September 8, 2021

6:00 PM est

Carol Doscher, President & CEO, Graceworks

Carol Doscher, President & CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer), has been captivating audiences since she performed in Broadway’s “Sweeney Todd.” For this former actress turned trainer and coach, it’s not so far from the boards of Broadway to the boardrooms of America.

Since founding Graceworks in 1995, she’s trained thousands of professionals globally to make that vital human connection in sales presentations, client meetings and lectures. Featured in The New York Times and on “Bloomberg Television,” Carol also has published numerous articles on presentation and communication skills. Prior to her current work, she marketed design and construction services for many years.

Responding to the growing need for the human connection in the corporate world, Carol is a certified practitioner of Whole Brain® Thinking — a great tool to help people understand and leverage their own thinking preferences.

Kurt Robbins, Vice President, Graceworks

Kurt Robbins, Vice President of Graceworks, has more energy in his pinky finger alone than most of us have in our whole body. For more than 12 years, he’s been bringing every bit of that energy, flexibility and intuition along with his experience working with Fortune 500 companies to help Graceworks clients connect with clarity, purpose and passion. An insightful, gifted coach, Kurt has trained thousands of corporate professionals to make The Human Connection®. He’s smart, creative, fun, and above all, has a huge heart for helping people.

In addition to training corporate professionals, as an actor Kurt has performed in film, on stage and has traveled the world acting and singing. He is also a trained practitioner of Whole Brain® Thinking, a powerful tool to help people connect with a wide variety of humans. Finally, Kurt plays a critical role in developing new workshops for Graceworks, creating our communication videos and cultivating trusted relationships with our clients.

Bring Your Presentations to Life! / The Hi-Tech Human Connection

This fun, interactive two-hour Graceworks workshop offers a strong foundation for presenting and communicating both in person and virtually in everything from shortlist presentations to client meetings and from networking events to one-on-one conversations. You’ll learn how to connect with your audience, gain self-confidence as a presenter, experience how essential body language is and best practices for using visuals!

November 11, 2021

6:30 PM est

Harriet Harriss RIBA, ARB, Assoc. AIA, Ph.D., PFHEA, FRSA

Dr. Harriet Harriss is a qualified architect and Dean of the Pratt School of Architecture in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to this, she led the Architecture Research Programs at the Royal College of Art in London. Her teaching, research, and writing focus on pioneering new pedagogic models for design education, and for widening participation in architecture to ensure it remains as diverse as the society it seeks to serve. Dean Harriss has won various awards including a Brookes Teaching Fellowship, a Higher Education Academy Internationalisation Award, a Churchill Fellowship, two Santander Fellowships, two Diawa awards, and a NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology and Art) Pioneer Award. Dean Harriss was awarded a Clore Fellowship for cultural leadership (2016-17) and elected to the European Association of Architectural Education Council in summer 2017. Dean Harriss' public consultancy roles include writing national construction curriculum for the UK government's Department for Education and international program validations and pedagogy design and development internationally. Across both academe and industry, Dean Harriss has spoken across a range of media channels (from the BBC to TEDx) on the wider issues facing the built environment, is a recognized advocate for design education and was nominated by Dezeen as a champion for women in architecture and design in 2019.

pratt.edu

Leading Beyond Biased Paradigms

“Whoever has the power takes over the noun – and the norm – whilst the less powerful get the adjective.”    Gloria Steinem

In the same way that Corbusier insisted that Modolor Man represented the metric standard against which all architecture could be determined, and all users served equally, pervasive concepts of leadership within both architecture and academe position cis white male conservatives as the standard by which all leaders - independent of their gender, color, identity, and context - are measured and judged. Consequently, this biased, paradigmatic default serves to automatically disadvantage difference and perpetuates an ongoing lack of diverse leadership, and in doing so, stymies the chance to see progressive change in how practices, departments, and schools of architecture are structured, organized, and led.

Subsequently, this seminar/workshop will highlight some of the obstacles women face in securing and sustaining leadership positions, with reference to the ways in which women are complicit in or contribute toward their lack of representation through women-on-women competition (Tracy, 1991): notions of ‘feminine' leadership (Jablonski, 2000, p.245) forms of ‘post-heroic’ leadership (Fletcher, 2003), the specter of leadership androgyneity (Jagacinksi, 1987; Lemkau, 1983), the debilitating influence of ‘gender-blind’ (but largely male-authored) organizational theories (Hearn and Parkin, 1983), and whether it really is feasible for women to use their ‘marginality as a tool’ for professional progress (Groat & Ahrentzen, 1997), or, whether paradigms for facilitating, sustaining and measuring the success of women's leadership needs radical new tactics altogether.

