On a rainy night in February, I moderated a panel discussion with Brown University graduates who are actively changing the built landscape: A builder, a developer, an interior designer, an architect, and a real estate broker…and they were all women. How did these women choose their fields, build their careers and navigate through professions often characterized as male-dominated? What is the reality of being a woman in these fields? Challenges? Advantages? Building is so inherently collaborative and team driven, and the notion of the sole designer -Master Builder- has never been true but is a very seductive myth. Are women more inherently collaborative, problem solvers and consensus seekers, or is that a myth too? Would that quality be a benefit?

I posed these questions to the panelists, and we had a spirited discussion. We pushed back against being labeled, but we also recognized that we need to present ourselves as role models for the upcoming generations: This is what an architect looks like. This is what a developer looks like. We talked about what we had experienced on site and in the office. We speculated on how you have a career and a family…and how we individually, and as employers, dealt with issues of flexibility and inclusion.

Brown Panel: Building Women

Moderated by:
Barbara Laskey Weinreich ’80
- Architect – Principal; MNA

Panel Guests:
Tei Carpenter ’05
- Architect - Principal at Agency-Agency and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University

Charlotte Matthews ‘99
- Developer - Vice President-Sustainability; Related

Barbara Pook ’77
- Builder - Principal and Director of Project Management; Pook, Diemont & Ohl, Inc.

Diana Revkin ’83
- Architect - Associate Principal; TPG Architecture

Suzanne Sunshine ’85
- Real Estate – President; S. Sunshine & Associates