Her Story
About Nalani
I am an architect with a specialty in civic architecture, and I'm deeply passionate about affordable housing and accessible design. This passion drives me to educate others, which is why I teach LEGO architecture to students, helping them develop skills in architecture and learn to design and create. Seeing them grow over time and learning really important skill sets like problem solving and teamwork is really great to see. I wanted to educate students so that they can have that foundation and chance to explore other opportunities where they can help other people. In the past, I've done different work such as helping to create tiny homes for homeless families in Seattle, Washington. I've also been a part of other projects trying to help families experiencing homelessness, doing presentations in different states. I work in advocacy as well, advocating and working towards bills that can help homeless families. For me, it's very important to have that focus on affordable housing and to bring more opportunities to work on it, especially since many architecture firms don't do affordable housing because they won't get any income from it, or very much. Outside of my professional work, I'm originally from Washington State, so I love all the outdoor activities like backpacking, hiking, going tubing, and kayaking. I also create music on the side, mainly focused on societal issues that we have or the problems that we see within our environment and nature. I enjoy drawing as well, which is one of the things that brought me into architecture. I love drawing realism portraits. I also love baking different things - anything I can find a recipe for, including cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and my favorite, lemon tarts.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Nalani
01What do you attribute your success to?
I will say two things. My drive stems from things I've experienced when I was younger. At one point, I did experience homelessness, and I don't remember very much, I was very young, but that experience did kind of push me towards trying to make change in our society and seeing parts of the issues that our society does have. Also still having family members experiencing homelessness, seeing other people out there in this world, in certain laws and policy that make it hard for people who don't have homes to live, because now it's illegal in many places for someone to be homeless, in general, being outside - they will be arrested, or they have to leave. Just finding solutions to this major issue that we've had for generations has become very, very important to me. I also believe in God, and I feel like He has definitely helped to guide me throughout all these years, ever since I was younger, and really helping me to find the path that I need to take in order to help make that change. So, I feel like those two things, for me, were very important.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think my best advice would be to never put limits on yourself. I feel that so many young women in their youth, or at any age, really, they say that they can't do something because they think, oh, this famous person did it, so it's too far of a reach for me. But people don't realize that we may not have economic power, or a high position, or something in that manner, but we do have our cultural and spiritual power, and we do have our voice. And these are things that can take us very, very far, and can get us places that we don't even realize. And so we really just need to take the initiative and the step to just start doing something, network, speak to people, and gather your resources, and use the resources you have, because there are resources out there, you just need to find it. Just really believing in yourself, and knowing that your voice does matter, and that you can do something about what you see out there in the world, I think is really just the first and one of the biggest steps in trying to create change.
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