[Cited bibliography]

November 11, 2021

6:30 PM est

Kathy Gallo Founder, CEO & Executive Coach

Kathy Gallo is Founder and CEO of Goodstone Group LLC, a global network of executive coaches working with leaders, teams, and Boards. Kathy’s coaching of senior leaders includes several Board-directed succession assignments.   She also consults on retaining and advancing women. Kathy holds leadership roles on two non-profit Boards and invests in and advises a for-profit startup in the energy sector.

Previously,  Kathy was an SVP for Fannie Mae, where she led a transformation of the Human Resource function and partnered closely with the Board on culture, executive assessments and compensation, and on C-level succession planning. Kathy was a Partner with McKinsey & Company where she worked for sixteen years, leading global programs to help recruit, develop, excite, and retain 12,000 consultants operating in 44 countries.

Kathy holds a B.S.E.E. from Virginia Tech, an M.B.A. from Marymount University of Virginia, and a certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University.

 goodstonegroup.com

Getting the Feedback You Need to Succeed

Battles to identify and remove biases rage on - in hiring, in assessments, and in promotion and rewards.  Meanwhile, learning to obtain candid, timely, and usable feedback can help you be more successful in your current job in spite of biases.  Quality feedback can also help you demonstrate readiness for the next role and can improve your ability to decide if it’s time to find a new job, elsewhere.  In her work with highly successful female leaders in roles up to and including Managing Partner and CEO, Kathy has found clear evidence that women leaders receive less feedback, and less useful feedback.  In this session, Kathy will share techniques she’s learned from 17 years as an executive coach who begins most engagements by seeking and decoding colleagues’ feedback on her coaching clients.  She’ll share two mini cases to illustrate the power of “the whisper”, and then she’ll share tips and techniques to get the feedback that you may not be getting.

January 13, 2022

6:30 PM est

Kim Yao AIA

Kim Yao, AIA, is Principal of Architecture Research Office (ARO), a New York City firm dedicated to architecture that unites strategy and intelligence with beauty and form. ARO’s diverse body of work has earned the firm over a hundred design awards including the 2020 National AIA Architecture Firm Award. She holds an undergraduate degree in architecture from Columbia College: Columbia University and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University. She has taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, the School of Constructed Environments, Parsons the New School for Design, and Barnard College (2001-2011). She has lectured throughout the United States and abroad. Kim is on the Board for AIA New York and the Center for Architecture as the Immediate Past President of AIA New York.

Balancing Restlessness and Ambition

The slow arc of architecture often leads to plateau periods in one’s career, where one feels ready for new challenges but simultaneously stuck in the same place. Navigating these moments can create opportunities to pivot, grow and hone individual goals and ambitions. In this conversation, hear from Kim about her early career and the years immediately following licensure. She will reflect on her own experience balancing teaching and independent work with her growth and increasing responsibilities at Architecture Research Office.

January 13, 2022

6:30 PM est

Mariam Cantelmi AIA

Mariam Cantelmi is a registered architect in New York and New Jersey currently working on residential projects. She formerly worked as a Project Architect at VOA, a 280-person Chicago-based architecture firm that was later acquired by Stantect. Prior to that she was a Project Architect at InArch where she focussed on commercial architecture and interiors.

During her career, Mariam managed project staffing for a team of 30+ architects and designers for multiple projects. Working closely with the firm principal, Mariam managed the growth and mentorship of the teams. When projects encountered turbulence, Mariam was responsible for working with the team and client to get the project back on track. Sometimes this meant encouraging young professionals and helping them find their voices. Sometimes this meant delivering direct feedback to promote growth.

Mariam has practiced in a wide range of areas including high end residential, retail, and commercial architecture. She received a B.Arch. from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. She lives in NJ where she manages her most challenging project: a household with her husband and three teenage sons. She works as an architect to relax and drink coffee in peace.

Giving and Taking: Managing the People who Manage the Project

Part of our job as architects is to manage the various stakeholders associated with your work. For residential work this is often a direct relationship with the owner, interior decorator, and contractor. For larger projects, with bigger budgets and larger scopes, additional stakeholders such as owners representatives and specialty consultants may enter the picture.

