Sarah Warto is a landscape architect and founder of Boxleaf Design, a full service landscape architectural firm, focusing on high end residential and commercial work in the Bay Area. Influenced by her mother and grandmother, fellow landscape designers and passionate botanical enthusiasts, Sarah was exposed at a young age to many aspects of the field; igniting her passion for design and its intersection with the natural world. Sarah is continually seeking insight and creative rejuvenation from the Bay Area's native and diverse environment, in its purest and most rugged form.

Madelynn Ringo is an architectural designer specializing in experiential spaces that resound with purposeful beauty. With an insatiable passion for problem-solving and high regard for heartbeat moments, Madelynn creates storied environments expressed within a formidable architectural framework. She scales brand identities to life with a commitment to feel-good originality.

Deryl McKissack is the founder, chairwoman and chief executive officer of McKissack & McKissack, a national architecture, engineering, program- and construction-management firm currently working on over $15 billion in projects nationwide. Under her leadership, the firm has over 30 years of experience working with clients to envision and deliver building and infrastructure projects that enrich people’s lives and empower communities to flourish.

Liz Leber is the Managing Partner at Beyer Blinder Belle in New York City. Liz is dedicated to advancing mission-based institutions through forward-looking architecture and planning projects. Guided by her astute and inquisitive nature, Liz excels at extracting the core objectives of her clients and their stakeholders and translating the collective needs and mission of institutions into creative architectural solutions. Both within and outside the firm, she is recognized for her ability to approach every challenge with a balance of creativity, pragmatism, and unfailing optimism

Latoya Nelson Kamdang is the Director of Operations of the New York Studio of Moody Nolan and a U.S. Fulbright Senior Scholar. At Moody Nolan, she leads the NY studio in the practice areas of Aviation, Healthcare, Housing, Cultural, Hospitality, and Retail. Latoya has also been a Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute for over ten years, where she educates students on interdisciplinary design approaches. She has a research focus on participatory design processes, impacts of displacement on authentic communities, passive sustainable technologies, and indigenous architecture.

Anamika Goyal is a biologist-turned-architect solving for scale in a complex industry with high human impact. She is Head of Design at Cottage, a San Francisco based start-up that helps homeowners build Accessory Dwelling Units. Anamika is committed to bringing fresh ideas, pace, and processes to the AEC industry, and made the leap into residential architecture from her former experience in commercial design & construction at WeWork. She has devoted her career to experiments on smarter ways of working within the AEC industry.

Wendy Rogers is CEO and Chief Talent Officer of LPA Design Studios, an integrated design firm dedicated to creating projects that innovate, inspire and improve people’s lives. Wendy leads a team of more than 400 architects, engineers, landscape architects and interior designers in California and Texas. As CEO, she handles the day-to-day operations of the firm, with a special focus on increasing the role of LPA's proprietary research unit, LPAred, and expanding LPA's unique informed design approach. As Chief Talent Officer, she is also responsible for developing the culture and lifestyle at the firm to retain and attract people who want to grow and make a difference in the built environment.

Marilyn Moedinger is the founding principal of Runcible Studios. Like the runcible spoon she is happiest operating at the seams between practicality and whimsy, utility and beauty, the esoteric and the mundane. Deeply passionate about the capacity for design to affect positive change in the world, Marilyn’s interest in all aspects of housing, the connections between urban and rural life, the construction process, justice in the built environment, and the overlaps among disciplines, methodologies, and practices fuels Runcible Studios’ mission to be nimble, rigorous, curious, fun, and meaningful.

Kavitha Mathew is the Global Diversity Officer at KPF, and leads the firm’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, as well as the development and implementation of the firm’s global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment. Mathew oversees KPF’s many internal Communities such as KPF Public, KPF Pride, and KPF+, helps guide KPF’s recruitment and resourcing, as well as its philanthropic and volunteer efforts. Leveraging her experience as an architect, Mathew’s work at KPF has a project-focused component, advising on engagement and communication with the community. Kavitha is also the Founder and President of Equity Co:LAB, and the Special Projects Director of the American Institute of the AIANY.

