We are a collaborative group of women-owned small businesses in Architecture, Design, Engineering, and Construction. We have come together to leverage our varied experience to offer clients a trusted pool of expertise and industry knowledge.
Internally
We lean on each other for professional and project support, addressing challenges sometimes unique to women-owned and small businesses.
Externally
Our clients reap the benefits of working with hands-on small businesses while having access to an array of skill and knowledge. Streamlined internal contracting and a high standard of quality and service enable clients to confidently and easily engage multiple professionals of diverse disciplines at the same time for project work.
Who We Are
Tina Kastning
Building ReDeveloper
Founder, modify
Old buildings. New life. Unique design. Modify redevelops under loved buildings with potential for unique design. Our product is not only the completed building, it’s also the partnerships and people involved. The foundation is women supporting women and prioritizing diversity. This means we get money into the hands of women and are intentional in who we chose as employees, contractors, architects, engineers, investors and exit strategy partners. My education and experience is in architectural design and construction management. I founded Modify to combine good design with profit AND work that matters AND to create something bigger together than we could alone.
Trish Drew
CPE, LEED AP
Managing Director, DCW Cost Management
I am a cost management professional specializing in vertical construction. Throughout my 29+ years in the construction industry I have participated in the creation of structures that have shaped our cities and defined their significance.I am passionate about my work. I believe there are ways to maximize the design while working within a budget. I believe that project cost over runs can be avoided by developing a team strategy focused on cost and by engaging a cost manager early in the design process. I believe these things because their reality is consistently proven on functional projects.
Jessica Hickey
Operations Mastermind, Speaker, Author
1029 Consulting Inc
Educated as a civil engineer, I draw on my love of systems to help business owners develop processes to improve operational performance. I take leaders on an infinite voyage of growth and transformation, helping to envelop them in a sea of knowledge. I’m energized when leaders discover possibilities and go beyond their perceived limitations. As a consultant, advisor and coach, I help business executives navigate ambiguity, complexity, and change while cultivating trust and building agile, high-performing teams. One of my strengths is translating complex roadmaps into optimized tools and solutions supporting nimble employee engagement which results in successful business outcomes.
Marlo Dowell
RA State of Washington, LEED BD+C
Principal, Acila Consulting LLC
I founded Acila Consulting with the goal of applying project and program management techniques that challenge the convention on how to get things done. Today AEC firms are navigating the changes brought on by rapidly advancing technology, teams working remotely, and a quickly evolving industry. I have worked at established architecture firms and at start-ups, involved hands-on in projects as well as team building and operations. My varied industry knowledge and instinct for business means that I bring a unique perspective to project and team management as an agent of change—instilling efficiency, innovation, and profitability into every part of the process.
Beth Stroshane
CSI, CCS, LEED AP
Managing Partner, Applied Building Information LLC
Beth is a Certified Construction Specifier with over 15 years of specifications experience. Prior to starting an independent practice in 2013, she wrote specifications for large architecture firms in the Seattle area. Beth has produced specifications for new buildings and renovations of existing facilities, for public and private clients, design/bid/build, design/build, and negotiated contracts. Her experience in the construction industry began as an assistant to her father’s residential general contracting company. Then she went on to become a field engineer for a large general contractor. This grounding in the construction industry provides her with a unique view of specifications – and how they can be used to solve problems on the job site.
Laurie Pfarr
PE, LEED AP, CESCL
Principal/Owner, LPD Engineering, PLLC
LPD takes a proactive role in the design process and provides our clients with well-researched advice and direction. We establish relationships with regulatory agencies in the early stages of design, and promote ongoing communication with agency staff throughout the project. This allows us to guide developments through the permitting process to the satisfaction of our client and the governing jurisdiction without significant changes by the jurisdiction when projects are submitted for permit. By looking beyond standard civil engineering design approaches, LPD is able to deliver more cost effective solutions with long-term functionality to our clients.
Kaitlin Hillson
Hillson Creative, Marketing
Branding, content, & sales enablement for B2B firms
Kaitlin is a B2B marketing professional focused on branding, content development, and sales enablement for firms in the AEC and real estate industries.
With a knack for extracting key themes, articulating technical language, and developing brand identities, Kaitlin takes a personalized approach with every client.
She lives for the "aha" moment when a technical expert sees their passion and experience translated into a clean, powerful brand identity.