In her talk, Mariam will walk us through her experiences navigating these relationships to ensure that the programming and design goals remain front and center. How does one push back while preserving our influence and maintaining forward movement? Mariam will discuss how, in her 20 years of navigating the architectural vision of projects, she skillfully redirected the demands of other stakeholders on the team to maintain control of impactful decisions and to protect her integrity as the design professional.

January 13, 2022

6:30 PM est

Lori Brown AIA, Author, Professor

Lori Brown’s research focuses on relationships between architecture and social justice with particular emphasis on gender and its impact upon spatial relationships. Her two books include Feminist Practices:  Interdisciplinary Approaches to Women in Architecture, an edited collection of international women designers and architects employing feminist methodologies in their practices and Contested Spaces: Abortion Clinics, Women’s Shelters and Hospitals exploring highly securitized spaces and the impact of legislation upon such places. Currently her two book projects include Birthing Centers, Borders and Bodies and co-editing The Bloomsbury Global Encyclopedia of Women in Architecture, 1960-2015 with Dr. Karen Burns.

Lori is the co-founder and leads ArchiteXX, www.architexx.org, a women and architecture group bridging the academy and practice in New York City. She is a Professor of Architecture and Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Syracuse University and is a registered architect in New York State.

She received a Bachelor of Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University.

www.architexx.org

How and where can architects create change?

How can architecture contribute more significantly to the world’s pressing problems? How and where can architects create change? Central to Lori’s research in under-examined areas such as reproductive healthcare, domestic and immigrant shelters, is her long-standing commitment to architecture becoming a more responsive and inclusive discipline, and a more significant collaborator in the world’s most pressing issues by engaging the politics of space. Through this work, she is expanding the locations of architecture’s participation. Lori will discuss a few of her projects that are contributing in diverse ways and how her own experiences set her on this trajectory.

March 3, 2022

6:30 PM est

Alexandra Cuber AIA, LEED AP

Alexandra Cuber has lived in Germany and Spain and has spent most of her 20-year career in New York City. Her career began as an exterior architect for many high-rise projects and museums including the Perez Art Museum. In 2011, she joined Fogarty Finger, where she leads the hospitality interiors studio. She conveys her strong design sensibility to projects including The Brooklyn Navy Yard’s public and amenity spaces, a new commercial amenity campus, headquarter build-outs and a boutique hotel in downtown Manhattan.

Alexandra holds a Diploma in Architecture from University of Applied Science of Cologne, Germany and a Master of Architecture from Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain. She is a Registered Architect, AIA member and LEED AP. She is an advocate for women and minorities and a passionate mentor for young talent.

fogartyfinger.com

The benefits of having a Plan B

During her career as an Architect, Alexandra always maintained an expansive and flexible vision of the path ahead.  She has generally stayed open in the pursuit of her goals, checking in along the way about whether what she was doing was fulfilling or making her happy at any given moment. Alexandra never allowed herself to become so focused on a goal that she lost herself or her happiness in the process, and that has contributed greatly to her career.

Alexandra is a strong believer that if you love doing something you produce your best work, which inevitably leads to success. Anytime she decided to make a change or pursue something throughout her career, she always had both a plan A and a plan B. If plan A didn’t work out, she moved to plan B, which often turned out to be the better option.

Keeping an open mind and staying flexible allowed her to encounter opportunities she would have never thought possible.  Having a plan B mixed with following your heart has proven the recipe to success for Alexandra and makes the career ride an interesting adventure. The unknown can be scary, and many feel this pressure to figure everything out ahead of time, but there is also opportunity and excitement in the unknown.

May 5, 2022

6:30 PM est

Arthi Krishnamoorthy AIA, LEED AP

Arthi Krishnamoorthy is a partner at the New York-based firm, Deborah Berke Partners. Her approach to design and practice is empathetic and humane. She strives to create spaces that connect people to their locale, to one another, and to the moment; designing spaces that make an impression upon individuals and places that better their communities. Arthi understands buildings to be a result of the cooperative efforts of many. She leads projects of many types and is drawn to the threads of each. Arthi received her B.S. in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and an M.Arch. from the University of Pennsylvania.

dberke.com

Strike a chord

A love and respect for architecture was seeded in Arthi at an early age. Traveling through India and Southeast Asia, and growing up in a house designed by her father, she came to appreciate that architecture, the simple and the magnificent, can move us. Believing spaces can leave tangible and lasting impacts on its inhabitants, she is driven to create architecture that strikes a chord. Arthi will discuss how this ambition has pushed her, and how she is influenced by advice received from a friend and mentor to “make it matter.”

