WIA
This committee is composed of women architects and allies in the Chapter for the purpose of increasing the incidence and visibility of women in architecture and in related design and construction industries.
We exist to bring awareness to the gender disparity that exists in the profession in order to achieve equality.
We exist to empower women by fostering growth, building leaders and role models, promoting the success of women architects, being a catalyst to equality and fair treatment, bringing about balance in the profession, and by redefining success.
The WIA Committee will commence as a group that supports equality and women’s issues. As our group gains momentum, grows and diversifies we welcome the notion of evolving into a Diversity Committee, of which the WIA committee and other similar minority committees would become subgroups as suggested by the AIASCV Board.
WIA GOALS
The goal of the WIA Committee is to stimulate women’s growth in the profession through sustained activities that provide mentorship and networking opportunities that enable women in architecture to reach their full potential. The WIA Committee will strive to support the natural progression, from student to registered architect, to leaders in the profession and community. The WIA will foster women leaders in the profession and allow all women architects the ability and opportunity to give back to the profession and the community.
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WIA FOCUS
CULTURAL SHIFT
The success of women in architecture requires a cultural shift in which industry leadership works to ensure equitable practices that infiltrate all areas of the professional environment. We work to educate and develop those fair and equitable leaders.
WOMEN IN FAIA
We pledge to mentor and promote fellowship to women architects in order to strengthen representation within this prestigious group.
ADVOCACY & ALLIANCES
We are strong because our network is strong. Our mission is to partner with other groups, chapters, and policy makers in order to amplify our impact across multiple platforms.
WORK/LIFE BALANCE
The ability to balance personal life choices with the professional practice of architecture is one of the top reasons why women leave the industry. We encourage firm owners to offer flexible benefits as well as train women how to integrate a full work and life without compromise.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
In order to overcome career pinch points, we help encourage professional development for women in architecture, providing training workshops, management templates, and resources to further education.
MENTORSHIP
The emerging professionals are our future, so we must ensure that we train and encourage equitable practices from the start. We offer mentorship to young women in architecture to build confidence and strength in our future architects.
2024 WIA COMMITTEE
chair
Sherry Sajapour, AIA, ALEP
Sherry's education started as bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering (IE), she later pursued her passion for Architecture, and continued to focus on educational facilities. As an Accredited Learning Environment Planner (ALEP), she aspires to elevate the knowledge essential to the practice of educational facility planning and design.
Over 20 years of experience in the Bay Area with a desire to bolster social-emotional values, her work is guided by the mantra that every project, regardless of its scale makes a difference!
Driven by values of social equity, she is the current chair of WIA committee through which she hopes to continue to raise awareness on equitable practices and its impact in our communities and the Architecture field.
DIRECTOR OF EVENTS
Sepideh Aminranjbar, Assoc. AIA, LEED Green Assoc.
Over the past 15 years in architecture firms from Iran to the USA, she has gained a great deal of experience with educational, public terminals, retail and residential projects, many in the public and private sector. In addition, she has been involved in the design and construction of multiple building types, from single and multi-story classroom buildings to multi-use buildings, campus master planning, design of exterior spaces, and interior design.
She is very passionate about teaching architecture design principles to juniors. She has a background in education, with over 10 years teaching architecture courses at Tehran University and West Valley College in Bay Area. Currently, she is working at JK Architecture Engineering as a Job Captain, while volunteering for WIA (Women In Architecture) of AIA Silicon Valley and BIBI (Banou's In Building Industry). She obtained her Master of Architecture degree from Azad University, Tehran, Iran
SECRETARY
Mary E Morris, AIA, REFP, LEED AP
Mary E. Morris AIA, REFP, LEED AP is an Associate Principal at Lionakis, an architecture and structural engineering firm specializing in education, healthcare, and civic projects. She has spent the majority of her nearly 35-year career focusing on Pre-K—14 education projects for both public and private schools throughout Northern California. She sees this as a way to pay forward the benefits of the California public education—from Kindergarten through the University of California, Berkeley—that she benefitted from.
