How have you been networking during the lockdown? I am a member of the IIDA NE Membership Committee and we have been actively working on the continuation of our goals, outreach and growth during the lockdown. One of the tasks we have every year is organizing and running the IIDA NE Annual meeting. This year had a lot of unique challenges with this needing to be done remotely. We had to come up with ways to be engaging with our members with our usual information in a Zoom type setting. It was successful and we learned a lot on what works and what does not.

What books, blogs, podcasts, resources or influencers would you recommend to women? I have started following the group “The Female Lead” on LinkedIn and Instagram which feature female role models from around the world. They have a great breadth of inspiring and educational information on their website. I highly recommend checking it out.

Who inspired you to join the CRE Industry? A very good friend of my mother’s started her own wallpaper and painting business when I was in high school. She was helping my parents by driving me to and from school. I saw her as a strong independent woman and asked her about her job and what she did. She introduced me to design and lent me books to read and was the first person that brought up the idea that I could be an architect. Honestly throughout my entire career I have been surrounded by and mentored by fantastic women in leadership roles. I feel really blessed in that aspect.