May 5, 2022

6:30 PM est

Suzanne Musho AIA, NCARB

Suzanne Musho, AIA, NCARB, joined New York Institute of Technology as chief architect and vice president of real estate development and sustainable capital planning, in December 2019. As a registered architect in New York, New Jersey, and Florida, she has more than 25 years of experience in design, strategic planning, and project leadership. Her portfolio of projects includes museums, health care, corporate headquarters, government facilities, and other high-profile buildings throughout the New York metropolitan area, throughout the United States, and internationally.

As an Associate at Pei Cobb Freed and Partners, the Founder of MUSHO Architecture and Design, and Vice President at Zubatkin, Suzanne’s selected design work includes the Buck Institute for Research in Aging, and the Westchester County Courthouse, as well projects at The School at Columbia University. Her selected project leadership work includes the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History as well as the Jackie Robinson Museum in New York City.

Currently, Suzanne is working with a worldwide team enhancing the campus and student experience at New York Institute of Technology through thoughtful, sustainable capital project development. Suzanne holds her Master of Architecture degree from University at Buffalo, as well as Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in design. In addition, she has an M.B.A. Entrepreneurship Certificate from the NYU Stern Berkeley Innovations Labs as part of the MWBE Strategic Steps for Growth Program.

Suzanne is a frequent public speaker about inspiration and design. Her work has won numerous awards, and she has been featured in several publications. Suzanne is married to David Downey and has three amazing children.

nyit.edu

Fulfilling the True Purpose of Architecture

Suzanne will discuss how we will make the most joyful profession of architecture, into a profession of opportunity, leadership, career advancement, and social responsibility, and one that gives women a license to dream. Suzanne will discuss how architecture will only fulfill its true purpose when it serves all, and is accessible to all. Through the lens of Suzanne’s experience in design leadership at Pei Cobb Freed, business ownership at MUSHO, and project leadership and mission building at Columbia, Zubatkin and NYIT, Suzanne will compare and contrast the opportunities and how they can be tailored specifically for women’s success. 

March 3, 2022

6:30 PM est

Angelique Pierre RA, NOMA

Angelique Pierre is a Senior Project Architect at Anik Pearson Architect P.C.  Following various apprenticeships in the worlds of residential architecture, construction, and even museum installation, Angelique joined Anik Pearson Architect in 2011.

Angelique has managed many of the firm’s largest residential projects, including some of the most complex apartment and townhouse renovations.  She enjoys collaborating directly with clients to help them realize their visions of a home enhanced to meet their specific needs, with a keen eye for refining the details that make each project unique.  Her extensive experience at the firm, combined with her focus, precision and attention to detail, have made her an invaluable asset; both to thoroughly train incoming junior staff and to ensure the highest standards of quality to every project.

Angelique completed her Bachelor of Architecture at the Cooper Union School of Architecture, where she was a William Cooper Mack Thesis Fellow.

aparch.net

Letting Growth Lead

There are many factors that influence how we move through the world - personality, upbringing, race, gender, culture. These factors shape who we are as people as well as professionals. We operate with multiple identities that are constantly shifting in and out of the foreground as needed, competing for attention, or demanding reconciliation with others. First generation American women, like most women, are often tormented by perfectionism to seamlessly juggle these identities, without compromising excellence in our work and in our lives. When perfectionism is paralyzing, that numbness stifles the sensitivity, awareness and creativity that allows us to show up as our best selves and as the best architects.

In her talk, Angelique explains how looking up from the work in front of us to learn as much about ourselves as we do the details of every project reveals what is propelling us forward as much as what may be holding us back from showing up as our best selves, be that perfectionism or anything else. This allows us to see ourselves, our goals, failures, and achievements clearly and embrace their roles in our excellence. Angelique will share the introspective questions and answers that help her continue to resolve her personal and professional identities. She will also share how growth over time, eagerness to learn, eagerness to help, and champions in her orbit developed her confidence to trust in her knowledge, trust in her voice and trust her vision to reimagine her career as an architect.