Mississippi Native: Baylor Pillow
"Mississippi challenged me to proudly own who I am, what I like, and how I see the world."
What does it mean to call Mississippi home? Why do people choose to leave or live in this weird, wonderful, and sometimes infuriating place? “Spending my twenties in Mississippi was not something I ever planned for,” writes Baylor Pillow, a Delta native and the founder of Beep Design Consulting, an interior design studio based in Oxford, Mississippi. After attending boarding school in Tennessee, and a year of college in Georgia, Baylor found himself a little bewildered to be back in Mississippi as a student at University of Mississippi. Ultimately, Baylor is grateful for the opportunity to come back to his home state. “I needed to be put back in Mississippi to get a reality check, to lose all of that pretense.” Now with design clients throughout the Southeast, Baylor shares how he found an entrepreneurial foothold from his home base in Oxford, and how his perspective on home has shifted over the years.
Where are you from?
This is something that I am still figuring out how to best answer. I was born in Greenwood and raised on my family’s farm in the Delta before I left for boarding school at fifteen. I moved to Oxford seven years ago—so I’ve lived in Oxford almost half as long as I ever lived in the Delta. If I am meeting someone who isn’t Southern, I generally say “I’m from Mississippi,” just to gauge if that is a total turn-off for them or if we will keep the conversation going. If I am meeting someone from the South, or especially someone from Mississippi, will always say, “I’m from the Delta but I live in Oxford.” There’s something about saying that you’re from the Delta that gives people a whole new context for your point of view. For most of the people that are aware of what that means, saying you’re from the Delta almost makes their jaw unclench and shoulders fall; people seem to feel like they can be a bit more real around you—I think they know we’ve seen it all.
How long have you lived in Mississippi?
Twenty-two years.
What does “home” mean to you? How does Mississippi fit into that definition?
That’s a big philosophical question isn’t it? In the least pompous way possible, I’m pretty adaptable and can feel rooted in most scenarios I get thrown in. I think it’s a strong sense of curiosity that I have. Mississippi fits into this definition by simply being the place I feel most settled. I can just relax and enjoy the space and silence, but not to the point of restless boredom. There’s always something that will come up that makes an eyebrow raise or the heart sing. Often when I’m driving through the Delta and I see the light come through the trees in a certain way, I’m overwhelmed with a deep sense of comfort. Inevitably, you pass by some humble house with maybe thirty rusted bathtubs just sitting out front but the most beautifully groomed horse you’ve ever seen in the pasture beside. That’s a wonderful landscape if you’re someone who notices these kinds of moments. Mississippi constantly oscillates between salt and sugar—the high and the low. Home for me is that in-between.
Often when I’m driving through the Delta and I see the light come through the trees in a certain way, I’m overwhelmed with a deep sense of comfort.
How have you cultivated community in Mississippi? Who are the people who have made you feel rooted here?
You’d be hard pressed to not cultivate community in Mississippi if you live here longer than six months I’d say. Maybe double it for a true introvert. I am lucky that I worked at a restaurant all through college (Saint Leo!) and got to know so many Oxford locals that way, as well as make some of my deepest friendships that I still have today. I cannot even begin to list the incredible things all of that band of coworkers has gone on to do, some in Mississippi and some beyond. My family has been in the Delta for generations, so that community is baked into my DNA at this point. I’m also lucky that I really am in the business of intimacy; interior design is a relationship that requires you to really get to know your clients deeply and provide for the life they want to live. Many of my local clients have become some of my dearest friends.
What’s the weirdest question or assumption you’ve encountered about Mississippi (or about you as a Mississippian) by someone who’s never been here?
I’ve found the weirdest thing outside of Mississippi (also applies to outside the South in general) to be that some people are bothered by our proverbial name-game. Mississippians are fabulous at figuring out how many degrees of separation we are away from each other. Let two Mississippians’ paths cross and we’re either cousins or they knew one of your parents in college. “All roads lead back to Mississippi,” they say, and in my experience this is true. I think in other places the game reads as social climbing or name dropping, so you do have to develop a sense of when to move the conversation along and resolve to ask the other person where they summer, which somehow in other places is seen as a less social climb-y and more of a chance to let someone brag about themself for a second (assuming they didn’t also go to school “in Boston,” which earns them a few extra minutes of bragging.)
Mississippi challenged me to proudly own who I am, what I like, and how I see the world.
How has living in Mississippi affected your identity and your life’s path?
Spending my twenties in Mississippi was not something I ever planned for. My teenage self was always picturing a life full of travel, but never considered what airport I’d be flying in and out of. Not to sound totally type B, but I don’t think about the future all that often; at least not in the sense of having these grand ten-year goals related to family, locale, and professional development. I reflect more on what’s worked and what hasn’t more than I plan what to do and how to get there. I assess what it is that I want and then make sure I am still on track to getting it (if I still even want “it”.) As aforementioned, I’m pretty adaptable.
