One of my special areas of interest is connecting with other women in the design field. And so I was very pleased when Maria introduced me to Jennifer Markas and her group - Damsels in Design. Jennifer has vision and energy and good ideas. She has done a remarkable job connecting women in design across many disciplines.

Jennifer produced one such gathering called “Open The Door” on April 4 at the Dorma Showroom in New York. It was a presentation by four female designers in fashion, beauty, architecture and interactive design on the creative process. I was happy to represent architecture and MNA with a presentation on the creative process behind our Tommy Bahama Flagship Store on Fifth Avenue. I presented an overview of our process, starting with listening to the client and understanding the story of the brand and then delved into specific aspects of the design, showing the background and iterative design process behind several elements.

Other presentations were made by designers at Revlon, Rachel Roy and The Rockwell Group’s LAB. It was truly a wonderful experience to get an inside look at the creative process in the worlds of fashion, advertising and interactive design presented by these talented women.