections of art, commerce, culture, sustainability and design for social good.
As a hybrid talent in the fields of strategy, design and business, she previously worked for the global beauty power house L’Oreal in corporate branding, identity and strategic marketing communications.
Her global travels and out-of-the-box sensibilities have informed her design thinking insights on art, culture, history, architecture and design, which is at the core of her curiosity for anthropology, the psychology of space and the importance design activism in creating social equity and impact. When not creating narratives through film, she focuses her talents on creating experiential environments in hospitality and cultural institutions. Deirdra has also designed restaurants in collaboration with the team from Rinehardt | Miller Interiors. Her most recent exhibit design work is on display at The Equal Justice Initiatives, "The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, located in Montgomery, Alabama.
Her work has been featured in notable publications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety Magazine, i-D Magazine, NYLON, The Observer and Surface Magazine to name a few.
With a focus on sustainable design & exhibit design, she graduated with a Master of Science in Interior Architecture & Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She also studied at the prestigious Parsons School of Design and Parsons Paris pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design, while simultaneously completing a Bachelor of Business Administration in Strategic Design Management. She also serves as Vice President of I.A.T.S.E. United Scenic Artist, Local 829.
Her ethos is that designing for social justice and the greater good can change the world for the better, and in fact, it just might possibly save it.
DEIRDRA GOVAN | Consulting Partner, Director of Design Management + Strategy
“Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.”
~ Robert Peters