That said, when I moved to Mississippi from Atlanta in summer 2019 I had a rough go at it. The sadness I felt for being here was, in actuality, a wounded ego. Leaving Mississippi at fifteen made me feel like I’d escaped, like I was doing something better than anyone back home. The punchline is that I was in Chattanooga, literally one state over, and the only change was dorm life and better education than what I was getting at home. My ego yet again inflated when I got to Emory in Atlanta for freshman year, where I felt, again, like I was living a parallel life to the version of me that “could have been.” Suddenly, almost Freaky Friday style, I was back in Mississippi working at a restaurant about to start at Ole Miss. I felt like I’d been kicked out of my own life. I do believe everything happens for a reason. I needed to be put back in Mississippi to get a reality check, to lose all of that pretense. I looked at Mississippi as a burden for years; this dreaded sense of “of all the places in the world, I was born in Missi-fucking-ssippi?” Anytime I met someone I’d drop my accent and talk about Mississippi as if it were a dog that needed to be put down. These are all things that speak to how insecure I was at that age.
Mississippi challenged me to proudly own who I am, what I like, and how I see the world. When I started to love this part of my identity, I started to see so much life in this place: the endless juxtapositions, those sudden days of unbelievably perfect weather, and this very grounded worldview I find most Mississippians have (usually coupled with a simple desire to have fun.) Now, I’m not sure I’d want to be from anywhere else, and the question “of all the places in the world, I was born in Mississippi?” is more of a reflection on my good fortune.
What is something that you’ve learned about Mississippi only by living here? In what ways has Mississippi lived up to your expectations?
This is tough to answer because I think at this point I don’t see Mississippi through any certain lens… it’s more the lens I see everything else through. Sure, I’ve learned that a good meal can be hard to find in other places. My friends that live elsewhere seem to love the novelty of telling people they’re coming to visit their friend in Mississippi. There’s a novelty to this place when they visit, and I’m used to the inconveniences and idiosyncrasies of living here because it’s what I’ve always known. My expectation for Mississippi is that it will always surprise you. I once took a lover while in France whose only experience of America was New York City. When he came to visit me in Oxford he remarked, “I think I’ve seen all of this country now.” He still hasn’t seen New Orleans, but I’m sure that’ll come one day. He did see Hartsfield-Jackson on his way out (after a rainy, overnight Greyhound bus ride from Memphis as a result of a lost passport), so I’m inclined to agree that he’s covered a lot of ground in the realm of American culture.
Mississippi constantly oscillates between salt and sugar—the high and the low. Home for me is that in-between.
Do you ever consider moving away someday? Does a sense of duty keep you rooted here? Do you have a “tipping point”?
Oxford, for me, has never felt like a sinking ship. Sure, there are parts of the state that—by my own definition—are uninhabitable, but that’s anywhere. Have you been to Pittsburgh? It’s not exactly conducive to my day-to-day, either. My “tipping points” are the same for any place I’d ever call home. I think you just know in your gut when a place starts to be more dirt than flowers.
I’m twenty-six, so when I think about moving away, it’s based on a curiosity about meeting more new people from different places, expanding my design business, or simply switching things up a bit in terms of routine. I don’t necessarily feel a sense of duty to be here, but I do feel a sense of respect for a place that has shaped so much of who I am. I do love it when I get a commercial design project in Mississippi, though; I really enjoy feeling like my work is giving people another place to be proud of, to bring friends that visit, or just enrich other people’s everyday experience in this place.
In my dream life, I split my time between Mississippi and maybe two other places… if I was to choose today it would be New Orleans and San Francisco, but that choice is coming from nothing but parties and architecture. Maybe Atlanta or New York if we’re being practical from a business perspective, but as long as I have a strong internet connection and access to an airport I could argue for or against the practicality of virtually anywhere.
What do you wish the rest of the country understood about Mississippi?
The comfort people have with asking questions like “What are you doing in Mississippi?” or “When do you see yourself leaving?” as if staying here is an admission of your own bad taste or ignorance or inabilities is genuinely astounding. I have friends across the globe and have never once thought about asking this sort of question… and I’m going to go ahead and guess every Mississippian knows what I am talking about. It’s not the innocent “Do you see yourself staying here long term?” sort of question you may ask someone who has recently relocated to Manhattan. Instead, the underbelly of this question is more along the lines of, “But when are you going to get serious and go somewhere serious and do something serious?” As if being here is akin to declaring bankruptcy or being on bedrest. The implication that your chrysalis has to happen elsewhere is just tired. “Wherever you go, there you are,” they say. I’ve had personal revelations just while putting the buggy back at Kroger.
Is there a Mississippi change-maker who you think everyone needs to know about?
