How did you first hear about Southface, and what attracted you to the organization?
I first heard about Southface while looking for sustainability work after graduating college. The internship looked exciting, and had intern housing as a part of the program. Southface looked perfect as a broke post-grad looking for full-time work as soon as possible. I could drop everything, move to Atlanta and not worry about finding a place to live in two weeks.
What project are you working on right now, and what excites you most about it?
Mallalieu Pointe is an affordable multi-family project in East Point, GA that is on track for LEED Gold certification. It’s really refreshing to work with a team that embraces sustainable design principles.
Why are equity, sustainability and resilience important to you?
There are way too many reasons, but I’ll try to be brief: There is only one planet Earth, and we only have one life on it. With the planet’s climate at stake, these principles are paramount to understand for current and future generations.
What’s the one piece of advice you’d give to others interested in working in your field?
Practice what you preach. By trying to live by what you learn and advocate for in your work, you learn more things about real-world applications.
What’s your favorite outdoor activity?
I enjoy rock climbing. There are some areas where you need to hike a ways in with gear, but you can get to some pretty remote places with great views. There is some climbing at Yonah Mountain that is very exposed with a great view of the mountains.
What do you enjoy most about working at Southface?
I love that we practice what we preach. Lots of people work in inefficient, wasteful, prison-like office buildings that are really uninspiring, but the Southface Eco-Office and the Resource Center are great examples of the building design and low-impact development we advocate for in our work. It’s reassuring! Everyone at Southface is really dedicated to sustainability and the industry as a whole. People ride their bikes to work, take MARTA, carpool, compost food scraps and install solar panels at their houses.
