Ever wonder what all the hype was about for the Young Architect Summer Series? Today I’m gonna let you into my amazing experience at the YASS 2020.

There are so many words I can describe the 5 days I spent staring at the computer screen…

Inspiring, Motivating, Supportive, Touching, Groundbreaking...

But let’s do this differently - I want to actually give you actionable steps from what I learned at the Young Architect Summer Series so you can actually use these takeaways to build your career and business.

So let’s get started!

What’s the Young Architect Summer Series?
Dealing with Mental Health & Burnout
Creating a Culture of Community
Normalizing the Soft-Spoken Introvert
What’s Next for the Young Architect Summer Series?

Young Architects Summer Series Takeaways

What's the Young Architect Series?

The Young Architect Summer Series is a true Grassroots virtual event with inspirational talks, actionable workshops, and above all, the most supportive community of architects you could ever find.

Compared to the AIA Conference I went to last year, YASS is more focused on personal and professional development that a young architect needs.

We went through topics on mental health, personal branding, content creation, portfolio and interview tips, software skills, public speaking...

Dealing with Mental Health & Burnout

One of the main topics that the Young Architect Summer Series really focused on was building your mental health.

It was refreshing to see the next generation of architects opening up and talking about mental health.

Burnouts are real.

In my short 8 years of experience, I have probably encounter massive burnouts 4 times already.

And that didn’t count the time I had a panic attack before my 4th-year school final presentation that led me to a heart doctor the next day…

As an industry in general, working overtime is seen as putting in extra efforts and i oftentimes rewarded - especially for young people.

For a whole year, I was working every day until 11 pm and every weekend for a project that I was so proud of.

When my relatives came visiting from HK, I would go have dinner with them and then go back to the office right after.

Then I hit a massive burnout.

I started having migraines every morning. And I would feel sick almost every other week.

So almost every other Thursday I had to call out and work from home.

And it just became this toxic cycle that I would work late > get migraines > feel sick > call out > go back to working late...

I put the project before my health.

I thought being devoted and working non-stop was the norm.

What if we can take care of ourselves first and put a building second, or third, or even forth?

What if we can start building our mental health instead of architecture?

That’s why I’m so glad that the Young Architect Summer Series has put this issue front and center.

There were 1 keynote and 2 workshops that dealt with mental health, burnouts, and anxiety.

As Wandile Mythiyane said it in his keynote on Building Better Mental Health for the Young Architect Summer Series,

It’s time we build our mental health.

Action step: Set a Balanced Boundary.

A boundary where everyone is happy that you’re taking charge of your own time.

When you set a boundary, not only are you putting your mental health first, but you will also be taken seriously at work.

I know it seems counter-intuitive as architecture school taught us to give our lives and soul to architecture (ugh!)

But when you actually step back and take care of yourself first, your co-workers will respect you more.

Based on my own experience, it’s true. It feels weird. But it’s worth trying!

Creating a Culture of Community

The Young Architect Summer Series has shown me what a community really should look like.

If there was one thing I hated about architecture school, it was the competition.

Not the late nights in the studio.

Not the time I got toxic glue in my eye and went to the ER.

Not the hundreds of subways sandwiches I had to eat at 3 am because that was the only thing open by my school.

It was how competitive the environment was - even though we were just students.

I remember in my 2nd year of architecture school, we were required to do a competition across all studios.

At the beginning of the semester, we each designed our own concept and our studio would have to choose a winner project to develop over the course of the whole semester.

Then each studio would compete with each other to have a final winner.

Mine was selected to represent our studio.

While some people were supportive and gave their all to turn my concept into a better project, some of them were unhappy.

The goal of this “competition” was actually to teach us how to collaborate with each other and work on one project together like in an architecture firm.

So each of us took a role that we were good at so we can all play to our strengths.

I was the designer; some people were the managers; some were technical detailers.

But one guy refused to present the project in the final presentation even though he was the best public speaker among us.

Simply because he wasn’t happy that his concept didn’t get chosen in the first place.

I thought to myself - is this really how it works in an architecture firm?

If it was, I didn’t want to be in one.

But luckily, the Young Architect community had proven that we can do this differently.

This community is seriously the most supportive, forgiving, and accepting group of people I have ever met!

We can actually co-exist in this architecture space.

There is enough space for everyone.

Because each of us is different and we can all do what we do best.

And when we support each other, we become stronger together and we rise up together.

As Michael Riscica said in his keynote on Creating Connected Communities for the Young Architect Summer Series:

Creating a Culture of Community is something individuals, teams, and organizations can do to have a competitive edge, stay adaptable, and excel through great change.

Action step: Join a community today! Even if you’re having trouble finding a community near you, there are so many Facebook communities now.

Just choose one that resonates with you most or join them all if you want to:

The ARE Facebook group - hosted by the Young Architect, this community is for you if you’re currently taking the ARE. They will definitely push you all the way through!
NEXT Architects - a community that focuses on professional development for the next generation of architects.
Foreign Architects - a community that supports and guides foreign architects and emerging professionals with their architect licensing process in America.
Parents in Architecture - I’m not a parent, but I joined this group to support parents and parents-to-be in the architecture field.
Women Architects Collective - Last but not least, I have to put my own community up here. Not just because I spent a lot of time and effort to build this group, but because of how supportive and open this community is.

Better yet, build a small community around you at work and support each other through your professional development.

Be each other’s mentors - there is so much we can learn from peer to peer.

Normalizing the Soft-Spoken Introvert

This year for the Young Architect Summer Series I was honored to be hosting a workshop on Building Your Unforgettable Personal Brand with Content Creation.

One of the biggest impacts on me was this one comment Lara said to me after my personal branding workshop at the event:

“As a fellow soft-spoken Introvert, I thought that your voice as a presenter was so incredibly refreshing... Having your voice out there is helping to normalize that people with these soft voices do have powerful things to say.”

You have no idea how much that meant to me!

My whole life I had tremendous self-doubt from being shy, from being an introvert, from being not talkative, from having a soft voice.⁠

When I was a kid, I’d cry every single time I met a stranger.

At school, I would compensate for my lack of bullshitting skills by working extra hard and making sure my graphics were clear and beautiful so I didn't have to talk much to explain it.⁠

⁠At work, my old boss once told me that even though I was doing great work, my voice sounded like a little girl and no one had confidence in what I say.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

I believe that...