Empowering Equitable Architecture: Yiselle Santos Rivera on Diversity, Inclusion, and Innovative Spaces

Brief summary of episode:

Yiselle Santos Rivera, AIA, NOMA, LSSYB, LEED AP, WELL AP is a Principal and Global Director of Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at HKS, Inc. Yiselle seeks to dismantle barriers, bring visibility and voice to underrepresented designers, and create equitable practices through inclusive workplace strategies. As an architect and medical planner, Yiselle amplifies the voices of marginalized communities encouraging processes of co-creation and designing spaces that provide equitable access to care. She is a trusted advisor to firm leaders and clients as they begin their journeys to build more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations.
She is the co-founder of the Latin American Interior Designers, Engineers, and Architects (LA.IDEA) DC Committee and founder of “Women Inspiring Emerging Leaders in Design” (WIELD), which received the 2019 AIA Diversity Program Recognition Award. Yiselle has served on the AIA National Associated Committee (NAC) as 2015-16 Mid-Atlantic Regional Associate Director and 2017-18 At-Large Director of Advocacy and Community Engagement. During her tenure, the Emerging Professionals WolfPAC won the AIA ArchiPAC’s ArchiCup for most money raised and greatest number of donors. Later, she served as the 2019 Strategic Council Associate Director and in 2020, served on the AIA National Board as Associate Representative. As a member of the 2020 AIA COVID-19 Health Impact Task Force, Ms. Santos Rivera led the creation of the Additional Considerations section of the AIA Alternative Care Site Preparedness Assessment Tool V2.0 providing measures in support of ethnically diverse and marginalized populations, now translated into 3 languages. During this time, Yiselle also served a two-year term on the AIA Equity and the Future of Architecture Committee, supporting the development of the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice Executive Summaries.
Currently, Ms. Santos Rivera is the AIA DC Chapter Board 2022 Vice President/2023 President-Elect and the NOMA Chair of Research and Development. Yiselle is a national speaker, featured author in book “Latinas in Architecture: Stories of raising the 1% one Latina at a time”, and has been featured on various industry podcasts. She is a storyteller, a 2015 Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program Scholar, and recipient of the 2018 AIA Associate Award and the 2022 AIA Young Architect Award.

The Truth In This Art
The Truth In This Art is a podcast interview series supporting vibrancy and development of Baltimore & beyond's arts and culture.

Mentioned in this episode:
Yiselle Santos Rivera

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