BEAT’s Managing Director, Camille Mitchell, will be a featured speaker at Toronto’s Interior Design Show in January!

Gender, Race and the Incessant Obstacle Course

The proverbial glass ceiling is an ineffective metaphor to describe the barriers of women, visible minorities and marginalized groups within the architecture profession. There is not a singular challenge or trajectory to overcome when yearning to achieve effective work-life balance, a healthy work environment, or professional recognition. These are among the numerous inherent challenges that young women will encounter along an incessant obstacle course throughout their careers within the architecture profession. And each “obstacle course” is unique to the individual who may decide to endure it or leave if they are not presented opportunities while striving to overcome the many challenges facing them throughout their careers.

Camille Mitchell Architect, KPMB Architects

Camille Mitchell has been a part of the design team of KPMB Architects since graduating from the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. She was recently part of the design team for the of new Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and is currently a project architect for a new commercial tower development at Bay Adelaide Centre in Toronto. Camille is currently volunteering as the director for the independent organization Building Equality in Architecture, Toronto (BEAT) whose programs are dedicated to creating events and web content that support mentorship, networking and leadership opportunities for women and visible minorities in the profession. She is a firm believer in involving visible minority groups in designing their built environments and participating in various STEM programs. Camille is passionate about promoting architecture as a profession to youth and marginalized communities through career workshops and as a member of OCADU’s Black Youth Design Initiative. She continues to serve as a mentor with the Lifelong Leadership Institute, a program that promotes excellence amongst Black students as they transition to post-secondary education, work that was captured in the CBC Television documentary HERstory in Black that aired September 2017.