Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Silva.
Hi Amy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in Austin and have always loved arts/crafts/creating with my hands in a variety of scales. From seed bead jewelry to friendship bracelets to oil painting, I’ve always loved design and art. However, art as a career was not something my Asian parents were very supportive of so I decided to major in Architecture – an “acceptable” design focused career. I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor’s of Architecture. I was hired at a firm in downtown Austin from the UT Career Fair and learned a lot those first years while enjoying the downtown Austin life as a young single working adult – hiking/swimming the green belt, running/paddle boarding Town Lake after work. I chose to start taking my architecture licensing exams within my first year of graduating so I could remember how to study but also push myself to learn more as a young architect fresh out of school. During this time, I met my now husband at our apartment complex in South Austin and ended up moving to Leander into “suburbia” to raise our first daughter – something I thought I would never do as a “city girl” who loved the downtown life. I later relocated to a job closer to home and switched from private developer work to public sector projects. During this time, I found the projects I was working on to be much more limiting in creative design. I craved a creative outlet in a different medium. I began experimenting with fiber again and picked up modern macrame and weaving. (My husband calls them “grandma hobbies.”) With encouragement from a friend and her help in organizing logistics and an invite list, I taught my first macrame planter workshop in her home over snacks and drinks. It was such a fun experience seeing a group of people start off intimidated and hesitant to attempt a craft but leave the workshop beaming and proud of their creations. I was later invited to a few markets and taught a few more workshops. Just as momemtum started to build, covid hit. I also had our second daughter shortly before the world “shut down.” I paused my fiber art worshop on the weekends, transitioned to working 100% remotely and even changed jobs (still as an architect) all while staying home with two young kids for two years. I was feeling burnt out as an architect and was about ready to switch careers to try my hand at UX design, as recommended from my brother who is currently a UX designer and said many ex architects have made the same switch. The next week I got a call from a past coworker out of the blue asking if I wanted to start an architecture firm with him. I stopped in my tracks. I was simultaneously excited and nervous. It’s a huge endeavor to start a firm from scratch but isn’t this every architect’s dream? I had accepted early on in my career that my college dreams of starting my own firm was an unattainable dream but this phone call had made it a real and tangible opportunity. I was a bit worried about the phase in life I was in with two young childern but ultimately, I couldn’t turn this opportunity down. In January of 2022, Pillar Architecture Studio was born. It’s pretty crazy that I’m even sharing this now because this still feels so surreal to me. I would never have thought I’d be a principal of an architecture firm at this stage in my life. I’m flattered and thankful for all my previous connections and work experiences that led me to where I am today. I’ve tried to pick up some fiber art recently but it’s been very slow as free time is a hot commodity with a 3 and 5-year-old at home. We also moved to a new home at the beginning of Covid and have been slowly chipping away at DIY projects to make it more our style. The hands-on work has been both fulfilling and challenging – we find ourselves limited to nap times to complete a task uninterrupted but it’s satisfying when we do complete a room. Today, I find myself juggling the architecture startup life, being a mom to young kids, DIY home projects, and fiber art when possible. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel crazy most days of the week but I am so thankful for all of it and wouldn’t change a thing about how I got to where I am today.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I’d say its been a steadily challenging journey starting from architecture school all the way to the demographics of the career itself. The first obstacle is pushing through the competitive schooling and late nights in studio and making it to graduation. Then, the intensive architecture exams were the next form of late nights. I pretty much lived in coffee shops after working 9 hours in the office and studied until they closed, all while continuing to budget like a college student to aggressively pay off student loans. After finally passing all 7 exams and becoming licensed, I enjoyed some freedom after work for a while until I became pregnant with our first daughter. I would say (working) motherhood is the biggest obstacle and most difficult job I’ve taken on. Second to the pains of sleepless newborn/nursing life, teaching my 5-year-old to read has become my latest form of torture. (Kidding but not really..) There are some days where I just feel overwhelmed as a working mom trying to juggle two roles and feeling like I am lacking in both. Not being able to attend all school activities or feeling exhausted during the few hours after work that the kids and I play together. I definitely, think it would have been much harder to get licensed after having kids so looking back, I’m glad I made the decision to start that process early.
