Join us for Best Practice, a virtual fireside chat series dedicated to practice operations at architecture firms and beyond. From pain points to potential, hear how leaders in the architecture and engineering industry are innovating through new business models and managerial techniques. We’re chatting with Mia Scharphie, Career Coach and Founder of Build Yourself and her client Diana Nicklaus, President and CEO of saam architecture on how to build a leadership pipeline.

Mia “Maya” Scharphie is a career and executive coach and the founder of Build Yourself. She helps women in design, tech, and innovation advance their careers on their own terms and helps companies grow and promote their rising women leaders through coaching, training, and consulting. Companies Mia has worked with have seen a 3x increase in the rate of women promoted, and 18% of women are more likely to recommend their companies to other women. They’ve seen more women owning and leading initiatives and setting boundaries that make projects more effective and grow junior staff. Mia’s individual clients achieve results like moving into senior director roles, launching new, innovative programs, and achieving $25,000 raises. Mia has trained national industry groups, like Women in Innovation and the American Institute of Architects, and works with leadership and staff at global design and innovation companies such as Stantec, Gensler, and HOK. She’s a former Harvard Innovation Lab resident, ran a research effort on women in social impact design for the Harvard Business School, and was named as one of Impact Design Hub’s Social Impact Design 40 under 40. She’s a graduate of Brown University and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

With over 20 years of experience, Diana Nicklaus has practiced architecture in both the United States and Italy, with projects throughout the continental U.S. and Europe. Her portfolio includes high-profile, large-scale institutional projects, including those in the higher education, healthcare, cultural arts, and K-12 education sectors. As an advocate for women’s leadership and equitable practice, she has shared Saam’s strategies in numerous presentations and interviews, including Equity by Design and the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit. Diana was a founding co-chair of the Massachusetts Building Congress Women’s Network, the Founding President of Boston Professional Women in Construction, and is currently serving as the Secretary of the Board for the Boston Society of Architecture.

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