Women in Architecture (WIA) Symposium
- Date
- March 12, 2026
- Time
- 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. ET
- Location
- Upper Atrium, 325 Church St.
- Open To
- Public
Through the Layers: Women Shaping Architecture Across a Career
“Through the Layers” explores the evolving experiences of women in architecture across the full arc of a career, from early entry into the profession to entrepreneurship, leadership, and systemic transformation. This event traces how women move through the layers of practice: the first steps into the studio, the leap into starting a firm, the negotiation of leadership expectations, and the realities that lie beyond representation and visibility. By highlighting personal stories, structural challenges, and forward-thinking innovations, the series aims to illuminate not only the barriers women continue to face, but also the futures they are actively building.
“Through the Layers” is about acknowledging the past, confronting the present, and imagining an equitable architectural future designed through women’s voices.
The five layers are:
Layer 1: Entering the Profession - Upon Graduation
Explores the realities of entering architecture as a young woman, navigating the transition from school to practice, building confidence, and developing a design voice early in one’s career.
Layer 2: Entrepreneurship and Starting a Practice - Early Leadership
Focuses on women who stepped into entrepreneurship and leadership, discussing risk-taking, mentorship, and cultivating a design vision while building a client base.
Layer 3: Negotiating Leadership Styles - Experience with Authority
Examines how women navigate authority, communication, emotional labour, and expectations shaped by dominant leadership norms.
Layer 4: Beyond Architecture - Stemmed out of the Field
Highlights diverse career trajectories beyond traditional practice and reframes architectural education as a launchpad for interdisciplinary impact.
Layer 5: Innovation and Transformative Change - Battling Future Issues
Centers on advocacy, governance, and institutional change, positioning women as agents actively reshaping the profession’s future.
This event will be moderated by Jennifer Esposito, Assistant Professor at TMU DAS.
Jennifer Esposito
BAS, M.Arch, M.Arch II, OAA, AANB, MRAIC
Principal, Place of Work
Assistant Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University
Jennifer Esposito believes in an architecture of place rooted in urban and remote settings that respond to context, climate and her client's daily lives. Her commitment to teaching, advocacy and mentorship is reflected through her roles as Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and Advisory Board member of Building Equality in Architecture Toronto (BEAT). With over 40 houses in her portfolio, Jennifer's work invariably explores poetic and practical aspects of domesticity. She is a graduate of Carleton University and Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she continues to serve on its Alumni Council.
About the Panelists
Soma Khan
B.Arch.Sc
Co-Founder + Designer, Form + Bang Design Studio
Layer 1: Entering the Profession - Upon Graduation
This layer explores the realities of entering architecture as a young woman, navigating school-to-work transitions, finding your first job, and building confidence in male-dominated studios. Speakers will discuss how they carved out space for their voices, developed a design identity, and learned to advocate for fair treatment early on. The layer aims to empower students and recent graduates with honest insights into skill-building, networking, and self-advocacy, showing that early career challenges often become the foundation for long-term resilience and leadership.
Vanessa Fong
B.SC, M.Arch, OAA, AIBC, LEED AP, FRAIC
Founder + Principal Architect, VFA Architecture + Design
Layer 2: Entrepreneurship and Starting a Practice - Early Leadership
This layer focuses on women who took the leap into entrepreneurship, whether starting a firm straight out of school or building a practice after a few years in the industry. Panelists will discuss risk taking, mentorship, and what it means to cultivate a design vision while building a client base. Their stories highlight the courage required to step into leadership early and the strategies they used to transform barriers into opportunities for creativity, autonomy, and long term impact.
Ramona Adlakha
B.A, M.Arch, OAA, LEED GA, MRAIC
Associate, KPMB Architects
Chair, Executive Board, BEAT
Layer 3: Negotiating Leadership Styles - Experience with Authority
As women progress into leadership roles, they often face expectations shaped by masculine norms such as assertiveness, emotional restraint, and constant availability. This layer examines how women leaders negotiate authority, communication styles, and authenticity without being penalized for being “too soft,” “too strong,” or “too much.” Drawing from personal experience and contemporary scholarship, this layer explores emotional labour, visibility, and the pressure to continually prove leadership credibility. It offers emerging leaders frameworks for navigating double standards while cultivating leadership approaches that feel ethical, inclusive, and true to themselves.
Paige Crewson
B.Tech (Arch. Sci.), LLB, LSO
Counsel, Kennaley Construction Law
Layer 4: Beyond Architecture - Stemmed out of the Field
This layer explores the expansive and often unexpected career paths women have pursued beyond traditional architectural practice. It highlights how architectural training serves as a foundation for diverse trajectories in design, research, policy, leadership, academia, community development, entrepreneurship, and interdisciplinary innovation. By showcasing women who have leveraged their spatial thinking, critical analysis, and systems based problem solving in new arenas, this layer reframes architecture not as a single professional endpoint but as a launchpad. It aims to empower students by demonstrating that their education equips them with transferable skills capable of shaping the built environment from multiple positions of influence, and that meaningful impact is not confined to conventional studio or firm based roles.
Camille Mitchell
BAS, M.Arch, OAA, FRAIC
Senior Architect, mcCallumSather
Sessional Instructor, TMU SID
Past Chair, BAIDA, Advisory Board, BEAT
Layer 5: Innovation and Transformative Change - Battling Future Issues
This layer centers on women who are not only participating in the profession but actively restructuring it. As the concluding layer, it foregrounds voices shaping architecture through advocacy, governance, and community leadership. Rather than framing women as individuals navigating systemic barriers, this layer positions them as agents of institutional transformation. Panelists will discuss how they embed equity into project delivery, hiring practices, mentorship structures, and firm culture, demonstrating that change can be operational, not just ideological. It closes with a forward looking lens, asking what architecture could become if equity, safety, and creativity were foundational, and offering emerging professionals a tangible roadmap toward meaningful and lasting systemic change.