Member Voices
SMPS invites members to share their experiences and perspectives to our community’s conversations on racism and its impact on our personal and professional settings.
If you’d like to share your story, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to SMPS Content Manager, Linda Smolkin, at linda@smps.org if you’d like to contribute.
Always a Marketer
In 2010 when I started at Purdy-McGuire (PMI), I had been an HR director for a prominent general contractor in the Dallas area. The job at PMI was supposed to
A Different Kind of Pride
What I love about Pride Month is that it’s always evolving. Each year it becomes more inclusive and less about one thing, but more holistic and centered around the individual.
How Being Filipino Has Kept Me Humble
When I was in college, one of my friends told me I was a coconut—brown on the outside but white on the inside. Like me, she was also Filipina and
Go Where You’re Wanted
My varied, professional career within the A/E/C industries has spanned almost 25 years, yet only recent times have shaped how I view my role within. Upon enrolling in architecture school
Being the Only Dot of Diversity
In the fall of 1967, I was bussed from the projects in Gary, IN, to a better (all-white) school several miles away in the suburbs. I was devastated—and afraid. I’d
Yes, I’ve Been to London
A few years ago, I attended a college fair at a hotel near the San Francisco International Airport. The colleges in the exhibition hall were showcasing performing arts programs. I
My Family’s Hidden Identity
In January 2021, I embarked on one of the hardest challenges I’ve experienced as a parent to date: explaining to my Jewish daughter what the Holocaust is and how it
Getting Into Good Trouble
Fighting the good fight or getting into good trouble (as the late Senator John Lewis often said) is an inextricable part of my personality and life. Why is that? My
Cultural Inheritances Are Powerful
I really struggled to write this article. I struggled with it more than anything I’ve written in the last five years. Not everyone is burdened by the pain of others
The Privilege of Being Yourself
I was raised in a family that always spoke their mind. We were never afraid to say what we wanted or needed to say. Until the age of 20, my
