On Wednesday, January 20, the AIANY WIA Committee hosted a special WIA Forum: Building Resiliency and Support Among Peers During the Pandemic. According to the Architect Magazine Opinion piece from May 2020, Ming Thompson, the AIA Connecticut Women in Architecture Co-Chair, stated that the architecture profession might lose a generation of women in the Coronavirus era. Ten months into the pandemic, most of us are still working remotely and facing challenges balancing work and family schedules, staying connected with our colleagues, and continuing our professional development paths.

We were honored to have Annelise Pitts, AIA, Principal Consultant, Cameron MacAllister Group and Research Chair, Equity by Design; Kirsten Sibilia, Assoc AIA, Managing Principal, Dattner Architects; Ming Thompson, AIA, Co-founder, Atelier Cho Thompson and Shannon Rodriguez, Assoc AIA, Human Resource Director, FXCollaborative facilitate the conversation. We are grateful for them kicking off the conversation by sharing personal stories about how they have each faced challenges during the pandemic. We appreciate the openness and candor of attendees regarding a wide range of topics including: firm management, layoffs, balancing household responsibilities such as childcare with workload, developing and maintaining workplace culture and connectedness in a virtual environment, attaining licensure, burnout and the importance of self-care.

We encourage all to continue this important dialogue, to support one another and be empathetic to those around us in these challenging times. Thank you to all who participated.

For a summary of tips, advice and resources shared, please see link here.

 After Wednesday’s momentous celebration in elevating the first female, bi-racial, person of color Vice President to the White House, we remain hopeful that women will stay resilient, emerging from this pandemic even stronger.

For the AIANY WIA January Committee meeting agenda including upcoming events for Q1 2021, Around Town & Related Events, Topics, and Good Reads please see link here.