Black Women in Architecture Network
for and by Black women in architecture.
Join us to connect and uplift Black Women in Architecture at the 2024 BWA Brunch.
Organized in 13 cities around the US, we will join simultaneously. Then break for in-person networking and brunch.
Participate in a location of your choice or join in the virtual program from wherever you are.
Last 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.
…and Rosa Sheng’s Missing 32 percent’s EQxD blog series.
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.
Since I moved to the DMV area in early 2014, I have been thinking about having a get together for Black women architects. Earlier this summer, I was part of a blog series initiated by Equity in Design (formerly The Missing 32%). I was reading a post by one of the other authors, LaShae Ferguson, discussing bias and privilege. I could relate and wanted to know more. As I got to the end and read her bio and saw that she was also in DC, I thought “why don’t I know this woman?” The circle of black women architects is small. Having lived on both coasts, being involved at the national level of our professional organizations, and after attending many conferences over the last 10 years, I know a lot of us. I made it my mission to meet this woman so we arranged to have lunch when we could coordinate our schedules around work and kids.
Continue reading “BWA Brunch pt1”