In celebration of International Women’s Day, CRTKL hosted a panel discussion featuring industry leaders across the built environment. Here, they shared anecdotes from their illustrious careers, offered advice for emerging professionals and insights into their paths to leadership. The panel addressed this year’s theme, “Break the Bias,” exploring approaches to combat bias in our workplace and communities.
Moderated by Bee Rarewala, Principal and Director of Brand Strategy at CRTKL, the panel featured five inspirational women: Gabrielle Bullock, FAIA Principal and Director of Global Diversity at Perkins + Will; Sonnet Hui, General Manager and Vice President at Project Management Advisors, (PMA); Christina Schmidt, Senior Vice President and Regional Counsel at Brookfield; Libby Gillen, Vice President of Architecture and Design and Director of Design and Development at Tarkett and Ebbie Wisecarver, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Design at WeWork.
Bee started the discussion by asking the panelists about their path to leadership. Gabrielle began the conversation by discussing how her focus on passion-driven social purpose propelled her into leadership later in her career. Still, early on, she knew she just had to work harder to get to where she needed to be – then, design sat with men. Christina followed, in alignment with Gabrielle – having to work twice as hard for half as much— describing the realization that she needed to be perfect in her work to be taken as seriously as her male coworkers. She added that by starting the Women’s advocacy group at her firm, she was able to gain more facetime with higher-ups, which propelled her path towards leadership.
Libby shared many dimensions of discrimination on her path to leadership – as a young person, a woman, and a person of color. She shared that her move from Boston to Chicago increased her sense of representation, which was significant to her growth as a leader. Ebbie related to this sentiment, sharing that she never initially saw leadership as a path for herself. She went on to say that she found great opportunity in saying “yes” to new, exciting situations – like moving to Australia, Japan and China, in her case, and leaning on the support of her colleagues. Sonnet then shared how inspirational women in her life, from her grandmother to her 12-year-old daughter, have shaped who she is today.
As the conversation continued, the group shared how they navigated the process of breaking biases. Ebbie described her process of rising above the endless frustration of microaggressions to focus on her ultimate goals. Christina added that she often volunteers herself to be involved in strategic conversations with higher-ups, providing legal counsel and business acumen. Sonnet shared her refusal to buy into others’ ignorance and prejudices and how it drives her further if someone doubts her ability.
Libby then shared how she brought awareness to the plights of her community. By being transparent to her white, male coworkers about her struggles to travel safely in some regions of the country, including the need to avoid certain times of day, constant preparation with a full tank of gas, etc. She discussed her pride in bringing issues to a larger platform and seeing the positive changes for herself.
Gabrielle closed out the conversation with the following remarks, “As the only one in the room who looks like me, and at a pivotal point in my career, I felt the need to pursue my passion for equity, justice and inclusion. It’s been a lot of work, and there will be more, but it’s now at the core of who we are – it takes deliberate and intentional focus to keep it that way.”