Kat Dovjenko is the Senior Creative Director at Muse & Company. Inspired by the dynamic energy around architecture and urban planning, Kat believes that the more complex, ambitious, and unsolvable the problem, the better. She drives talented teams to unite and achieve outcomes they would not be able to do individually—at multiple scales and in multiple stages of the design process. She most recently worked at Google's R&D for the Built Environment where she oversaw workplace innovation projects. Kat loves navigating speculative pockets of the future and weaving together how they might impact our built spaces. She never shies away from ambiguity, and is skilled at using foresight and storytelling to propel leading edge technologies into real products for the built world and beyond.

Stacie Wong is a Principal at GLUCK+. Named by Fast Company as a top 10 most innovative companies in architecture, the firm is recognized for Architect Led Design Build. Stacie brings expertise in leading strategic planning, research, programming, and community stakeholder engagement with private and public institutional clients, as well as stewarding the design and construction for the successful completion of many technically complex projects. She has been an advocate for architects’ involvement in construction to increase their agency in the building process and impact on the design of the physical environment.

Angelica Trevino Baccon is a principal at SHoP Architects. She leverages deep expertise in and a passion for evolving technology to create inspiring, sustainable spaces for people, often in next-generation workplaces. She led the SHoP teams for the new Uber Headquarters in San Francisco and the Atlassian Headquarters in Sydney, as well as several other large-scale projects for major global tech companies. Angelica has great success in meeting fast-paced and far-reaching design and delivery challenges and finding consensus with multi-layered stakeholder groups—in the interest of spatial vitality and community connection—for some of the firm’s most complex projects.

Jennifer Sodo is a leading expert in the design and planning of dementia living environments. A senior associate with Perkins Eastman’s senior living practice in New York City, Jennifer translates her own and others’ research on biophilic design and whole-person wellness into thoughtful designs to create healthy and meaningful places for older adults living with dementia. Jennifer is also co-host of Perkins Eastman’s new Shaping Dementia Environments podcast, a show that explores uncommon thinking in design for dementia through interviews with industry leaders.

Chi-Chi Lin, Danlu Li, and Yi Li all studied architecture and practiced for a few years before realizing that they wanted to do something else. After leaving the profession and getting MSRED degrees, they now all work in different areas of the real estate industry in New York City. In our conversation, Chi Chi, Danlu and Yi Li share when each of them realized they didn’t want to practice architecture anymore, how they transitioned to their new careers, what they miss about architecture, but what they love about their new work. They also give great advice for people who want to pivot from architecture to something else.

Lilian Asperin is a partner at WRNS Studio, where she helps lead the design process and build teams that deliver aspirational outcomes. Lilian values a firm culture that embraces collaboration, connection to the community, risk taking, and fostering talent. Lilian utilizes her experience as a practice leader and licensed architect to develop synergistic relationships with leaders throughout the architectural and educational communities. Lilian acts as a Board Director of AIA San Francisco and is the Co-Chair of the Equity by Design Committee, a call to action for everyone to realize the goal of equitable practice and communicate the value of design to society.

Cecilia Cuff is a 20-year veteran of the hospitality scene and the Founder and Managing Principal of The Nascent Group, a hospitality design and project management agency. Cecilia has established herself as a pacemaker in the hospitality design industry, focusing on art and efficiency-inspired design, inclusivity, community development and sustainability. She is always guided by using community development, food sustainability and minority inclusion as a moral compass. She considers her greatest successes those students she has mentored and shares their enthusiasm as they advance through their careers around the globe.

The evolution of architectural practice has been relatively slow towards change, yet modern shifts in business and design management have prompted today’s leading architects to rethink how they work. The Practice Disrupted podcast addresses how technology, cultural shifts, and emerging best practices in business are prompting industry disruption and transformation. The series features thought leaders on business, innovation, entrepreneurship, and/or architecture.

Lauren Schmidt is a Principal at KPF in New York City. The youngest woman in KPF’s history to be named Principal, Lauren is invaluable to projects of all types, coordinating with multiple stakeholders, consultants and design teams, and overseeing projects through all phases. Lauren has served as designer and manager for some of KPF’s most notable and complex New York City projects, such as One Jackson Square and 55 Hudson Yards. Lauren also plays an integral role in the operations of the firm itself overseeing recruitment, staffing, and mentorship alongside KPF’s senior leadership.

