On January 8, 2020,  the AIANY WIA Committee held its 10th Annual Women in Architecture Recognition Award and Holiday Party at the Fisher & Paykel Experience Center and it started with a slide show of A Year Celebrating Women in Architecture, with photos and video of all 33 inspiring, educational and fun events the committee had in 2019.

Andrea Lamberti, AIA, the AIANY Board of Directors and Vice President for Professional Development, then presented the 2019 Vice President Citation for Professional Development for the committee’s wide array of programming to promote women in design and leadership and to foster more equitable practice environments for all, to the WIA Committee Co-Chairs Vivian Lee and Kerry Nolan.

The AIANY WIA Committee also honored Grace Yu as the recipient for the 10th Annual Women in Architecture Recognition Award for being licensed in 2019 and for demonstrating strong leadership skills with a commitment to the growth and advancement of our profession. A plaque was presented to Grace, along with a check of $1,000 for her expenses to attend the A’20 in Los Angeles this coming May.

Grace Yu, together with the five other candidates for the WIA Recognition Award, Alexia Beghi, Kaitlin Gerson, Siobhan Lee, Kelly McFadden, and Hanxiao Yang, shared with the WIA members their aspirations, professional experiences, and licensure tips and advice.

Mary Burnham, AIA, Jennifer Graham, IIDA, Anik Pearson, RA, and Andrea Steele, AIA were the jurors for this year’s WIA Recognition Award. The jurors talked about their selection process and were impressed by the accomplishments of all candidates who submitted their qualifications. Catherine Joseph and Leanne Zick were two applicants for the award who were not present at the event.

Danei Cesario, AIA, was the lucky winner of the WIA raffle and received the book “How Women Rise”, by Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith, with their advice on how to break the habits holding women back from the next raise, promotion or job.

The AIANY WIA Committee would like to congratulate all the following 56 New York City licensed architects and we hope the numbers will continue to rise for the next decade.

Dorit Aviv, AIA; Marissa Barresi, AIA; Alexia D. Beghi, AIA; Marrina Boontheekul, AIA; Amina Bouayad, AIA; Julia R. Brooks, AIA; Jingyu Cao, AIA; Beth C. Carliner, AIA; Xinyang Chen, AIA; Shu-Hsuan Cheng, AIA; Monica Coghlan, AIA; Betsy Daniel, AIA; Carly Epler, AIA; Laura E. Fiset, AIA; Arianna M. Galan Montas, AIA; Yiwei Gao, AIA; Kaitlin M. Gerson, AIA; Lauren M. Greer, AIA; Tinglan Guo, AIA; Alkananda Y. Jakkaraju, AIA; Catherine Joseph; Rachel E. Kaplan, AIA; Olivia M. Lau, AIA; Siobhan Lee, AIA; Tietong Lu, AIA; Kristin Luks, AIA; Kelly McFadden;Tess McNamara, AIA; Kasey A. Motley, AIA; Anna L. Oursler, AIA; Maja Paklar, AIA; Soyun Park, AIA; Karen E. Rebele, AIA; Heather Rosen, AIA; Carrie Rothfeld, AIA; Nelya Sachakova, AIA; Shefali H. Sanghvi, AIA; Tanvi D. Sanghvi, AIA; Bisma Sarfaraz, AIA; Andrea N. Sforza, AIA; Amy E. Shell, AIA; Elizabeth Snow, AIA; Jacquelyn Stinson, AIA; Mengshi Sun, AIA; Iris Wang, AIA; Jennifer T. Wang, AIA; Peijen J. Wang, AIA; Jennifer L. Whisenhunt, AIA; Hanxiao Yang, AIA; Li Yang, AIA; Grace Yu; Leanny Zick.