Can you tell me more about Candice Olson on Divine Design on HGTV?
—Norma B., Kentucky
The innovative and practical-living-friendly interior designer grew up in a small town in northern Ontario, Canada, called Kenora. "It's a beautiful little town where the population quadruples in the summer because of all the cottages in the area," she says. As a kid, Olson showed glimmers of a talent for decorating. "I was always drawing and doodling," she says, "but the clincher was when my mother asked me to clean up my room and it ended in a major renovation." Still, she didn't automatically consider design as a career, focusing instead on athletics. While a student at the University of Calgary, Olson played volleyball on the Canadian National Team. She applied to the School of Interior Design at Ryerson University in Toronto after graduation, and though she says she didn't expect to be accepted, she ended up as one of the school's star pupils. She worked for various design firms over the years before opening Candice Olson Design in 1994. A few TV guest appearances on various shows in Canada led to her hosting Divine Design. She and her husband live in Toronto with their baby daughter.
