The Colorful Aura of Women in Architecture

International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day celebrated annually on March 8th to commemorate women's achievements and call for action to accelerate gender parity, while Women's History Month is a period of time, typically in March, dedicated to recognizing and celebrating women's contributions to history. We must continue to strive for #equity not only during this month, but every month of the year.

On Tuesday, March 18, AIA Philadelphia's Women in Architecture (WIA) Committee hosted an International Women's Day celebration, made possible by the continued support of Brickworks Design Studio. The event was held in collaboration with Inner Light Aura (https://www.innerlightaura.com/), bringing our community together to honor women in architecture. Inner Light Aura is a female run aura photography company designed to illuminate your true inner light.

The event began with introductions from Brickworks and WIA, followed by a presentation from WIA Co-chair Elisa Medina-Jaudes, AIA. She highlighted key insights from the study The Elephant in the (Well-Designed) Room, emphasizing that architecture firms can improve diversity and eliminate bias through evidence, goals, and metrics. If you haven’t yet read the study, it’s an important resource on how unchecked biases affect groups like women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people of color. The presentation ended on a high note, with a statistic showing that "women in architecture are ready for licensure one year faster than men on average."

The social aspect of the event was equally captivating, as many of us had the opportunity to have our auras read. Listening to the stories of women in the field reinforced the idea that they are true superheroes, radiating vibrant, colorful auras filled with strength, optimism, and fearlessness. A big thanks to Inner Light Aura for validating this! This event was a powerful reminder to celebrate and appreciate the women around us. With their strong colorful auras, women will continue to lead and make architecture a more equitable profession.

Thank you to these women for making this event possible:

WIA Committee Co-chairs: Elisa Medina-Jaudes, AIA and Sarah Curry, Assoc. NOMA

Brickworks team: Mary Topinko, Gia Mazurek, and Madison Childs

Inner Light Aura team: Atiya and Holly