Rockwell Group

What role did design play in your childhood, your family, your experience growing up?

My dad is a crane operator, so I’ve been on construction sites since I was four years old. I didn’t know that’s also where I would end up spending time as an adult. My dad was always engaging us in projects at home too, like building a fence for the yard or retiling the bathroom. My mom works for a school; she’s currently a teacher’s aid for three-year-olds. She’s just a super creative person and we were always doing little art projects at home to keep us entertained. I grew up in Chicago.

I wanted to work for the government, or foreign service, or the CIA! So I was taking a ton of languages and history in college, but it was during the (George W.) Bush administration and the more I got into it the more I was like, 'Maybe this is not the move.' The modern architecture course was super popular at Brown. I had heard it was good and signed up for it. At that point I had to make up for lost time because I had been focused on another major. I realized that to get an architectural degree I only needed nine more credits. I was always into architecture, but had not considered it a career until late in college.

Tell us about an experience you had where design or architecture played a pivotal role – a memorable trip, a specific discovery – doesn’t matter how big or small.

The high school I went to is kind of a fancy Catholic private school, St. Ignatius College Prep, and its campus includes a really beautiful set of buildings. Its main building, designed in 1869 by the Canadian architect Toussaint Menard, is one of only five existing that survived the Great Fire. Another is the “1895” Building by Richard Driehaus.

I can’t remember when this dawned on me, but I realized that the environment in which I was able to learn made it feel like the process of learning was important; just by being in these spaces made you feel like what you were doing were worthwhile. My partner is a public school teacher in our Brooklyn neighborhood and he understands and sees firsthand how the environment really does have an impact. He was devastated to learn one day that metal detectors were going to be installed at his school, and he worried about the ensuing messages and assumptions they would convey. He's a great teacher, so I know his students feel valued and nurtured! But the infrastructure creates an extra hurdle. I was really lucky that I was in this place that was beautiful and well taken care of. It made me more invested in what I was doing there.

What’s a building/space/landscape/experience you’d like to visit and haven’t yet?

What books are on your nightstand right now?

So many! On Weaving by Anni Albers. Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals by Saidiya Hartman. And William Styron’s memoir Darkness Visible.

Tell us about a mentor who helped you get to where you are today.

I’ve been very lucky and I’ve had a lot of them. When I was in high school I had this scholarship from a Chicago nonprofit called HighSight. They have this incredible mentoring process, and we had to go there two or three days a week after school. We were constantly meeting with inspiring and supportive people. I’m still in touch with those people. They were super critical to who I am as a person, and not just work-wise.

What’s your favorite part of Rockwell Group’s New York office?

Where I sit, on the 8^th floor. I do like our very high ceilings and our brick walls.

What’s your favorite product?

My All-Clad 3-quart saucepan. I bought it for myself last Christmas and it was a really worthwhile investment. I thought, 'This is a lot of money for a pot—I hope it’s great!' And it is great.