Boutique Design - April 2016 - 56

Principal/Owner | MAD
Hospitality Studio, LLC,
Alexandria, Virginia

At some point in their careers, designers will work on projects for clients who
are not culturally American, either here in the United States or abroad. This
means that firms will need to broaden their employee base to include cultural
diversity in-house to address these changing parameters. Each culture has its
own sensitivities and associations to design elements, such as colors, furniture,
layouts, etc. Latin America, Asia and the Middle East have become forces in
the hospitality field, and we need more designers who can intuitively address
and understand the needs and wants of these clients
Increasing diversity will need to be a multi-step process. We need to have
more minority professionals reach out to kids in middle schools and high
schools to show that the design field can be a career option for everyone.
Within design firms, I think most everyone conforms to the Equal Employment
Opportunity regulations. The focus needs to be in understanding the cultural
diversity needs of the clients and hiring employees that will contribute experience and expertise within these cultures to help the firms stay on point with
the changing needs of the industry. By having a diverse staff, the firms will
benefit by having resources in-house to address a broad spectrum of needs.
The obstacles she's faced: The biggest hurdle is the misconception that, as
a Hispanic woman, I may not have the same level of education as my counterparts. The funny thing is, I come from a long line of highly educated men and
women in my family, including doctors, lawyers and scientists. I have a master's
degree in interior design. But the stigma still exists sometimes.

boutiquedesign.com APRIL 2016

KIMSHASA
BALDWIN
Principal |Deture Culsign,
Architecture + Interiors,
Chicago

C A M I L L A S J O D I N ( AC E V E D O ) ; C O U R T E S Y O F D E T U R E C U L S I G N ( B A L D W I N )

MICHELLE
ACEVEDO

Of course I can tell stories of blatant racism toward me, but I have to treat it as their
problem, not mine. For me, the bottom line is, I proudly lead an award-winning
studio that provides professionally high-level creative services to all my clients. I
was also honored among Boutique Design's 2015 Boutique 18, which recognizes
up-and-coming leaders in the hospitality design industry.
We all have biases and tend to gravitate towards what we know, and then
let voices from media sources plant the seed for our skewed understanding of
those we do not know. It is paramount that each of us reject those images and
actively seek to broaden our understanding through real world connections. I
recently had a conversation with a client (see David Leventhal's comments in
this story) on the subject about (him) attending a seminar where "realized and
unrealized biases" were discussed. The case study was a mega tech-company
that unequivocally thought it was a leader for diversity in the workplace. Upon
internal study, they found they weren't even close. Diversity in our industry
means facing the same challenges-people need to start a conversation with
someone who is different from them and be open-minded.
Frustrating situation(s) she handles as an African-American designer:
I have to say working in America's ever-present biases is a challenge. With
international projects, I arrive on site and am introduced as the designer, more
specifically, the architect, and it is accepted without question. In the States, I
get questions like, "Are you the assistant or intern?" There have been meetings
where clients assume my white staff is the principal and not me.

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Boutique Design - April 2016

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