How long have you been in the AEC industry and when did you first develop an interest for this profession?
I have been with Lehrer Cumming for a little more than two years. This is my first job out of school! I am originally from Shanghai, China. My family traveled intensely during my childhood years. I have always been interested in how architecture brought the unique identity of a city to the forefront and merged the new with the old, telling a captivating story through material and form. After graduating from architecture school at Pratt Institute with a minor in construction management, I was determined to be more involved in facilitating the building process and be an active part in managing construction. Watching a project initiate from an idea to reaching its completion is the most satisfying event to experience!

What projects and/or achievements are you most proud of?
The first project I was on was the Javits Expansion Project. It is a 1.2 million-sq.-ft. extension to the existing facility, featuring a tall atrium, new event spaces, and an enormous green roof that hosts a pavilion, an orchard, and a one-acre working farm. The project began construction in early 2017 and achieved completion in the summer of 2021. The existing convention center has served as both a medical center and a vaccination site during the toughest times throughout the pandemic. Knowing that the project I helped manage and build will not only bring forward an amazing space for people to share new ideas but can also serve as a backbone for our society in difficult times is incredible. I am super proud to have been part of the team!

Who is the most influential woman you know?
I would say that the most influential woman are the women around me! All the women whom I’ve worked with have taught me dedication, attention to detail, standing up for yourself, being there for each other, and loving your family and your work. If we aim to influence each other a little each day, that will go a long way!

What are some of the biggest challenges that women in this industry face today?  How will these change in the next 20 years?
I think the biggest challenges that women in this industry are facing are pay equity, adjusting to outdated family leave policies, advancing in the early stages of one’s career as well as securing a position at a higher position in the organization, and the indifference or even fear both men and women tend to have when raising these issues. I believe change is inevitable as women become a larger and more essential part of this industry in the next 20 years. More and more women are recognizing their irreplaceable values in the company and voicing out these concerns. I certainly want to be involved in pushing these changes forward!

How long have you been in the AEC industry and when did you first develop an interest for this profession?
I have been in the AEC industry 28 years. I received a Master of Architecture degree in 1993, spent a year interning with a low-income housing grant writing firm, and then moved into architecture as an intern. I transitioned to design and construction management with Cumming two years ago. My interest in AEC developed during childhood while building doll houses and coloring computer-generated abstract designs. I also give credit to growing up in a house filled with astounding craftsmanship (e.g., floral woodworking and decorative tiles depicting the story of Don Quixote).

What projects and/or achievements are you most proud of?
I am most proud of my ability to build and maintain positive working relationships and to bridge the gap between contractor and owner.

Who is the most influential woman you know?
It may be cliché, but my mother is the most influential woman I know personally. Her influence extends beyond our family to women throughout the nation through her service as an educator and ministry leader. She once told me that I am true to my upbringing. I am grateful for the great training that has prepared me for life.

What are some of the biggest challenges that women in this industry face today?  How will these change in the next 20 years?
Among the greatest needs for women emerging as AEC professionals are exposure to and mentorship with women who are industry leaders. The increase in women in our field over the next 20 years will positively affect the number of women entering the industry. More women in leadership will also help tackle the wage disparity.

How long have you been in the AEC industry?
I have worked in the industry for the last 13 years, working in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. I qualified as a quantity surveyor and in recent years I’ve transitioned into project management roles.

What projects and/or achievements are you most proud of?
I’m proud of all the projects I’ve had the opportunity to work on. I’ve been fortunate to have worked on a diverse range of projects in many different sectors. I worked in Christchurch for five years after the 2011 earthquake, and I was part of the city’s rebuilding efforts. The introduction of design mechanisms to prevent similar occurrences, and the need to adapt to revised building regulations, was both interesting and challenging.
I look forward to revisiting the city to see the completed projects, specifically The Christchurch Convention Centre.

Who is the most influential woman you know?
I am lucky to have come from a family of strong, hardworking women. My mother has always been a great influence in my personal and professional life. In relation to the AEC industry, I went to a speech by Sara Fox in 2013 — she is known as the Iron Fist. She has an amazing story and a brilliant career working on some prominent projects. I found her to be inspiring and powerful with a funny flare.

What are some of the biggest challenges that women in this industry face today?  How will these change in the next 20 years?
In this ever-evolving world, there will always be challenges. Historically, construction was not an industry favoured by women, but this has changed. Women and men now work collaboratively, and both recognise valuable traits in the other which benefit the industry. This has advantages for employers, employees, and projects. The challenge (for all industries) is to move with the times, embrace change, and adapt to the world we live in by being open.

