With the current events and the housing crisis, homeowners' expectations have evolved dramatically in a short time. However, many homeowners stumble through their home addition or renovation projects because they are unprepared or don't know what to expect. This panel, organized by Grace Tsao Mase (Yale M Arch ‘99), will share valuable insights about re-imagining our roles and thrive in the residential industry. Please join this conversation with architects, contractors, and technologists as we discuss resources and developments in project management, technology, the design process, and best practices.
Panelists
Thunder Walker is the CEO of Breathe Capital Group Corporation and The Breathe House. Her late father, James Jones, developed BCGC for the African American community. Walker continues the effort by developing properties to make life better for others. Her team builds homes that provide disadvantaged neighborhoods with healthy, raised gardens, air and water purifiers, energy efficient appliances and built-in learning centers. She is known as a "wellness and lifestyle" real estate developer, which is a unique approach to a satisfying career and a fulfilling life. Her ultimate mission is to champion the entrepreneurial cause by teaching women the importance of career self-determination. In her digital magazine and in podcast episodes Women Pushing Dirt, Walker shares her ongoing professional success and interviews women who work in less traditional industries.
Abbe Will, Research Associate & Associate Project Director, Remodeling Futures, The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. She manages and contributes research to the Improving America’s Housing report and research brief series and administers the quarterly Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA). Abbe’s areas of research within the residential remodeling industry focus on market size and composition, industry structure (such as contractor performance, survivorship, specialization, and concentration trends), changing household demographics, aging in place, market cycles, housing turnover, public and nonprofit rehabilitation programs, and drivers of immigrant remodeling activity.
Celia Imrey, AIA Associate, LEED GA, Master of Architecture Yale University, has been the principal designer and director of her own architectural design practices for over 20 years. In 2012 she founded SPACE KIT, a company that empowers owners to make decisions about their home or business projects. SPACE KIT gives owners and the professionals who work with them a set of worksheets and guidelines to provide common language and priorities for all parties around project goals, existing conditions, budgets and timelines.
Moderator
Grace is the Founder + CEO of BEYREP [Construction Tech + EQ] - an all-in-one home construction management solution that provides peace of mind and confidence. She started her career as a campus architect for UC Berkeley after earning B.A. from UC Berkeley and M.Arch. from Yale University. She consulted with several Fortune 100 companies, and held senior executive positions at YP.com, Beachbody, United Online, and Yahoo!. Grace leveraged her 20 years of software development experience to build BEYREP to help design/building professionals to collaborate more effectively with their clients, grow their business smarter, and increase profit. BEYREP also simplifies the home improvement process and empowers people to achieve a better life through a better home.
Sources:
*Americans spend more than $400 billion a year on residential renovations and repairs, https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/research-areas/remodeling
**women make 80% of home improvement decisions, https://www.forbes.com/2009/04/22/selling-women-curtis-cmo-network-curtis.html#286ac7f573b0