Celebrating International Women's Day 2022

From a Jimmy Kimmel inspired 'Mean Tweets - More Than A Womxn' session to virtual speed mentoring from our principals, we are encouraging staff to share their experiences and ideas to stimulate discussion and learning.

Here we showcase a selection of blogs, from our global collective of designers, who tell us about women who have inspired their education and career journeys.

My friend's mother is someone who inspires me to keep improving. She was born in a small town in northern China. At the time, small places generally did not value women, believing that they should be at home with the children.

However, she persisted in self-improvement. She gained a place at the best university in Shanxi province as a result of her efforts and then established her own architectural firm, whilst at the same time taking good care of her family.

From her, I saw the vigorous vitality and the courage not to set limits for myself. When I face a big challenge, I will try to emulate her, dare to challenge and never give up

I started at BDP as a student on placement during the summer of 2017, within the Civil and Structural Engineering team in Manchester. At the time, Sheila Salvador-Abad was the only female engineer in the team. She had also joined BDP as a summer placement student in 2014. She made me feel welcome and was a great example of the progression that I could achieve working for the practice.

I returned for a second summer placement in 2018 and accepted a full-time position in September 2019. Throughout my career at BDP, Sheila has continued to be a role model for me. She has provided me with countless hours of technical engineering support and valuable career advice. In addition, Sheila has inspired me to pursue my Institute of Civil Engineering (ICE) chartership, after achieving her chartership in October 2020.

For the first ten years of my career, every time I discussed my career aspirations, all roads seemed to lead to Susan Ruptash. She was a pioneer of universal design, an architect determined to change the trajectory of how we design for people with all types of ability.

From the moment I met her, I knew I wanted to work with her. She was the managing principal at BDP Quadrangle for over a decade and her progressive ideology ensured that we placed people at the centre of our practice. She taught me the value of delivering radically candid feedback and how the pursuit of one’s passions could translate into career success.

Susan was the founder of Accessibility Advantage, that later became Human Space, BDP’s global collaborative focused on equity, wellness and inclusion. As principal emeritus, Susan continues to demonstrate her curiosity and poetry through her art. Last December, Susan exhibited her first solo art show, where she studied the raw qualities of Japanese washi paper.

To the woman I admire...

Being a woman is tough …one has to be soft and hard at the same time. One has to be fire and water in the same breath …yes sir ...we are talking about a WOMAN.

To me, being a woman is to be unapologetically myself, especially in spaces that were not traditionally created for me. It means to have choices in every decision I come across. Being a woman to me means having the choice to be bold and speak up not only for myself but passing my voice to others.

This is a valuable lesson learnt from my Mentor, Mrs. Savita Punde, founding partner at Design Cell, a premier landscape architecture firm in India. She held my hand through a personally difficult time, whilst simultaneously prodding me to excel in the field. Watching over me yet not saving me from falls …I tumbled, I scrambled and I learnt.

As the words by Maya Angelou resonate…

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of the tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I rise.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

When my interest in architecture started in my mid-teens, my first lessons came from my mum, a local authority town planner, who would show me recent planning proposals and talk me through the issues at play.

As my career started, hers developed to lead the Kings Cross regeneration at Camden Council, then to head Camden’s regeneration and planning department before she retired.

In our conversations about architecture, her professional approach often comes from a completely different perspective, with architectural design overlaid with other competing interests and wider political objectives.

Our discussions have taught me to look at a proposal through different lenses and to use design to balance different needs. Not only am I incredibly proud of her achievements, but her approach remains a strong inspiration in my working life today.