How long have you been in the AEC industry?
I have been working in the AEC industry for the last five-and-a-half years, since I started with Cumming.

When did you first develop an interest for this profession?
I have always been interested in technology and it led me to pursue my bachelor’s in computer science. I worked on several side projects during my bachelor’s program, which gave me exposure to real-world problem-solving scenarios, and I then became more passionate about technology. After graduating, I started in a multi-national IT firm where I started working on developing applications, managing databases, automating processes, working with SharePoint, etc. Being an IT professional, I have been exposed to projects from a wide range of industries, from banking to oil and gas, and that has only helped me further in solving complex problems here at Cumming.

What projects and/or achievements are you most proud of?
I work with different teams to help them digitize forms, automate approval processes, and create tracking systems. I help create project sites for centralized data collaboration with external and internal project teams. I’m proud of building tools to enhance workflows. I’m most proud of redesigning Cumming’s intranet TeamLink on the cloud a few years ago. It was a large overhaul of the old site and it increased accessibility, enabled us to get responsive design, and made the site compatible with any device. It’s been almost two years and it’s time for another refresh of TeamLink with a new look and feel, improved functionalities, and better integration with newer tools like Teams. Stay tuned for the launch this year!

In my previous company, I worked on a project for the city police that involved technologies of C#.Net, SQL Server, and HTML. It was an R&D project application to capture the number plates of the cars which were violating red lights. It involved cameras, integrated with traffic lights, that were on if the light was red. It would continuously take snapshots of the cars that stopped at the signal. If the car was standing on the stop line or if it has crossed the stop line, then the number plate of that car would be cropped from the image, processed using OCR, and saved into a database.

Who is the most influential woman you know?
I am greatly influenced by the life and work of Mother Teresa. Her span of work stretched through Kolkata, my hometown. What she has done for the poor and sick, and how she influenced and taught people to love each other, is an aspiration to me even in today’s world.

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” – Mother Teresa.

What are some of the biggest challenges that women in this industry face today? How will these change in the next 20 years?
While there have been some advancements, there are still challenges regarding gender equality in all industries. According to one study, 1 in 5 c-suite leaders are women. Women are expected to have demonstrated achievement prior to being considered. A woman’s ability to lead is often undermined by gender stereotypes. Being talked over in meetings or being outright ignored is another common experience for women and it has a negative impact on a woman’s career. One way to overcome this is to make sure you don’t let your opinion be impacted by others and speak up for what you know and believe in. Assertiveness to me is the key.

Another big challenge faced by women is the maternity packages and insufficient childcare/caregiving support. Unpaid maternity leave is already a stressful situation for a new mother and the family, and women often report missing out on opportunities and promotions after returning from leave. Expensive childcare also keeps women out of the workforce, since it means many women cannot afford to return to work. The United States is one of the few very wealthy countries in the world without any guaranteed paid parental leave at the national level. A change in law would definitely be helpful. A flexible and remote work schedule, which we are seeing is just as effective as working in the office, will also help to maintain a work-life balance.

What is your biggest career highlight to date?
I have worked with some amazing clients and colleagues all over the world during my 25-year career, but the most interesting have been around location selection and incentives. I think the most exciting one was working with Met Office (the UK weather forecasting service) to relocate them from the southeast of England to ‘somewhere else’. It was an excellent project looking across the UK and involving interesting stakeholders.

What’s important to you?
Going beyond and giving back has always been important for me. I love to have a busy life and am passionate about helping out our young people. I am a school governor at a large local senior school and have worked with charities that look to stop youth homelessness. Giving to the community has always been important to me, but has become even more so since becoming a mum, so I mustn’t forget to mention that my daughter Molly is very important to me, as is being a role model for her.

Top tips you would give to others starting their careers?
Be brave. Take a risk sometimes in your career. I think it is very easy to think that you can’t tick all the boxes for certain roles, but stretching yourself sometimes, while uncomfortable, can be very rewarding and surprising.

Get a sponsor, not just a mentor, and make sure they are very different to you as that will push you and teach you so much.

What changes would you like to see within the Industry?
It would be great to see more women at the senior level, on boards, and in fee earning positions, rather than just in support roles. I think this provides an aspiration for so many.

Any other advice or feedback you would like to share?
Be yourself! Authenticity for me is so important and will serve you well. I have wasted some of my career worrying about what others think of me and generally I have either been wrong or they have been ill-informed, so I’m not sure why I bothered! One of the things I realised early on is there is a difference between personality and behaviour: one can be managed and the other can’t.