Work

Memoir Excerpt – The House with One Hundred Doors

My first memory was of a building that promised the return of speech.

For the past month I had been left in the care of my mother which should have been comfort enough. One moment my father was there and the next moment he was gone. No explanation given to a child only three years of age. His absence weighed on me for reasons I can’t explain, or perhaps can’t remember. And for a period of time, those long weeks of his disappearance, I refused to speak…  

Webinar – Removing Barriers and Building Bridges

This webinar explores how historic preservation can become a tool for equity, empowerment, and community renewal. Through two contrasting case studies—the 1941 Birwood Wall, built to divide Black and white homeowners, and the adaptive reuse of a mid-century modern church intent on elevating and supporting its community—it examines how preservation projects can uplift marginalized communities when driven by collaboration between activists, residents, and preservationists.

Removing Barriers and Building Bridges is a repeat of a presentation I gave in Montreal at the 2024 International APT / National Trust conference.

Article – Great Lakes by Design: The Architects

Great Lakes by Design featured five women architects in the region and what inspires our vision of a better future for architecture and design. In this interview, I discuss how stories are an intangible link to the past, present, and future that can be found in each building and every space within the built and natural landscape.

Book – To Dine with the Blameless Ethiopians

When I was 17 years old, I traveled to Southern Africa as a religious youth volunteer and began a journey of self-discovery. My first book, To Dine with the Blameless Ethiopians, vividly conveys a sense of my own transformation and the challenges of taking the healing message of the oneness of humanity to a society divided by prejudice. As I navigated apartheid in South Africa, civil war in Mozambique, and startling parallels to my own family history in the Jim Crow south, my experiences became a source of strength and a path to redefining my own identity.

(This book is no longer widely available, but there are a still few copies rattling about online).