This past February, the WIA Committee brought back the Speed Mentoring event, a night that aims to connect women in the industry who have 15+ years of experience with professionals ranging from 0 - 15 years of experience. Much like speed dating, each mentor had their own station and 20 minutes to talk to a group of mentees, before moving onto the next group of young professionals looking to get a piece of advice from a range of experienced individuals. Our group of mentors included Deborah J. Seitz, Dana Reed, Tina Cheng Faust, Margaret R. Sledge, Marjorie Tether Arendt, Jill Lavine, Ximena Valle, Elizabeth Kahley, Megan J. Delevan, Zinat Yusufzai, Lauren Powers, Catherine Gow, and Lisa Neely. Coming from a variety of backgrounds, these women were able to give insight into their life in the architecture industry, how to manage some hardships women might face, and how to create a good work-life balance. 

After the event, we reached out to the mentors to ask about their experiences and to answer a few questions. Here are some of their responses.

What was the best question you were asked last night?

"How do you advocate for yourself when you feel like your concerns are being dismissed because you’re perceived as young or inexperienced?”

“How do I not get discouraged by not hearing back from architecture firms I apply to and how can I keep going when I’m getting so little response?”

“How do you get people to stop seeing you as only capable of the thing you’ve been doing for so long and start thinking of you as capable of much more?”

“How can I decide between or get to do ALL the many things I am passionate about?”

What was the worst career/architecture-related story that you heard last night?

“An architect who shared that in her annual review, she felt un-heard.  And realized that the person doing her review and with whom she worked hadn’t noticed, or taken the time, to learn of her accomplishments and was more or less asking what she had done and learning about her experience in the review… rather than discussing her accomplishments and areas for growth.  It was clear she came away from the review feeling diminished and unrecognized.”

“One woman has been looking for a job for a long time, needs to go to grad school to get an accredited degree (4-yr BA in Arch) but doesn’t have money to spend on Grad School right now.”

“One person said she is one year out of school and hasn’t gotten any interviews. She was really sick for about 4 months so she wasn’t actively interviewing, but the rest of the time she said she was sending resumes, etc.”

What was the conversation that really stuck in your mind since the event?

“One attendee asked me what is the hardest part about being a Senior Associate. My answer was that it’s actually much easier in some ways from how I felt when I was a younger architect because I feel much more confident about my skills and abilities and feel like I am taken seriously and listened to where I am now. It was much harder for me to find that confidence when I was younger and hard to believe I would get here or would ever deserve to be here. I felt like I saw a lightbulb go on for a couple people in the group when I gave that answer – seemed like they connected with that insecurity and I hope that helped give them some perspective and motivation to stay with it! It was also good for me to reflect on those feelings.”

“One attendee commented on how the culture of a firm changed after one or two key personnel left – both senior women, thus leaving no women in firm leadership.  A lot of initiatives were dismantled and the “minor toxic-masculinity” attitudes and language returned.  It had a very transformative effect on the team, the studio and the office as a whole.  For example, a woman was required to bring in a new client in order to receive a promotion; yet, other men in the office had not been successful in landing this client and were still promoted.”

The event was hosted at the beautiful office of Bohlin Cywinsky Jackson, who generously provided refreshments and access to their spaces for the evening.

The WIA would also like to thank Nicole Dress for being the main organizer for this event, who worked to find mentors and secure a location in order to make this wonderful night possible. She noted that she was disappointed to hear the same stories repeated from the early 1990s and early 2000s. “It seems like the more things change, the more things stay the same. How can we ensure that permanent change happens in the architectural workplace?"