Brianna Perkins

I've had so many incredible mentors in my life that have pushed me and constantly reminded me that I can pursue really anything that I want. I would say my creativity drives me in everything that I do, and that's really what brought me into landscape architecture, is my artist side. I think just being able to see the world in the way that I do, which is very thoughtfully and very intentionally, and with a willingness to see good in people, even in bad situations. I think that there's a certain level of me being able to persist beyond challenging times in my life and beyond challenging situations that happen, and just normal everyday challenges of being a human. I just have a willingness to problem solve and figure out ways to try and achieve things in my life.

I would say take up space in every room that you are in. Have big ideas, push boundaries, don't be afraid to speak up for yourself and make yourself known. I think that's something that's been really important to me. Being a woman in the professional field, you know, sometimes it's challenging to always get the same level of respect as other people might just naturally. I'm really grateful to work at a firm where they uplift women. We have male management, and they really intentionally uplift women and give us opportunities to be heard and make us feel valued. So just take up space.

I would say one of the biggest challenges in landscape architecture is advocacy. People don't actually know that landscape architecture exists, and a lot of people don't always necessarily see the value. I think in architecture, there's a building that people can point at to say, okay, we need this. And for the landscape that composes all of the spaces between the buildings, it's harder. So just advocating for the importance of public spaces that are for everyone, advocating for public spaces that are socially equitable and environmentally equitable, designing in ways that help mitigate climate change and use green infrastructure. We're at this precipice right now where we're realizing that all of the ways that we were designing in the past are actually really damaging, not using native plants and native soils. It's caused a lot of problems down the line, and so we're working to reverse a lot of the ways that our cities are designed. So yeah, just spreading the message about that and making sure that politicians understand that and different city leaders understand that, making sure that we are advocating for the things that we are designing for.

I would say something I really value is my commitment to stay true to myself and to my loved ones. It's really important for me to challenge myself to continue to do things that just feel good for my brain and my body, which includes continuing to be creative and continuing to have physical movement, and just making sure that I'm prioritizing me. And then that allows me to be able to actually have an impact on the people around me, because you can't really help anyone else unless you're helping yourself. Something that's really important to me is inspiring the people around me. I feel like people are constantly telling me that they are inspired by all of the art that I'm making and doing, and my career path with my job, and it feels good to be someone for other people to look up to.