J. Meejin Yoon, AIA FAAR, is the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean at the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) at Cornell University and cofounder of Höweler + Yoon, an award-winning design studio engaged in projects across the U.S. and around the world. An architect, designer, and educator, Meejin is committed to advancing pedagogy, research, and practice to expand new knowledge across fields and disciplines, and to bringing deep expertise to the urgent environmental and social challenges facing our cities and communities.

Saakshi Terway is a Designer at Wiencek + Associates in Washington DC. Saakshi is especially interested in responsible and sustainable architecture that has a social impact on local and global communities. She seeks to produce work that allows architecture and design to become a tool in empowering marginalized groups, encouraging them to appreciate and relate with the built environments around them. When she is not working, Saakshi spends a lot of her energy volunteering with the local architecture community, and serves as the current chair for the AIA DC Urban Design Committee.

Christine Williamson is the founder of the Building Science Fight Club, an Instagram community dedicated to teaching building science and construction to architects and other building professionals. She provides technical design consulting services to architects, developers, and contractors, assisting with design development and reviewing details and specifications to improve durability, comfort, and energy efficiency. She also has an online course that teaches architects, architects in training, and other building industry professionals about building science and construction.

Janet Tam is a founder and Principal of Noll and Tam Architects. Janet and her business partner, Chris Noll, founded their firm in 1992, to establish a talented studio of architects that pursued the ideal of active community involvement and environmentally responsive design. Since its founding, the Berkeley-based firm has become a leader in Bay Area public architecture, and is noted for championing women in leadership roles. Janet’s work, and that of the firm, is regarded for its emphasis on recognizing and articulating shared community values with projects that bind people together in a common vision for the future.

Primaverarch is an organization dedicated to stimulating change for the recognition of women in the architectural profession. Primaverarch was created by Nadeen Hassan, Chaerin Kim, and Soany Marquez, three minority-women who recently graduated from the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York. Throughout their studies, they experienced a lack of professional support, mentorship, and recognition, and so decided to start Primavera. Primaverarch is a catalyst movement that is dedicated to creating a seat at the table for all women in the field.

Kate Thatcher is the Chief Executive Officer of Architecture + Information (A+I), a strategy-led architecture and experience design agency based in New York. As CEO, Thatcher drives the acceleration of innovation, collaboration between teams and subject areas, and further development of culture and inclusion initiatives within A+I. A tireless advocate for equity within the architecture and design professions, Kate is responsible for the launch, in 2020, of the firm's +IMPACT initiative, a platform for A+I’s employees to leverage their talents and expertise on opportunities at the intersection of design and social impact.

Sylvia Kwan is a principal based out of DLR Group’s San Francisco office. She has practiced in San Francisco for more than 40 years and her past and present designs continue to impact the built environment in the Bay Area. She has a broad portfolio of building type experience and a focused expertise in the Transportation and Higher Education markets. Sylvia takes great pride in building relationships with clients and exceeding their expectations.

Liz Brack is a structural engineer based out of DLR Group’s Phoenix office, where she is actively involved in a diverse range of building types with a focus on K through 12 projects. Liz is active in the community through the organization and participation of multiple STEM outreach with the local schools. She is also the active Philanthropy chair of the Structural Engineers of Arizona Young Member Group. In addition to her work with DLR Group, Liz teaches an intro to structural engineering course at Arizona State University.

Elaine Molinar is a Partner and Managing Director at Snohetta. She began her career as a designer of the Alexandria Library in Egypt after participating in the initial conception for Snøhetta’s winning competition entry. Throughout her time with the firm, Elaine has held key positions in major cultural projects and competitions around the world including the award-winning Norwegian National Opera & Ballet. In 2005, she helped found Snøhetta’s New York office after the firm was awarded the National September 11th Memorial Museum Pavilion at the World Trade Center. Elaine currently leads the general management of Snøhetta’s US practice.

