Today we are celebrating International Women’s Day today with our fantastic PLACE Lab family. It is an important day to celebrate female leadership and gender equity especially within the Landscape Architecture industry. We believe the voices, capabilities and experiences of the women in our office and industry bring robustness to our design processes, strengthens our discipline and ultimately, makes great places for the community. Our directors Anna Chauvel and Shlomit Strum have championed female leadership within the Landscape Architecture industry and have become role models for the next generation of female Landscape Architects.
As designers we understand the work is never really finished. So today we celebrate how far we have come, the strength and contribution of the women in our lives and reflect on the work to be done as individuals, as a business and as an industry in achieving true equality. We have asked a few of our incredible female PLACE Lab team members to share some insight on their journey as a female designer within the Landscape Architecture industry:
Lei Zhang – “Just like the Landscape Architecture industry itself, women can only rise in status compared to men when the status of their gender rises as a whole. “
Anna Chauvel – “There has definitely been some road bumps (and continues to be) along my journey as a (she/her) landscape architect. They often cause me to doubt myself and I have to work hard to not let them define who I am or force me to conform to a certain paradigm. Instead I have learnt to trust my heart, skills and ideas and decided to do it my way.”
Shlomit Strum – “As a woman I have managed to find my path in Landscape Architecture industry by taking risks, understanding that NO can be changed into a YES, to be resilient, aiming high and most importantly remember to be human.”
Sarah May – “Treat every day as International Women’s Day! There is room for everyone at the table, and all voices matters.”
Cara Sealey – “As a young female Landscape Architect, I value having such inspiring female role models in our team. I believe that either as men or women, we should take every opportunity to listen to each other and to empower one another.”
Happy International Women’s Day to all women from PLACE Laboratory!