The architecture field has been historically male-dominated and being a young Asian female in this career was quite intimidating and felt like yet another obsctacle to overcome – even if it was just mentally. When I first began my career, I would get skeptical looks while at construction administration site visits or showing up to run a client meeting. Contractors would seem confused when they met me in person for the first time and I found myself feeling like I had to prove myself while dealing with thoughts of imposter syndrome. It’s still something I am working on today but I have the support of friends and colleagues who remind me that I got where I am today with hard work and diligence. I like to think of it as pioneering the new normal for future architects.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Pillar Architecture Studio?
Pillar Architecture Studio is a subsidiary to a well-known civil engineering firm in Temple, TX. Our office is located on the Square in downtown Georgetown in a historic building that used to be a hotel along the Chisom Trail.The scene was set perfectly for Pillar to open this year as existing clients of the engineering group have been looking for a local architecture firm to carry out their pipeline of future projects and we intended to fill that need with an elevated level of design. It felt really good to take my business partner’s and my national and international experience back to a local scale with projects that impact the daily lives of the community. Our first project, the Temple Community Clinic, just broke ground recently! We have one remote employee who has been a God send. I worked with her at my previous firm and loved our working dynamic and the timing just worked out for her to join us as our workload began increasing. We focus on client relationships rather than a specific building type. It’s been a great experience establishing relationships with local contractors as well and partnering with them as they recommend us for projects that they land and vis versa. My business partner has over 30 years of experience in municipal, government, and higher education projects. I started my career in private sector development work with a focus on restaurant and commercial/retail spaces and then moved to federal/government and higher education projects. Our employee is a powerhouse interior designer who has worked on multiple big tech corporate office designs as well as a wide variety of other building types. Together, I feel like we are a very well-rounded team that focuses on simple but significant design solutions that serve the local community and our clients’ needs. We pride ourselves in quality of design and detail while staying true to the local fabric and developing close-knit relationships with our clients. Because we are small and recently started our business, each project is priority and we hope to keep that level of specialty and attention as we grow. We are keeping an eye on the workload for this upcoming year so if any architects are interested in working at a small, hands-on firm in Georgetown, please reach out!
My fiber art “business” that never fully took off is called Eve and Zoe Design Co, named after my daughters, Evelyn and Zoe. I put “business” in quotes because I was never able to fully invest in what it takes to make this a true small business so I think I will just use it as a creative outlet inspired by my girls’ completely opposite but adorable personalities. I hope to still partake in markets when I have the capacity. I started with macrame wall hangings, earrings, and keychains. I then moved to pacifier clips and little catch all bowls when I found the personal need for those items after having kids. Recently, I created mommy and me daisy bracelet sets for my girls and brought them to a market and those were a hit! I think I will just need to let the creations evolve and flow like our family dynamics and extend grace to myself when I find myself passing on market opportunities due to lack of time to make inventory.
What matters most to you?
Relationships/friendships are most important to me. Success, wealth, and fame are nothing without people to share with. My family and close friends mean the world to me and without their support I would be a total wreck. I am fiercely loyal (maybe to a fault) and keep my friend circle pretty tight due to limited capacity with two young kiddos. Speaking of kids, they simultaneously feel like the bane of my existence but also are my entire world. It’s a confusing and conflicting feeling when I find myself able to love and hate them all within the same 5 minutes. The year 2021 was by far the hardest year for me – specically mental health-wise. Personal family hardships compounded by the daily feeling of being overwhelmed felt like too much to handle most days. My husband was my biggest support system and my kids motivate me to dive deep into the root of the pain and I chose to start (EMDR) therapy so that I can be the best mom and spouse for my family. I want to be the type of person who leaves a lasting and postive impact on anyone I have a conversation with and I’ve realized that true inner healing is pivotal in making that happen.
Pricing:
- macrame earrings/keychains – $30/$8
- macrame workshops (materials + instruction) – $30-45/person based on project
- daisy mommy+me bracelets or earrings – $15/$12/$20
- architecture services – project dependent
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pillararch.com
- Instagram: eveandzoe_designco
