Meet our team

Emily Rivard

It all started when...

Her staging career started at 13 years old.  After Emily's parents left the house on a date, and after her siblings were in bed, Emily would move the furniture and art around in the living room. She wanted the home to be more functional, stylish and comfortable for her family of six.  When her parents returned, they were thrilled by how great their new living room looked and amazed at how their teenage daughter pulled it off while her siblings were asleep.  Emily has been staging ever since!  

After graduating from the University of Western Ontario and a brief career in advertising, Emily moved on to re-design her own home several times while raising a family of three children. With encouragement from friends and family, she started her own firm in 2006. Emily loves being creative and overcoming challenges.  She also enjoys working with people as they transition into the next stage of life. Emily truly cares about her clients and helps them achieve success navigating through the significant step. In some cases it’s about assisting with selling a home for maximum value. In some cases it is about moving to a new residence and smooting the transition.

Emily and her team make a space more visually appealing, more functional and easier to picture living in.  The Next Stage team often work with existing furniture and art, but in some cases, recommend that other furniture and accessories be brought in to enhance the presentation and potential selling value of the home.

While The Next Stage specializes in residential homes and condominiums, they have also worked on professional offices, vacation properties and help setting up short or long term rental properties.  The Next Stage can transform any space to highlight its potential, demonstrate its functionality and maximize it’s value.

Jeffery Presutti

Jeffery has worked with The Next Stage for several years. Jeffery has an eye for layering and a great sense of humour and enjoys helping homeowners put the WOW factor into their homes. Jeffery also has a passion for clothing and design and is creative and practical about managing projects and resources. He enjoys interacting with clients and transforming spaces into beautiful and functional areas.

Tanis Lockhart

Tanis Lockhart has a passion for re-decorating and has been staging her own and her friends’ homes for several years. After re-decorating several rental properties, she received feedback from owners and tenants who wanted to stay in the property after the project had been completed. Tanis is a property manager and mother of three and has worked part time with The Next Stage for many years. She enjoys helping homeowners downsize, make decisions about what to keep and what to give away and help to assist with the move into their new space with style and without bringing items that are no longer necessary in the next stage of life.