There are so many incredible artists living in this state. I believe it was Eve Babitz who said something to the effect that an art scene can only develop in a place where artists can afford to live in beautiful architecture that is virgin to developers. Maybe the central core of Oxford is losing some of that, but other parts of the state are certainly not. To name someone specifically, I think Coulter Fussell is making really incredible, interesting artwork, but I am not breaking any news there (thank god).
I don’t necessarily feel a sense of duty to be here, but I do feel a sense of respect for a place that has shaped so much of who I am.
If you had one billion dollars to invest in Mississippi, how would you spend your money?
Wow with a B! Beyond humanitarian and infrastructure needs, of which there are many and I am not the most equipped to speak on them, I have a lot of passion surrounding the development of the manufacturing labor force in this state. From working in the interiors business, I know that we are on the verge of a crisis when it comes to the decorative trades, so this is where my focus lies. Upholstery, curtain-making, refinishing, decorative painting, metalworking, weaving, literally any field related to the decorative arts and crafts has a waning workforce. I fear that in the next twenty years the only furnishings and fixtures that will be at an accessible price point for most people will be builder-grade junk. We really have traded convenience for individuality in this country, as Courtney Love said, and we are paying the price for it.
Frankly, I think it is short-sighted for Mississippi to pump dollars mostly into white-collar jobs and white-collar adjacent industries (read as: data centers), especially jobs that are becoming more and more de-skilled in the wake of AI; the most unemployed degree across this entire nation is Business from the University of Fill-in-the-Blank. This is not to say that these types of degrees are useless or Mississippi kids cannot get white collar jobs, that would be ridiculous, but if we are going on the whole “teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime” line of thinking, let’s be realistic that Mississippi is probably not about to be the next Silicon Valley or medical research hub; the groundwork for the synergy needed for that kind of boom is not here.
What is here, though, is a population in need of better job opportunities, a logistically-advantageous location, and relatively cheap land available. This state could rival North Carolina in furniture production, especially as the Atlanta-Charlotte corridor continues to increase surrounding property values. Everyone talks about brain-drain in this state, and yes, that is a very real issue, but why chase that? We are in a state that has fewer residents than the metro area of Denver; “brain drain” for cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, DC, the Research Triangle, you name it, is happening everywhere; they’re not fleeing to Akron, Ohio. Why not create a new reason for people to stay, or even move here, by beefing up your workforce where everyone else seems to be asleep at the wheel. Demand for these things is only increasing, and I refuse to believe one of the universities cannot develop a school for the decorative trades. Look around at everything in your house: Who made it? Where did it come from? If it’s not growing right out of the earth, someone designed it, someone had to make it, and someone got it to you, so why can’t Mississippi become a stop along the way?
What or who do you want to shamelessly promote? (It can absolutely be a project you’re working on, or something you are involved in.)
There are so many fantastic people to promote in MS so this is hard! Follow my friend Hayden Guest (@TheLoungingHound) on instagram, she has an incredible eye for vintage and gets such great stuff in her shop. My sister and her husband have their own cattle ranch in Flora and produce the best beef you will find anywhere; follow them @bozemanmeatco and order a side to keep in the freezer. You will not regret it. My sister has a great eye and sells vintage mixed with new production via @_HighStreetHome_ follow and shop! For my own shameless promotion, buy the Elle Decor May issue where my design firm (@BeepDesign.co) was selected as one of the 10 Rising Stars in Residential & Hospitality Design on their international list this year, and consider inquiring with Beep Design in the future! I take projects across the Southeast and beyond, and I love to work with fun people who care about creating thoughtful, enduring, and inviting spaces.
Baylor Pillow is the founder of Beep Design Consulting, an interior design studio based in Oxford, Mississippi, serving clients across the Southeast and beyond. Pillow launched the firm at just 20 years old during his senior year of college, and over the past six years has built a practice rooted in a simple conviction: great rooms should be as ready for a rowdy dinner party as they are for a quiet morning. Working across both residential and commercial projects, Pillow brings a fresh perspective shaped by Southern tradition without being bound by it. His interiors are comfortable, current, and designed for the way people actually live — layered spaces that feel lived-in and collected, with warmth and personality at every turn. At 26, Pillow is still early in his career, but his point of view is unmistakably his own. In 2026, ELLE Decor Beep Design Consulting as one of the 10 Rising Star residential & commercial design firms in North America.
One year ago:
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"I’ve had personal revelations just while putting the buggy back at Kroger." Amen 😂❤️ predictably loved what he said about the Delta 🙏
Mr. Pillow radiates the serenity and power of honesty, especially in being honest with oneself, which is the only way to grow and step into the best of oneself, which he’s certainly doing. And, yes, his “work is giving people another place to be proud of,” and he’s correct that, to paraphrase Emily Dickinson, our airport is the only thing that beats a book as a frigate. Yet, more importantly, he's correct again that it is tired thinking that one can’t be what one dreams right here.