On June 1, the AIANY WIA Committee hosted an inspiring WIA Chapter Exchange webinar with AIA Miami, AIA Minnesota, and AIA West JerseyElizabeth Camargo, AIA, the Women’s Leadership Summit Chair from AIA Miami, Amy Kalar, AIA, WIA Committee Co-Founder of AIA Minnesota, and Jessica O’Donnell, AIA, WIA New Jersey Section Director of AIA West Jersey joined AIANY WIA Co-Chair Vivian Lee, FAIA in presenting initiatives and programs from their committees, focusing on the topics of Design & Leadership, Workplace Culture, Professional Practice & Development, and Advocacy & Activism. AIANY WIA Co-Chair Kerry Nolan, AIA, moderated the event.

After the presentations, the participants divided into breakout rooms to continue the discussion. The rooms were led by facilitators from the AIANY WIA Advisory Board and Media Communication team, Rosalind Tsang, AIA, Jen Stencel, AIA, Sandra Benjamin, AIA, Arielle Lapp, and Kavya Cherala. The breakout rooms allowed for a lively discussion with intimate groups. A national WIA presence from 19 different AIA Chapters attended, including participants from AIA New York, AIA West Jersey, AIA MinnesotaAIA Seattle, AIA Kansas City, AIA Long Island, AIA Utah, AIA Miami, AIA Orlando, AIA San AntonioWIA Houston, AIA Northern Virginia and AIA Colorado to name a few. The discussions touched on all the topics from the presenters, identifying actions such as calling out discrepancies in leadership parity, talking to firm leadership about running an equal pay audit, establishing benchmarks so staff can understand how and where to improve, and how best to be an ally to other communities.

In an important discussion on allyship, our presenter, Amy Kalar AIA, from AIA Minnesota  shared with us about the tragic and heartbreaking scenes she had witnessed in her city of Minneapolis. She asked us, as architects, what are we doing to make an impact in our society, and how we can improve our communities. Her powerful words resonated with all the participants and reminded us about the importance of equity and diversity, empathy, and trust.

  • For the Committee Presentation Slides from  AIA New York WIA, AIA Miami WIA, AIA New Jersey WIA, and AIA Minnesota WIA, click here.
  • For Breakout Room Questions and Notes Summary, click here.
  • For a summary of AIANY Women in Architecture 2019 events, click here.

Related Links:

AIANJ, ‘What does AIA NJ do for me?’

Making social justice your business, JUST program

What is Social Equity?

Jeanne Gang closes gender pay gap

Billie Tsien ‘make space for families’