Mary’s volunteer time is dedicated to the pursuit of social and racial justice and includes, in addition to her participation in the WIA, more than 25 years of service as a Board Member for the YWCA Golden Gate Silicon Valley and more than 10 years as a member of the Downtown College Prep College Scholarship Committee.
WEBSITE & BLOG
Srivarshini Balaji, AIA, LEED Green Assoc.
Srivarshini Balaji, AIA, CASp is a Project Manager at Aedis Architects. She is a licensed architect in California and India. Sri is passionate about working towards bringing equity and diversity in the Architecture profession.
In the past few years, Sri has taken on multiple positions and served as the Board Liaison, Secretary and Website Coordinator for Women in Architecture committee and she is excited about continuing to support the WIA Committee as Website coordinator this year.
WEBSITE & BLOG
Shweta Joshi, AIA, LEED BD+C
Shweta Joshi, a LEED BD+C certified professional, is a highly accomplished Project Designer at HMC Architects. With a strong passion for sustainability, she leads analysis and design initiatives for the HMC San Jose office, and has worked on a variety of award-winning projects. Her expertise lies in seamlessly integrating design, technology, and sustainability to create resilient and low-impact buildings. In addition to her professional pursuits, Shweta is an advisory board member at Chabot Architecture College and a Board Member at the non-profit Design for Future Foundation. In her spare time, she dedicates herself to mentoring students and emerging professionals preparing for ARE exams. Her dedication and leadership were recognized in 2022, when she received the Legacy Award from Chabot Architecture College in recognition of her outstanding partnership and leadership. Thank you.
MEDIA team
Mani Ardalan Farhadi, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP
A creative thought leader, Mani Ardalan Farhadi’s experience spans 30+ years of strategizing for learning environments. As Senior Facilities Planner at Stanford University School of Medicine, in OFPM (Office of Facilities Planning and Management), Mani combines her passion for education with extensive planning skills to develop design ideas and solutions for research space. Using strategic thinking and consensus-building, she is integral to campus planning, having collaborated with public and private institutions from K-12 to Higher Education.
Mani’s volunteer leadership roles include: WIA (Women in Architecture) AIA Silicon Valley mentor; Co-founder of BIBI (Banous in Building Industry) for Iranian-American women; DEI Officer for Wellesley College Alumnae Class; Advisory Board of NICA (Niosha International Conservatory of Arts); Board Member of Institute for Traditional Psychoethics and Guidance; former Board of Trustee (Los Gatos Union School District); and Chair of Bond Oversight Committee (receiving ‘Citizen Architect’ award).
She has served as moderator, juror, panelist, speaker, and docent at professional workshops and conferences, such as Learning by Design, SF Design Week, GenARTS, SCUP, EQxD, WLS, WIA, AIA, CCFC, CCLC, A4LE, SPUR, Wellesley and Mills College; with topics ranging from Career-Building to Inclusivity and Intersectionality. A graduate of Wellesley College (B.A. Arch) and Boston Architectural College (B.Arch), Mani has supplemented her formal education with training at Stanford LEAP and Supervisory Academy, MIG (Management in Governance), SCUP Planning Institute, and Leadership Los Gatos.
wia founder, aia FELLOW LIAISON
Pam Anderson-Brulé, FAIA
Pamela Anderson-Brulé is a founder and the president of Anderson Brulé Architects, Inc. Her career has been dedicated to creating an architectural design process that considers the holistic approach to achieving all of her clients’ vision for how they live, work, play, and thrive. She believes that truly exceptional architecture balances the human, social, economic and environmental needs of individuals and sustains the community in which it is created. Pamela’s postgraduate studies in business management have augmented her strong belief and emphasis in team building and expectation development. She is a careful communicator that believes in an inclusive and meaningful process whether for a large community project or an individual home.