Rebecca Williams-Thomas, a Kimball Office Market Sales Manager located in the Pittsburgh suburb of Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, wanted to host a unique event for the A&D community–something more than a simple meet and greet with wine and cheese. She wanted something that brought together designers of all ages, and share Kimball Office’s ideology and products.
By all accounts, that goal was accomplished.
Working with the International Interior Design Association’s (IIDA) Pittsburgh City Center director Jane Hillnan, a plan began to take shape to hold the first local Women’s Roundtable event. With just Jane Hillnan, Rachel Furmanski and Rebecca Williams-Thomas and less than two months of planning, the event was a resounding success.
The event began with a private reception for IIDA designers to mingle with panel members and to meet with the event’s featured speaker, Cheryl Durst- Executive Vice President and CEO IIDA, as well as the panel speakers.
The roundtable consisted of a hand-selected panel that were specifically targeted as owners of firms or heads of organizations and/or manufacturers. This roundtable event started with an explanation of the panelist backgrounds and how that led them to their current roles as local A&D leaders. The panelists then facilitated an interactive and engaging conversation with the crowd.
“For me personally, this brought out designers I don’t typically get in front of,” said Williams-Thomas.
Forty-two female designers and even a few male designers attended to be part of the conversation of Women’s role in business and design.
The roundtable was documented by artist Leah Silverman of Designs by Leah. Said IIDA Pittsurgh City Center President Jane Hillinan, “We hope that this graphic will be used as a reminder to all attendees about all of the items we covered at the event, as a catch up for those who were unable to join us that event, and a springboard into future conversations regarding this very important topic.”
The IIDA Pittsburgh Women’s Roundtable was a highly innovative event-for such a big opportunity within the design community.
For additional information, please contact Rebecca at [email protected] or 412-628-5246.
