Category: BWA Brunch

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2021 BWA Brunch Recap

The 2021 BWA Brunch was an amazing gathering of over 60+ Black women architects and supporters. We held a virtual program and had some wonderful firms and individuals that hosted in-person watch parties.

First-time BWA Brunch attendee, Linda Clark, wrote the following recap and perspective of the 2021 BWA Brunch.

Black Women in Architecture Brunch 2021
Linda Clark

Throughout my educational and professional career in the building industry, I have always been a minority, and in most cases one of two, but more commonly the only black woman in my architecture classes or firms. So being able to join a community of other black woman architects connecting over shared experiences and a common mission to help create more representation and exposure in the architectural community is an invaluable experience. I was honored to share this experience with so many black woman architects, locally in the DC area, but also nationally with the virtual platform that was used this year.

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2021 BWA Brunch – event info

Save the Date

We are currently working to plan the
2021 Black Women in Architecture Brunch.
Save the date for October 24, 2021 for our Virtual+ event.

Learn more about the event HERE.

We look forward to networking with you in the fall.

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Black women in architecture to gather for Sixth Annual Brunch

Black women in architecture gathered for Sixth Annual Event in Washington DC

Washington, DC – On October 18, 2020, over 100 black women and other architecture professionals gathered for what has become an annual networking event. The event was virtual this year with women attending from across the country.

Organized by a team of volunteers, this annual event is an opportunity for black women to gather and network with each other to foster working relationships, build future partnerships and support each other. In the profession, black women make-up only 0.4% (497) of the over 116,000 licensed architects in the United States. The event serves to connect women who could easily be working in environments where they rarely see another black woman.
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BWA 2018 Brunch


September 2018 BWA Brunch

This year’s brunch partners will be the Architects Foundation and BlackSpace. Architects Foundation have generously offered the Octagon House as a venue for this year’s event. Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the historic house as well as view the exhibit: 50 Years After Whitney Young Jr. The exhibit shares Young’s life, the circumstances leading to his speech at the 1968 AIA National Convention, the creation of the award, and the award recipients.

Additionally, members of BlackSpace will be welcoming all Black urbanists in the 11:00 – 1:00 hours in celebration of the Shifting the Landscape covenings. BlackSpace is a Black urbanist collective that demands a present and future where Black people, Black spaces, and Black culture matter and thrive.

Purchase tickets here.

Event Agenda

9:45 doors open
10 – 11:00 women only networking, exhibit open
10:45 – women in arch photo, BWA Network introduction
11:00 brunch served,open to Blackspace members
11:45 Blackspace introduction
12:15 wrap up
1:00 Museum opens to public

Purchase tickets here.

Help support the event. Become a BWA 2018 Sponsor.

Thank you to current sponsors

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BWA Brunch pt3

BWA brunch 2015Last summer, I got this crazy idea that I could gather a room full of black women architects to network and just meet each other. The idea was cemented in my mind after a conversation with a local colleague.

I started out with a list of 25 women. I asked them to send me names and emails to add the list. By the day of the actual event, I had sent emails to over 65 women. I had forty attendees including a couple of New Yorkers who came down to attend. I was amazed, and a felt a little like I was watching a giant snow ball roll down a hill building momentum.

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BWA Brunch pt 2

It started with coffee…

…and Rosa Sheng’s Missing 32 percent’s EQxD blog series.

Coffee. https://www.flickr.com/photos/madame_furie/2691192114/sizes/l
Flickr photo by Christine H / Madame.Furie

A few months ago, I wrote a guest blog for the Missing 32 percent’s about bias and prejudice and if it should limit your dreams. I was fortunate to connect with one of the authors, Katherine Williams. Her story, “Be Willing to Listen” was incredibly real and so relatable.

When I discovered we were in the same area, I thought, we have to meet for coffee. That led to BWA brunch where I was thrilled to meet so many other women in the field. It helps to know that your experience mirrors someone else’s, to hear so many relatable stories. It’s encouraging and so inspiring see so many licensed architects, experienced project managers, talented interior designers and business owners.

For a moment, I had memory recall of when I decided this was it, this is what I want to do and there was no one that looked like me, fast forward to this moment and there is a room full of women that look like me. Considering for a moment, our journey through history, what we weren’t allowed to do, to learn, to be, and to pause for a moment and see this, brings to mind the words of Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” This was that day where I felt, this is amazing, this is revolutionary, this is the redefinition of what architecture should be.

By LaShae Ferguson
http://www.la-dc.com/home.html

Read Part 1 and about the day of the Brunch in the next post, Part 3.