Panelists will discuss and explore their diverse paths through their architectural education / background. This session focuses on the multitude of opportunities for a professional in non conventional settings like politics, fabrication, and being a client representative through real time experiences of the panelists. The discussion will emphasize the importance of mentorship, diversity of roles, sharing resources among a robust network, and strategies for growth.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES | CEU's (1.5 LU Pending Approval)

• Compare alternate career paths in the industry through professional experiences of a diverse set of panelists as an example.

• Explain the importance of learning, adaptability and diversity of roles in a professional context.

• Identify sharing resources among a robust network of other Industry Professionals.

• Share key strategies for sustainable growth of diverse roles within the profession.

MEETING SCHEDULE
6:00 pm Refreshments
6:45 pm Program
8:00 pm Networking

The founders of GreenAntz will present their enterprise, which converts pre- and post-consumer waste into sustainable building products. Based in the Philippines, GreenAntz's innovative entrepreneurial model democratizes the manufacturing process to 40+ community facilities.

The Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Network was founded in 2005 as a professional community specifically with a public interest mission and a common set of principles and mission. SEED provides Public Interest Design with a professional standard of ethical practice through a clear and step-by-step process to guide ethical community engagement based on case studies of best practices. In a 2011 poll of members of the American Institute of Architects funded by the FAIA Latrobe Prize, 77% agreed that the SEED mission is appropriate for Public Interest Design: Every person should be able to live in a socially, economically and environmentally healthy community.

Quardean Lewis-Allen will explore how urban inhabitants can ground their narrative in the places they are connected to and advocate for the changes they seek to enact them. He will also share what this looks like for his community design center practice, both spatially and as a dialogue with stakeholders, to design for an inclusive future.

Join the Latino Business Action Network and WIA member Mariana Alvarez-Parga in exploring Mariana's business training via LBAN's Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative. The discussion will emphasize the importance of mentorship, sharing resources among a robust network, and strategies for growth.

A panel representing four firms of four scales will engage in a candid conversation about the challenges, innovation, and inspiration they have experienced as they work to expand their missions and practices to align more closely with the principles of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

As our efforts continue into 2021, we call on Silicon Valley firms to join us in developing and sharing their approaches to advancing these goals.

Please join us to share and to learn together.

The WIA Annual Retreat is the Committee’s venue to reflect on the past year, discuss our progress, and build our foundation for the upcoming year through defining new goals in a fun and constructive setting. This is a great opportunity to connect with us and learn more about the Committee if you have not had a chance to yet.

How can we diversify the field of architecture? How can we better support people of diverse backgrounds in our profession?

The event will address strategies for creating support structures for people from minority groups on professional trajectories within Architecture and STEM careers.

We’ll be discussing the short essay “Outgrowing the Corner of the Kitchen Table” by architect Ghislaine Hermanuz and its parallels to today’s gig economy and remote work. The essay can be found in the seminal 1999 collection of essays ‘Design and Feminism’ edited by Joan Rothschild.

Relevant as in 1976! Equity; ecological design; environment; divas; balance. Discourse abounded at 1st Int’l Congress of Women Architects in Iran, as famed thinkers presented, such as Denise Scott-Brown, Anne Tyng, Gae Aulenti, and Jane Drew.

Please join us to watch and discuss this film about five incredible leaders in the field.

Women in Architecture Silicon Valley is hosting an informal dialogue with colleagues in the architecture industry, in particular working mothers, who are juggling project deadlines with family time. Working remotely from home, we want to talk together about ways of coping, strategies for time management and how we are feeling. Let's share ideas and suggestions with each other. Join us!

Take a break! Join us for a brief reprieve.

The WIA is pleased to announce the 2020 events theme: Allies & Alliances. The events will address topics in advocacy scaling from self-advocacy to advocacy for others and advocacy for the community. As the year progresses, conversations will explore how articulating experience and goals can impact individuals both professionally and personally. The ultimate goal of this year’s events is to promote a more diverse and equitable field by enhancing communication and empathy.