Angela Gee
AIA NCARB
Principal, Dean Alan Architects
Angela believes in the power of architecture to augment the power and value of places. She leads the firm with her vision and her unbending commitment to outstanding client service. With these values leading us we are able to offer a holistic approach to projects, bridging form and function far beyond the just their physical components. Angela has over 25 years of experience in architecture and has been involved in a variety of project types such as Commercial, Public and Mixed Use. As Principal at Dean Alan Architects, she has direct oversight of the management of projects and architecture services, as well as the owner’s representative services the firm offers.
Tricia Drake
PE, LEED AP BD&C
Principal/Owner, HVAC Double Check
I am an experienced, LEED certified mechanical engineer with over a decade working in Washington State. Over my career, I have helped hundreds of architects and contractors design for their mechanical systems. I thrive on designing creative solutions for the challenging problems that arise in the construction industry, and my focus on HVAC comes from a love of puzzle solving and collaborative work. My industry experience spans a variety of small and large projects in healthcare, commercial tenant improvements, retail and hospitality. HVAC Double Check provides holistic mechanical systems solutions from design to HVAC system selection, permit submittal, and construction administration.
Collette Collins
Owner, Collette Collins Design
As an architectural artist, I custom-sculpt residential, commercial and public spaces into functional design. In other words, I create architectural art for extraordinary environments. My award-winning creations are showcased in restaurants, feature films, museums and private homes.
My clients appreciate meticulous artistry and solid craftsmanship, and we work closely together on projects. It is my honesty and flair for the dramatic that make the environments we build stand out from the crowd in ways that are surprising, intuitive and modern ~ a perfect blend of art, function and organic elegance!
My experience in designing and building unique furniture and cabinetry spans 30 years. I have worked in furniture restoration, cabinetmaking, set design, prop building, sculpting, set decoration, display, commercial estimating and project management for a diverse array of permanent and impermanent structures.
Nancy Hawke
Owner, Hawke Connection, LLC
Nancy is an experienced Senior Project Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the construction industry with a focus on healthcare, life sciences and complex, fast-paced, design/build. Skilled in Preconstruction, Construction, Contracts Management, and Client Relations. Occupied acute-care, clinical, medical, life science and office settings are her specialty. There is no giving up. The team will succeed.
Christine Scharrer
AIA NCARB
Owner Principal, Scharrer AD
Christine Scharrer, AIA has practiced architecture for over 28 years serving public clients and leading design teams on complex, urban design and transit projects in the Pacific Northwest. Christine has been a contributor to AIA Women’s Leadership Summits since 2010, and in 2015 she co-chaired the Women’s Leadership Summit in Seattle. She founded the AIA Seattle Women in Design Committee and served as chair from 2013-2015. She was the AIA Seattle Board Secretary from 2015-2018 and has been a Design in Public board member since 2015.
Christine started ScharrerAD in 2013. The firm specializes in public, infrastructure, and transit design projects across the Puget Sound Region. Currently, ScharrerAD is leading early planning at stations for the Sound Transit Tacoma Dome Link Extension, and working on station designs for ST’s West Seattle to Ballard Link Extension, Everett Link Extension, and Lynnwood Link Extension.
Laura Libby
Principal/Owner, Edition 82 LLC
Laura spent the past twenty years designing outstanding interiors for notable tech, corporate, educational and residential clients. She is a sharp wit driven by an intuitive gut. She holds a Bachelors in Interior Design from Cornish College for the Arts.
Laura has enjoys the large scale and fast pace of commercial projects and the intimate scale and leisurely pace of residential projects that unfold over time. Working on both project types keeps her nimble and allows her creative freedom to flourish.
Laura excels at creating rich and complex palettes, with her signature touch focusing on a high contrast of materials, that results in the perfect balance of wow and staying power. She believes in incorporating vintage pieces and demands each space she designs has one item that is unexpected, attention grabbing and perfect for an authentic look that feels collected and unique. Your history should tell a story in your space, even if your project is brand new. Laura loves the challenge of helping you find that piece of your story or working in that ugly lamp that you love and just cannot live without.
Karla Butler
Owner, Dossier Seattle, LLC
Karla is a document control manager with over 20 years of industry experience. She has worked on many of Seattle’s largest infrastructure projects for clients such as Sound Transit, WSDOT, and King County.
Her career began as an archivist for architectural and engineering projects. This quickly led to document control assignments for capital projects such as WSDOT Tolling and Sound Transit’s East Link, where she found her true passion for managing documentation, safeguarding information and ensuring that the client’s contractual needs are fulfilled.
Throughout her tenure, she has assisted project engineers and management with client deliverables, technical editing, quality audits, and documenting all project-related design and construction information.
For Karla, good document control comes with listening to the client and implementing a document control management plan that will sustain and contribute to the project’s success.