Erica Loynd, FAIA is a Principal based out of DLR Group’s Seattle office, and is a Justice and Civic Studio Sector Leader. Erica is particularly passionate about sustainability, restorative justice, and the impact of the built environment on human wellness. She is an expert at leading teams to elevate conditions for disenfranchised people, and setting innovative justice standards that support wellness, equity, and transformative programs to successfully return people to their communities.

Qeturah Williams is a Senior Architect based out of DLR Group’s Houston office. As a Project Manager and architect with 16 years of design and construction experience, her broad range of work includes diverse commercial projects across multiple market sectors. She’s especially drawn to the technical aspect of architecture and finds that there's nothing more satisfying than seeing a well-drawn detail implemented by a skilled tradesperson. She believes that through design, architects are the stewards of the future, entrusted by the clients as partners to meet and exceed their goals.

Natasha Espada, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP BD+C is the founder and Principal of STUDIO ENÉE Architects. She has over 25 years of design and construction expertise in both renovation and new construction for institutional, civic, and commercial clients. Natasha served as the 2020 President of the Boston Society for Architecture. Her platform focused on equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice in the profession, as well as working to make Boston a Design City.

Winka Dubbeldam is the Chair and Miller Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, where she has gathered an international network of innovative research and design professionals. As the founder/principal of New York firm Archi-Tectonics, Dubbeldam is widely known for her award-winning work, recognized as much for its use of hybrid sustainable materials and smart building systems as for its elegance and innovative structures. Archi-Tectonics' work ranges from residential to commercial, from real to virtual, and is realized in urban designs, architectural designs, and installations.

Katie Swenson is a nationally recognized design leader, researcher, writer, and educator. She is a Senior Principal of MASS Design Group, an international non-profit architecture firm whose mission is to research, build, and advocate for architecture that promotes justice and human dignity. Before joining MASS in early 2020, Swenson was vice president of Design & Sustainability at Enterprise Community Partners. Katie’s work explores how critical design practice can and should promote economic and social equity, environmental sustainability, and healthy communities.

Bonnie Bridges is the founder and Principal of Studio BBA in San Francisco. A strategic, clear thinker, perceptive listener and creative dynamo, Bonnie leads Studio BBA with adaptability, energy and fearless optimism. Drawing on deep expertise in the skilled facilitation of decisions and processes, and an intuitive, analytic nature, she guides the studio’s atelier of designers in creating beautiful, enriching, successful spaces and buildings for their clients. She brings a keen awareness of place and purpose to her work, with an approach to the design process grounded in human experience, logic and thoughtful actions.

June Grant is an architect, designer and researcher committed to the craft of buildings, their potential to enhance cities and develop socially responsible solutions to complex real-world problems. June is the founding Principal of blink!LAB architecture, a boutique, research-based architecture practice focused on adaptive and transformative sustainable development. Her design approach rests on an avid belief in cultural empathy, data research, and new technologies as integral to design futures and design solutions. She is also the current President of SFNOMA.

Alyssum Skjeie is a museum professional focused on presenting multi-faceted stories related to architecture and history. She is currently the Director of El Pueblo History Museum in Pueblo, Colorado, where she focuses on creating collaborative exhibitions with the community to share their stories and histories. Prior to that, Alyssum worked at the Heinz Architectural Center at Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, and helped curate over 20 architecture exhibitions and countless public programs.

Mani Farhadi, LEEP AP, Associate AIA, is a Senior Facilities Planner at Stanford University School of Medicine in the Office of Facilities, Planning and Management. A global thinker and creative thought leader, Mani has three decades of experience in planning and architecture, and in collaborating with both public and private institutions. She enjoys combining her passion for education with her extensive planning skills to bring about stakeholder consensus and thoughtful solutions. Mani also volunteers for the AIA Silicon Valley Women in Architecture Committee, as well as for various Iranian-American cultural and advocacy groups.

Shalini Agrawal brings over 25 years of experience in community engagement, and has dedicated her career to bringing diversity and equity in design, art and architecture. She is co-director of Pathways to Equity, a leadership experience for responsible community-engaged design, and founder and principal of Public Design for Equity, an equity-driven practice for equity-driven outcomes. Shalini is on the board of Architects Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility, and Association for Community Design, as their Director of Fellowship. She is Associate Professor in Critical Ethnic Studies at California College of the Arts.