The WIA Annual Retreat is the Committee’s venue to reflect on the past year, discuss our progress, and build our foundation for the upcoming year through defining new goals in a fun and constructive setting. This is a great opportunity to connect with us and learn more about the Committee if you have not had a chance to yet.

To advocate effectively for oneself and the profession, making real change for the better, it is imperative to speak up, be heard, and lead confidently. Join us for a fireside chat-style evening with special guest AIA Orange County advocate, communicator, and achiever Meghana Joshi, Assoc AIA, and local AIA National Board At-Large Director-Elect Britt Lindberg, AIA. Learn from their experiences how to achieve professional goals, and come armed with questions seeking advice for how you can succeed as well. All genders and design industry allies welcome!

We are not sharing three stories, it is one story of how we met and discovered how much stronger we are together. We met at the intersection of Women in Architecture, when we were all mid-career in our profession. Three years later we find ourselves not alone in search of an anchor network to sustain our leadership path. This session will explore ways to build an anchor network for transformative and diverse leaders.

This interactive workshop begins with building an understanding of our identities relative to each other to be reflected on regularly. With an emphasis on sharing stories, participants draw upon their lived experiences and discuss their identities relative to a spectrum of various societal privileges and distributions of power. The goal is to establish a reference vocabulary for personal introspection while laying the foundation of an ongoing self-reflective practice. Participants are asked to be available for the entirety of workshop.

Are you an emerging architect or designer, or simply a pragmatic idealist who is looking to balance learning, working, and making an impact through architecture?

Interested in advancing your career path, but having trouble advocating for yourself?

Megan Blaine AIA, Founding Principal of BLAINE architects, and Angshupriya Pathak AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Project Manager at Anderson Brulé Architects, will facilitate this interactive workshop to help define your past and future success through advocating for yourself.

Both Angshu and Megan are former Chairs of the Women in Architecture (WIA) Silicon Valley, and will share their experiences on self-advocacy techniques.

This one-day conference examines some of the most pressing challenges facing our industry and offers expert intelligence on how we can elevate our local communities. The AI 2019 Conference focuses the discussion on Innovation, Sustainability, and Equity + Leadership in the Silicon Valley. These three session tracks provide specific learning and growth opportunities, while the lineup of exceptional speakers, vendor fair, and networking opportunities will inspire and connect attendees to a larger, far-reaching purpose.

This is a great opportunity to connect with us and learn more about the Committee. We are always looking to collaborate with inspired individuals passionate about equity, equality and inclusion. Please join us for this fun, private event!

The “Expanded Structures” event invites speakers from beyond the discipline to address themes that can be challenges across diverse industries – within a workplace and in client, collaborator, and consultant relationships.

The two featured speakers will address topics of equity across multiple industries. Both speakers are polymaths who have made an impact in diverse environments and industries, and who have worked to promote and engage women’s empowerment across these sectors.

This workshop is designed for professionals who are ready to develop their understanding of their Emotional Intelligence (EQ). The speakers will introduce you to the concept of Emotional Intelligence and work with participants to expand the range of their EQ skillset.

Join WIA Silicon Valley for an informational presentation on the topic of compensation negotiation. Enjoy a casual and comfortable breakfast while Project Director at Taylor Design, Mani A. Farhadi, shares her story of how the WIA network was instrumental during compensation negotiations. Taylor Design Director of Development, Laurie Dreyer, will speak more in-depth about salary negotiation, the elements of total compensation, and how to mix the two.

The WIA Mentoring Workshop event will kick off this year's WIA events series by helping mentors and mentees develop context-specific mentorship processes. The workshop will include mentorship case studies, a presentation of best practices in mentorship, and small-group discussion and networking opportunities. People interested in being either mentors or mentees can gain insight into different ways to identify opportunities for mentorship and ways to structure the process.

Lynn Simon, FAIA, LEED Fellow, will facilitate a 90 minute limited group session called Connecting through Coaching--To Oneself and to Others. This interactive session will provide an overview of integral coaching and how it is different than mentoring, sponsorship or facilitating a conversation as relevant to our roles as architects and building industry professionals. The group will participate in exercises on being present and listening actively as well as experience a live coaching demonstration to support a topic of interest to the volunteer “client.”