Travel has been inspirational to my process as a designer. Observing and engaging foreign places challenges my world view and enlightens me to new ideas that I would have not been exposed to otherwise.
I grew up in Los Angeles, California and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina when I was ten. Having a childhood on the west coast and adolescence in the south provided me a unique perspective on traditions of living and how families and friends engage in multi generational living communities. During my senior year of high school I was awarded the Congress-Bundestag Exchange Scholarship to live for a year with host family in Germany. I was able to defer my acceptance to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte's selective architecture program for one year while participating on this scholarship. During my time living in Berlin with my host family the whole world opened up to me. I traveled extensively, visiting Barcelona, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Prague, Poland, London, various parts of Germany and even participating as German exchange student with my local high school's art program in Florence, Italy for a two week travel study. While living in Germany I became fluent in German and completely fascinated with Berlin's history and architecture. Berlin is still today one of my favorite places in the world.
Upon completing my exchange in Berlin I returned to Charlotte, North Carolina to begin my architecture education at UNC-Charlotte. During my education my interests focused around urban design and multi family residential construction. Housing has always captured my imagination since childhood. My experience living in Europe reinforced my ideas that I could have a European quality of life, walking to dinner, the grocery store, even to my future place of employment, without the need for a car. Something that did not exist in Charlotte at the time, and for the most part most Americans are still car-captive. This research on quality of life, urban design and pedestrian oriented development brought me to graduate school in the pacific northwest. I went to Portland State University for my graduate degree in architecture. I was a part of the inaugural class of graduate architecture students at Portland State University. While studying in Portland I was able to spend my summer in Ladakh, India on a design build working on an interpretive center for the Druk White Lotus school for children. This was a enlightening summer abroad. I worked with other graduate students from all over the country, around forty of us in total. Immersing myself in a completely different part of the world, in a completely different culture is a fortunate event that I still pull strength and inspiration from today.
After completing my master of architecture degree at Portland State University I went to work for my first architecture firm, R2L:Architects in Washington, DC. Living and working in Georgetown was a highlight of my professional and personal life in DC. I was able to continue the walk-able lifestyle that I enjoyed in Portland, and now was surrounded by buildings rich in history and architectural style. I met my partner, Sean Pavlik in Washington, DC. and after four years of living and working in DC we moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where attended the University of Michigan for his MBA at the Ross School of Business. Upon completion of his dual MBA/Master of Science degree, we went on once in lifetime tour of Europe and Asia to celebrate. We spent 4 weeks traveling around Europe and 2 weeks in Asia, visiting Thailand and Cambodia.
Following our trip abroad we moved to Chicago, Illinois for Sean to pursue work in Strategy consulting and for me to continue to practice Architecture in a major US Architecture market. During the past six years I gained a tremendous amount of experience working for many renowned firms in Chicago, these included SCB, Brininstool + Lynch, Farr Associates and BKV Group. After 6 years in Chicago we have decided to buy a renovate a small bungalow outside of Washington, DC in Hyattsville, Maryland. This move is to be closer to family and friends. We are maintaining our residence in Chicago and plan to spend our summers in Chicago and winters in Maryland.
I am very much looking forward to this next chapter of my career!