Q: Can you tell me about the housing project you’re involved in?
A: I’m in my first year of master’s right now, and we’re doing a design build. It’s affordable housing for twin homes right next to the Grove. The Moscow Housing Trust owns the land and builds affordable homes for people.
Q: What is your role in that?
A: There’s two teams, so I’m one of the team leaders. I make sure we get our stuff done on time. We’re designing it, but right now we’re still at the beginning phases and just getting our plans set.
Q: What people are going to be impacted by the project?
A: In my mind, the client is a low-income single parent, but you don’t have to be low income to afford these homes, they’re going to be about $150,000.. Around Moscow there’s not a lot of affordable housing and if you’re a single parent it’s hard to afford a home. That’s who I’m envisioning when we’re designing this – a single mom and what her needs would be – and I’m trying to build for that.
Q: How time consuming is that for you?
A: Probably 30 or 40 hours per week in just studios. I have a couple of other classes and stuff on top of that so it’s a lot, and I have a two-year-old son.
Q: How is that on top of everything?
A: It’s really hard. It’s a lot of time management – there’s not a lot of time for bullshit. I work part time and then I have school and then I have him. But when I’m with him, I’m with him, and I try to be fully there.
Q: What’s the most challenging part of all of this work?
A: I think the challenging part is finding time to just breathe and feel like the work that we’re doing is enough. Just switching off for the day and being like, “What I did today was enough.” Or just asking for help. That’s a really hard thing for me and something I’m going to have to get better at.
Q: What’s the most rewarding part?
A: When it all comes together at the end and it’s done, I genuinely feel proud of myself and I know it’s really decent work. Feeling how much growth happened in just one semester and all this knowledge I gained, that’s a good feeling, of putting your work out there and being like, “This thing is done, I don’t have to think about it anymore, it turned out great.”
Q: What empowers you, regarding your project or just life in general?
A: I’ve had professors and other people say that I can’t do it when I say I want to open my own firm. In a weird way, that really motivates me because I’m just going to prove you wrong. But on a more positive side, having other strong women in my life and strong people who are just themselves makes me feel empowered to be around that kind of person. It’s really accepting yourself completely, and everything you do from there, you do it your way.