A portfolio shouldn’t just document where you’ve been. It should help someone understand what you can do — and what they might hire you to do next.

In this episode of The Gold Room, I break down what a set decorator’s portfolio and website actually need to communicate. We talk about choosing your strongest work, wide shots versus detail shots, before-and-after transformations, showing your contribution within a collaborative art department, resumes and IMDb, and making it easy for someone to contact you.

I also talk about what you can show when you’re early in your career and don’t yet have a long list of credits, including a portfolio exercise a mentor gave me when I was first starting out.

Plus, I walk you through a 15-minute portfolio audit to help you see whether your website clearly answers the questions that matter:

What do you do?What was your contribution?What does your work look like?And what should someone call you to do next?

Your portfolio doesn’t need to contain every photograph you’ve ever taken of a set. That’s an archive. Your portfolio is a curated argument.