Earlier this month, PAYETTE Principal Sarah Lindenfeld, Senior Associate Sara Gewurz and Associate Mali Ouzts had the opportunity to attend and to speak at the 2019 AIA Women’s Leadership Summit in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was the largest gathering ever of women architects in this country, with over 750 women in attendance. Together, they reflect on their experience at the Summit.
Our session, titled “The Path to Change: Advocating for Inclusivity through Management” focused on how those in the “middle” of a firm can invoke real change through integrating equity in practice management, project management, and even upward management within project teams. We shared concrete ways PAYETTE has taken action in the last few years towards a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive practice.
The most rewarding part of the session for me was turning the microphone on the 100 women in attendance and having them share their firms’ actions towards inclusivity at these three levels. They shared great stories relating to:
Practice Management successes, including: recruiting staff from diverse schools, utilizing blind resume reviews, using positive staff assessment tools and convincing leaders to believe in the importance of an inclusive, and equitable practice.
Project Management achievements, including: recognizing varied skillsets, adopting whole team presentations, setting meetings norms and varying communication techniques.
Upward Management victories, including: embracing self-advocacy, increasing training opportunities, having tough conversations, and welcoming self-organization.
The feedback we received was very positive, and hopefully, these women were able to leave the session with some strategies to bring back to their firms. We certainly did.
Related Links:
PAYETTE People at Women’s Leadership Summit 2019
The 2025 OpenLAB Boston studio work will be exhibited at Virginia Tech Monday, March 2nd through Wednesday, March 4th.
Please join us for the following events on Monday, March 2nd:
11:00am - Lecture with Parke MacDowell
1:00pm Lobby talk with Kevin Sullivan
This year’s studio identifies seven sites along the frayed edges of Boston’s Greenway. The Greenway is a one-mile-long linear park running through the heart of the city, reconnecting downtown Boston with its waterfront. Many of the parcels along its edges remain undeveloped and present mute, blank facades to the public realm. Addressing and repairing these edges through acts of infilling, layering, grafting, framing, and placemaking is the core focus of the studio—SUTURE.