Q:
What made you decide to become an architect and what inspires
you artistically?
I love the creativity part of what architecture involves. I love the changes, the interaction with the clients, finding out what is inside their minds, and making it reality. It’s one of the greatest satisfactions I have. I like helping people create a vision and digging into what people want and putting the puzzle together. I am inspired artistically by the functionality of space, that is, what is the purpose of the space and what it will be used for.
Q: What was it like moving from Brazil to the United States
and how did your family decide to move to Atlanta?
On January 5th, it will be 28 years that I have lived here! Moving to the US was very challenging in the sense that when you are in your early twenties, "the future is now." I was very concerned about leaving my friends and my well known surroundings to start a new life not just in another city, but another country. On the other hand, I was going to be closer to my family, which has been moving to the US since the early 1950s. It was a sad and happy move. My mother has two sisters that already were here in Atlanta. I also have two sisters and at that time a brother living here, so Atlanta was the place. In addition, I had spent several vacations here with my family prior to our move. This made the transition easier.
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Q:
Tell me a bit about your family.
I
have 3 daughters: one in college, one is a senior graduating
from high school and we are awaiting college application responses,
and a 14 year old eighth-grader. I’ve been married for
27 years to my husband, Steven, who is in the sales industry.
We also have Jada, our energetic 2-year-old husky.
Q:
What do you enjoy about the Atlanta Jewish community?
I
love the diversity of the different backgrounds. We all can
learn from each others’ traditions and history. I belong
to Or Ve Shalom, a traditional Sephardic synagogue with a lot
of different people from South America and Europe. It’s
a great thing to be exposed to so many different cultures.
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Q:
What were your plans for Hanukah and the New Year?
We’ve had a quiet Hanukah because we have family coming from Brazil for the New Year. We have not seen them for about five years. I have an aunt, her husband, their son, his wife, and their two boys - all of whom will be staying with me for the New Year. Fortunately my home can accommodate everyone. We have a few sight-seeing events in Atlanta planned.
Q:
What is a part of your life that you treasure?
I think that I have been lucky to have raised my daughters and have a husband plus a demanding career in the sense that I’m dealing with people and their needs in a service business. It’s been an interesting journey for the past 24 years. Family and career are both important to me. Of course priority is my family, but I have a tremendous passion for my career also. Sometimes I look back and think "How did I do all this?" but I feel that it is something that has been a strong part of my life - the marriage of my family time and my work time.
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