Her Story
About Allyson
Allyson Cromwell is an emerging architect who earned her Bachelor's of Architecture from the City College of New York, Spitzer School of Architecture in May after moving from Northern California specifically to pursue her studies. She has been building her professional experience through a two-year internship during school and now works in commercial architecture, managing projects that include furniture selection and typical architectural tasks. Her daily responsibilities involve responding to clients and contractors, attending meetings, drafting, sketching, and applying new technologies and computer programs she introduced at her firm. Cromwell emphasizes the importance of interpersonal skills, clear communication, and thoroughness when collaborating with clients, developers, and construction teams. She attributes her success to the supportive people around her combined with her own personal drive, and she advises pursuing work that truly moves you while holding confidence in male-dominated environments. Her core values center on integrity, trustworthiness, strong communication, and caring deeply about the work and the people it serves to create spaces that inspire and help others.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Allyson
01What do you attribute your success to?
Honestly, I think the people around me. Being pushed and being constantly supported has really been impactful, but I also would say personal drive.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Do the thing that you lose time doing. Do something that really moves you, that you really care about. Once you find it, just go full steam ahead. Don't look back.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Especially in this industry, I would say anything is possible. Like, don't let being in a room full of 15, 20 men intimidate you. And hold your head high.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Right now, it's really about learning the process, and a lot of interpersonal skills, so working with clients, working with developers, working with construction teams. There's a lot that I've learned about social skills, communication skills, being able to be thorough and clear.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Integrity, being trustworthy, having strong communication. But the biggest is caring about the work that you're doing, caring about the people that you're working with and working for, and ultimately, the goal of architecture is to create spaces that inspire, help, move people.
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