For the first time in the history of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, there are four Native American students enrolled at the same time. They are Elsa Hoover, Zoe Toledo, Heidi Brandow, and Jaz Bonnin, and together, they have formed the Harvard Indigenous Design Collective. Their aim is to support the education and work of Indigenous architects, planners, designers, scholars, allies, and alumni of the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Siboney is an Enterprise Rose Fellow in the Boston area. She works to understand how architecture and design can best serve communities. She is licensed as an architect in the state of Texas. Siboney is currently working at Opportunity Communities, a community development corporation. Her work for the next two years will focus on affordable housing development and community building because they are inherently connected.

Meghana Joshi is a Senior Project Manager at Little Diversified, Newport Beach. She is a board member of the AIA Orange County Chapter, and Director for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. She founded and chaired the Women in Architecture Committee. Under “Project Amplify” that she founded, she amplifies and celebrates voices and works of minority architects throughout the world with diverse projects. 

Bethany Borel is a Senior Associate at COOKFOX Architects in New York City. Bethany frequently speaks on the topics of biophilia and high-performance design, has found that a common thread in her design philosophy is that she holds the utmost respect for the natural environment. At COOKFOX, Bethany brings this thinking to her projects as she pursues environmentally responsible design.

Melissa R. Daniel is an architectural designer in Washington D.C., and the creator and host of the Architecture is Political podcast, a podcast where Black and Brown folks have a conversation about architecture. She served as executive co-chair of the 2017 AIA Women’s Leadership Summit, and was a recipient of a 2018 AIA Associates Award.

Mia Scharphie is a career and business strategist, and the founder of Build Yourself. She helps women in design, tech and innovation move from managing the work to setting the agenda. She helps women move past bias and make their industries and workplaces better places for women's talent.

Donna Sink AIA is a registered architect who is committed to good design for everyone in the community. She has worked on urban design, cultural institution, and art exhibition design projects for the last 25 years and has previously lived in Philadelphia, Detroit, Portland, and Phoenix.  Donna now lives in Indianapolis and works at Rowland Design, an architecture and interior design firm doing cultural, educational, and residential projects across the country. She is also one of the hosts of the Archinect Sessions podcast.

Evelyn Lee, AIA, is the first-ever senior experience designer at Slack Technologies. In her role, she works cross-functionally with business operations, business technology, people operations, and their build team to create amazing experiences for employees, clients, partners, and visitors. Evelyn is passionate about finding new business models to elevate the profession of architecture, ensuring it remains relevant in an ever-changing economy. She also currently serves as the Treasurer of the AIA National Board.

Rosa Sheng is a Designer, Architect, and Thought Leader who is known for innovating Architecture with over 26 years experience. When asked "What type of Architecture do you do?" Her answer is "The kind that hasn't been done before." She is a founder of Equity by Design, past AIA SF President, and Principal and Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Design at SmithGroup.

Barbara Flammang fundamentally changed downtown Los Angeles by leading her firm’s transformative work in the City’s historic core. Her enlightened management practices have tenaciously advanced equity, diversity and inclusivity for nearly 40 years.

Yiselle Santos Rivera, Associate AIA, is a medical planner and the Global Director of Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at HKS, Inc. With national and international experience on a broad range of healthcare, residential, institutional, and commercial/mixed-use projects, she thrives on building equitable practices, empowering the next generation of leaders, and creating inclusive platforms for engagement.

Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA, is senior associate at Arrowstreet, a Boston-based architecture and design firm. She has experience with a broad range of academic, hospitality, institutional, and commercial projects, and her innovative design work reinforces that a building is more than its shell; it is an experience. She currently serves as the 2018-2020 Director-At-Large for the AIA Board of Directors.

Catherine Meng is an architect and Senior Associate at DLR Group based in San Francisco. She’s also the host of this podcast! In this episode, Catherine speaks with Madame Architect’s Julia Gamolina, and talks about her career journey, and what inspired her to start this podcast.

