Photo via Instagram | Cece Quinn (right) and her husband Paul pose for a photo shoot announcing her newsletter, "Good Times & Vintage Finds," available on SubStack. The newsletter launched this fall and keeps followers up to date on Quinn's antique finds, decorating tips and more.

For Cece Quinn, a career spent writing for brands eventually led her back to a world that she grew up in — filled with antiques, layered interiors and pieces with a past and personality.

Quinn, who grew up surrounded by history, began her professional career in interior design, working for a designer in a French linen shop in Little Rock, Arkansas, where her husband had relocated for work. After about a year in the design space, Quinn shifted into marketing and copywriting, a field she remained in for several years.

But Quinn always had an inkling to get back into the antique business.

“I grew up in a house with a lot of antiques, and so I kind of just figured that’s how everybody lived,” Quinn said. “I thought everybody had old stuff in their houses.”

That interest turned into action in 2020.

When the pandemic hit, Quinn decided to take the plunge. With many residents stuck inside due to social distancing mandates, Quinn decided to delve into online sales.

“When COVID hit, it was the kick in the pants I needed to say, ‘Life’s too short — why am I not doing the thing I think about all the time?’” Quinn said.

During that time, Quinn began selling vintage and antique pieces online, seeing opportunities where many people — stuck inside — were redesigning their homes and rethinking living and work spaces.

“We were all in our houses, looking around our houses saying, ‘Oh gosh, I really want to change that,’” she said. “It was a big boom in terms of the furniture and decor world.”

As online sales slowed in the following years, Quinn found herself shifting the business from an online-based enterprise to a more in-person business, attending antique shows, including events hosted by the Fig Garden Women’s Club, where she discovered and renewed her enthusiasm for face-to-face selling.

In April 2024, Quinn joined Chesterfield’s Antiques as a dealer. The Fresno shop has been in business for over 30 years at 5092 N. Blackstone Ave — where many of Quinn’s selections are showcased and sold.

“I’ve been in Chesterfield’s for like a year and a half,” Quinn said. “They invited me to join them as a dealer, and I’ve been there ever since.”

Since leaving copywriting and pursuing a full-time career in antiques, her design work followed naturally. After receiving requests from friends for design ideas, Quinn embraced the newly-evolving design element of the business.

“People started requesting, and I just started saying yes,” Quinn said. “Then I kind of made it official a couple months ago.”

With a foundation in interior decorating, Quinn’s background in copywriting continues to shape her communication with clients and audiences. Quinn’s Substack newsletter, which she publishes at least once a month, helps her update guests about everything from her holiday gift guides to in-home design ideas.

“I’m a millennial, and I feel like we’ve been kind of convinced that all we need is IKEA,” Quinn said. “We can do so much better.”

Quinn said antiques are often misunderstood as expensive or intimidating. In her experience, however, the opposite seems to be true; Quinn said that many customers find the less expensive items to be better than new selections.

“These things are going to last much longer than anything you can buy from a big box store today,” she said.

Quinn sources items from estate sales, auctions, out-of-town travels and referrals that come with time in the industry.

“Once you establish yourself as an antiques resource, people come to you,” Quinn said. “You open the door, and you’re kind of amazed at how much comes to you.”

Quinn said Instagram, where she uses the handle casa.quinn, is her primary platform for connecting with customers, with her newsletter, Casa Quinn, available on Substack. She can also be found in person at Chesterfield’s Antiques on Blackstone.