Her Story
About Patricia
Patricia Hernndez serves as Design Director at AP+I Design, a minority-owned architectural and interiors firm in the Bay Area. With over 15 years of experience in the field, she previously spent 11 years as a senior designer at Gensler before transitioning to her current role approximately one year ago. Patricia focuses on workplace design for tech and AI companies and has contributed to large-scale campuses for firms including NVIDIA, Apple, and Microsoft. She earned her bachelor's degree in architecture from the New School of Architecture and Design in San Diego, following studies at Chabot College in Hayward and El Camino High School in South San Francisco. Patricia is a member of CORNET, a real estate leadership program in the Bay Area, and the International Design Association (IDA), where she served as Oakland chapter director for four years, partnering with Larkin Street on a homeless youth shelter project. She also participated in a voting campaign to encourage women to vote. Patricia attributes her success to her immigrant parents and the strong work ethic they instilled in her. She advises others to do what they love and work hard, and encourages young women in the industry to own their voice and stand for their values.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Patricia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my parents and family. Both were immigrants to the U.S., and I saw how hard they worked and all they achieved. I attribute my work ethic and who I am to how my parents raised me and the examples they showed.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Do what you love and work really hard to get it. You have to love what you do so it doesn't feel like work, because you work a lot. If you love it, it balances out and you have to be passionate about it.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Own your voice. Speak up and stand for what you believe in, like what your true values are. Have that shine through in your designs, your voice, and the workplace. Get to be a strong voice in the room as soon as you can.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Everything moved really quickly. We still haven't figured out how to slow the pace down of design and client expectations. AI is making it worse because the expectation is you could do this in an hour, but design takes more time working through things critically. The pace makes it hard to maintain innovative design.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Being a kind human is very important. We all have to remember we're all just humans trying our best and have a little bit of grace for everyone. Everyone's going through their own thing. As a director, lead from a place of being human first, understanding and giving people grace.
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