Kathy Scott is a Principal at Walker Warner Architects where she leads the design on several of the firm’s projects, and mentors teams in the use of good processes to achieve the highest quality of work. Kathy believes that architecture has the capacity to elevate our daily lives, and that the best work results when designs evolve in a thoroughly considered and deliberate manner.

PJ Glasco is a Principal at Cannon Design. She is a healthcare planner and designer who has worked with many of the nation’s top healthcare institutions to create landmark facilities.  Her passion & strength lies in creating strong programs based on volume analysis and actualizing them into creative & operationally efficient planning solutions. PJ is a past chair of the Houston chapter of the AIA Committee on Architecture for Health and has presented at national industry conferences for several years.

Phoebe Lam is the Director of Operations and a Project Manager at William Duff Architects in San Francisco. Along with managing the studio’s operations, planning, and hiring, she also works on projects in the single-family residential and commercial sectors. She excels at managing complex projects with large numbers of consultants and multiple decision makers, and continually looks for new ways to apply sustainable principles and methods in all of her projects.

Dana Getman is an Associate Principal at SHoP Architects in New York City, leading some of the firm’s most complex projects. During her time at SHoP, she has led and managed a wide range of dynamic projects including super tall skyscrapers, waterfront redevelopments, US embassies, and educational institutions.Dana is an expert working with user groups and community stakeholders to build consensus throughout the design and construction process.

Taryn Kinney is a Principal, and K-12 Education Studio Leader at DLR Group. Taryn is a native Texan who has successfully led the strategy, visioning, planning, and design of more than two million square feet of learning space, both nationally and internationally. She incorporates current developmental research, environmental psychology, and organizational psychology to design facilities that respond to human learning and behavior.

Natalie Tse is a Project Manager at Tipping Structural Engineers with a broad range of design experience in educational, commercial/retail, residential, science and technology sectors. Natalie is deeply passionate about innovative solutions, well-integrated and cost-effective designs, responsiveness during construction, and open communication. She is profoundly committed to learning, mentoring, building strong relationships, family, and giving back to the community.

Rachel Preston Prinz is an architecturally-trained American designer, and founder of the Santa Fe based consulting agency Archinia. She works at the intersection of architecture and design, placemaking, cultural and historic preservation, and community engagement. Rachel promotes the craft of architecture and the Genius Loci, or Spirit of Place, as told through photography, publishing, marketing, and design.

In this special episode of Design Voice Podcast, I’m joined by Carrie Moore and Jennifer Grosso of SOM’s New York office to discuss mentor-mentee relationships. Carrie and Jen talk about the mentorship programs at SOM, and share their insights on why mentorship is so valuable from both the mentor and mentee perspectives.

Bianca Koutsakos is a Business Development Manager at Neoscape, a creative agency that specializes in branding and visual storytelling of the built environment. Neoscape uses strategy, design, and technology as fuel for their storytelling engine–whether that story is a daring real estate play, a bold corporate venture, or the next consumer innovation. Bianca represents the agency’s San Francisco office, and spearheads the market growth, business development and marketing strategy for their West Coast market. 

Wanda Lau, LEED AP, is the editor of tech, practice, and products for ARCHITECT and Architectural Lighting. Her writing covers a wide range of topics including architecture, technology, business, sustainability, and energy performance, and has appeared in Architect, Architectural Lighting, Eco-Structure, Men’s Health, ASID Icon, University Business, Urban Land, The Syracuse Post-Standard, among others. You can also hear her interviewing leaders in design and technology on Architect's podcast, ArchitectChats.

Margaret Cavenagh is a Principal at Studio Gang, and leads the firm’s interior architecture practice, working closely with Jeanne Gang on all interior, renovation, and architectural projects. Margaret has experience designing a wide range of project types and scales including multi-family, mixed-use projects; work space design; and custom residential design. Guided by expert observations of how people use space, Margaret consistently delivers award-winning interior designs while attaining some of the highest sustainability ratings.

Anthia Wong is a Team Lead and Project Manager with the San Francisco-based interior and architecture firm FORGE, where she works on a wide range of commercial, interior, and tenant improvement projects. She focuses much of her time on relationship building and fostering the lines of communication externally with clients, as well as internally within the firm.

