Building a team of ‘amazing’ women
Photo by EUGENE TANNER | PBN
ARTICLE BY STEPHANIE SALMONS | PBN
Laura Ayers, Principal of WhiteSpace was recently featured in Pacific Business News!
In the article written by reporter Stephanie Salmons of PBN, Laura reflects on her years working together with Pip and what the future holds for the firm. Laura echoes Pip's belief that the firm is only as successful as the people on your team. If your employees are growing and thriving, then the company will flourish. Full article link at end of post.
WhiteSpace Architects is not only woman-owned and led by Laura Ayers, but — at least at the moment — is entirely staffed by women. Although the number of women members of the American Institute of Architecture grew in the decade between 2012 and 2021, only 24.1% of architect members and 25.7% of all members, were women, according to 2021 AIA membership demographic data.
Originally from Michigan, Ayers received her master’s degree in architecture from the University of Michigan and worked in Chicago for several years before moving to Hawaii in 2001. She interviewed with Philip "Pip" White and accepted a job at what was then known as Philip White Architects.
In 2016, Ayers became a partner and the firm was rebranded as WhiteSpace Architects, and in 2022, she became a majority owner. White, Ayers' longtime mentor, died in August 2022.
"It's been difficult, but I will say it was very important to him to make sure that he had a setup for a transition," Ayers said, tearing up. "... We already had been discussing and had plans in the works for the transition of him to retire, so we really had an excellent base and just a lot of things in place that allowed for me to take on more and more ownership each year, and for him to kind of transition out a little bit himself, and also discussing bringing Laurel [Swan] on with us as our third partner."
Swan will join the firm this spring as a partner, heading up the firm's Hawaii Island branch. According to Ayers, the firm — which does work on residential and commercial projects, including educational facilities — has, including herself, eight architects and designers, and one office manager. The team also will welcome a new employee in early April.
Is there advice from Philip White that you carry with you?
“Your firm is only as successful as the people who are on your team. If each of them is thriving and growing – professionally and personally – then the company will flourish!”
“There is no firm without the people. They are your greatest asset!”
Architecture remains a largely male-dominated field. Can you talk about your experience as a woman leader in this industry, and what it's like to lead an all-woman team in architecture?
“It looks like women are 26% of the architects nationwide and ... almost the exact same percentage here in Hawaii. ... Obviously yes, it is still a male-dominated field. As a woman in the field, I guess sometimes I get some reactions that sometimes people are surprised that I am an owner of an architectural firm, and how do I do it. ... As far as leading an all-women team, I don't know if it's so much different. I definitely try to be understanding and sensitive to any issues people may have, but I would do that for a man as much as I would for a woman.”
“People can be — and are — hard workers whether they're male or female. We just try to look for people [who] are going [to] work hard while they're here, have really good initiative, are really kind of go-getters and want to learn and do more. It's just a little bit [of a] coincidence that we are currently [an] all-female [team]. ... I do feel the women that are part of our team are amazing. They work hard and we have a lot of fun, but we also do some amazing work and get things done on time and when we say we're going to do them.”
What positions are you currently hiring for?
“What are some of the challenges you've faced in staffing? We've been looking for two positions. One [is] more of a project manager position, someone who might have more like two to five years experience. ... The second is more of an architectural designer position. That would be more of an entry-level [position], so an architect maybe with either a little bit of experience or not much at all, newly out of school or within a year or two of that.”
“Obviously, we already have a little bit of a challenge being here in Hawaii, that the pool of people [who] have architectural experience or are here is a little bit smaller. It's a little more difficult and [has] its own list of challenges to have someone move here from the Mainland for a position at our firm or any firm here. I think a lot of what's happening across a lot of fields, and definitely in architecture, is a lot of people are getting through school, and I don't know if it's the fatigue of the Covid years and everything that's been happening, but a lot of them are ... kind of taking a break, or an unconventional path like where they are looking to do something other than architecture, or a very nontraditional architectural thing before they start a job in an office. ... I hope a lot of them eventually come back to architecture because you learn a lot in school, but you also learn so much more when you get out in the field and in the real world — a lot of things they don't teach you in school.”
WhiteSpace Architects ranked No. 14 on Pacific Business News' List of Women-owned businesses in 2022, which was ranked by 2021 revenue.