Angie Sommer, S.E. is an Associate at ZFA Structural Engineers  in San Francisco. She’s currently a project manager and engineer for a wide variety of projects around the Bay Area and California, with a focus on the educational and senior living sectors. Angie is also the co-founder of Vow Muse which helps people craft unique wedding toasts, speeches, and vows.

Pascale Sablan, AIA is an award winning architect and mentor in New York City. Pascale seeks excellence and humanity in all of her projects while providing a resounding voice for the issues facing women architects and architects of color. She’s also only the 315th black female architect to obtain licensure in the US - and she wants you to know it.

Julia Gamolina is the founder and editor of Madame Architect, an online platform celebrating women in architecture from different generations, countries, and corners of the industry.  Her goal for Madame Architect is that readers will be able to find encouragement and guidance for their own pursuits, and empathy and understanding for the pursuits of others.  

Sandra Vivanco is a Professor of Architecture and Diversity studies at California College of the Arts, co-director of the CCA BuildLab, as well as the founding principal of A+D, Architecture + Design, in San Francisco. Based on the premise that inclusiveness and design excellence can and should co-exist, the work of A+D is globally recognized and operates at multiple scales. As one of a few of Latina-owned architecture firms in the country, A+D explores cultural identity representation as design inspiration for new and invigorated public spaces.

Jennifer Wolch is the William W. Wurster Dean and Professor of City and Regional Planning in the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley. She is a scholar of urban analysis and planning, and her past work focused on, among many things, urban homelessness, urban environmental justice and political ecology, and the delivery of affordable housing and human services.

Angeles Garcia is a Project Executive at McCarthy Building Companies. Originally from Ensenada, Mexico, Angeles has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the Tijuana Institute of Technology. Angeles started out at McCarthy over 20 years ago by answering a newspaper ad for a Project Admin position. Since then she has slowly worked her way up to an executive role, breaking down barriers all along the way.

Anne Torney is a partner at Mithun Solomon, and leads their San Francisco office. For more than 20 years, she has made affordable multi-family housing and transit-oriented urban infill the focus of her work. She believes that the two biggest challenges of our time are income inequality and climate change, but design has the power to address both.

Mary Wurst is a lighting designer and electrical engineer at the Omaha office of my own firm, DLR Group. A chance encounter with a cadaver arm ended up steering her toward getting an engineering degree, and she’s now a Senior Associate at DLR Group. We discuss the importance of exposing high school students to different careers, the challenges that mid-level professionals face, and why firms should be less focused on the rigidity of the 9-5. 

Nishita Lakhani grew up in India, was one of four women in a class of 64 in her Construction Engineering Management program at Purdue University, and is a now Senior Project Engineer at the national construction company McCarthy.

Sandra Biddulph is a structural engineer and a principal at the firm DCI Engineers. Before settling down in Irving, Sandra worked in both Los Angeles and Seattle and has had a really interesting career journey. She's worked at small firms, co-founded her own practice, and worked on the general contractor side before becoming principal at DCI. She appreciates the art of structural design; watching a project come together, with a tangible finished product that becomes part of our built environment.

Irina Schneid is an architect, educator, and principal of an interdisciplinary design lab: SCH+ARC Studio LLC. Her research, teaching, and practice are focused on activating drawing as a generative tool in the production of spatial relations. She is currently teaching undergraduate design and theory courses at Pratt Institute and Columbia University.

Laura Guzman is the National Director of Marketing and Business Development at the global engineering firm WSP. Prior to that, she was the Chief Operating Officer at Microdesk, a design technology consultancy, so she really has her finger on the pulse of the AEC industries.

Rose McClure is a structural engineer at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger. Rose specializes in the analysis and design of foundation systems, and the repair and rehabilitation of existing structures. Rose is also a co-founder of the Structural Engineering Engagement and Equity Committee (SE3), which was established in 2015 with the mission to study and work to improve engagement and equity in the structural engineering profession.

In this inaugural episode of Design Voice Podcast, I speak with Jill Lerner, FAIA. Jill is an architect and Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, a global architectural design and planning firm, where she leads their the academic, healthcare, and research practices.