How storytelling builds resilience: Informing EDI frameworks with AIA’s Guides for Equitable Practice

Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives have undergone intense backlash and rollbacks stemming from a January 2025 executive order mandating the elimination of federal EDI efforts. Following the executive order, a powerful statement came from Bryan C. Lee Jr., FAIA, who is NOMA’s president and a recipient of the AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Award for addressing social issues. In April, Lee published A Message on the Moment to the NOMA Membership, which emphasized the need for advocacy, support, and community empowerment. 

His words, which resonated with many members, included: “In times of political uncertainty, our profession must remain committed to creating spaces that uplift rather than oppress, that include rather than exclude, and that honor the diversity of human experience rather than erase it.”

Personal narratives began emerging as the anti-EDI executive order affected areas like higher education, federal contracting, and cultural institutions. These stories were ones of sudden job losses, sometimes leading to prolonged unemployment or career pivots. There were also stories of policy and cultural initiatives undergoing dilution to avoid public and legal scrutiny. The diversity of the human experience, which Lee so urged members to honor, was at the center of each story. 

Why storytelling matters now in EDI

Storytelling is effective because it can disrupt attitudes and behaviors while building bridges of trust and familiarity. Stories also facilitate an understanding of differences and open pathways toward adjustment and compromise. When paired with quantitative and measurable data, stories provide rich context, reinforce memory, and influence people over time.

For an example of embedding EDI’s principles into architecture and design, look to the work of Pascale Sablan, FAIA, whose Say It Loud exhibitions highlight underrepresented designers’ journeys and contributions in major U.S. cities. The exhibits tell the stories of diverse people who have improved the built environment. Sablan’s latest publication, Greatness: Diverse Designers of Architecture, has built on Say It Loud by continuing to showcase talented and diverse architects. 

Leveraging AIA’s Guides for Equitable Practice

AIA’s Guides for Equitable Practice comprise an extensive resource for understanding best practices, relevant research, and tools for navigating equity in the workplace. They can guide EDI programming, particularly programming centered on storytelling.

The Guides utilize storytelling as an integral component of its so-titled Consider sections, which appear near the end of chapters. Each Consider section offers authentic voices from individuals within the field that further drive home the Guides’ advice. The researchers engaged with nearly 100 participants who shared equity insights, reforms, and needs. 

Storytelling on a podcast

Drawing from Sablan’s initiatives and the Guides, the AIA Middle Tennessee chapter has harnessed storytelling in season 2 of the Re:Form Tennessee podcast. The podcast brings together emerging professionals and seasoned architects to share personal stories. 

The stories center on critical EDI topics that the Guides dedicate chapters to, including workplace culture, mentorship, and engaging community. This format depicts sincere differences and lessons learned as well as hopes for the future. Ultimately, the podcast’s goal is to provide memorable stories that support the architecture profession’s ongoing dedication to equity.  

In an episode of the podcast, NOMAnash founder Valarie Franklin Hernandez, AIA, NOMA, recounted a pivotal mentorship moment: when she met a female African American architect for the first time. Episode counterpart and NOMAnash vice president Whitney Johnson, Assoc. AIA, NOMA, emphasized that it could be isolating to not have mentors who understood the obstacles encountered by an African American female in a white, male-dominated field. (Only 1% of architects are Black women.)

Johnson stressed that finding a mentor who has similar lived experience provides one with a toolkit on navigating challenges, both known and unknown. The sentiment that Hernandez and Johnson shared highlighted the need for these types of storytelling platforms. Encouraging, informing and supporting the next generation of architects, who may face a feeling of isolation, is critical for their path through the profession.  

Storytelling in person

The Re:Form TN podcast inspired a session titled Open Mic: Voices that Resonate at AIA Tennessee’s 2025 Conference on Architecture in Nashville. The conference’s theme of Reverb + Resonance inspired four storytellers to share their work and experiences, again centered around topics found in the Guides. 

One of the storytellers, LRK’s Sophorn Olsen, AIA, shared: “I’ve always been fascinated by the diverse paths that lead people to architecture. When I reflect on my own journey, I truly believe that everything happens for a reason–and where we come from shapes the mission we carry forward.”

Olsen was referring to her family’s journey to the United States after surviving the devastating genocide of the Khmer Rouge reign in war-torn Cambodia. After years as refugees, her family landed in Alabama, and Olsen found herself at Auburn University, joining Rural Studio in her second year. She shared her appreciation for Sambo Mockbee, Rural Studio’s co-founder, as well as his embodiment of the citizen architect, believing that “Everyone, rich or poor, deserves a shelter for the soul.”  

Olsen continued to share her dynamic path as an architect, navigating licensure, motherhood, and economic uncertainty. She concluded with a powerful statement: 

If I were to define architecture, I’d focus on the role of the architect—not the object. Architects come from all walks of life and different perspectives, which is important, but what unites us is our role as public servants. We don’t just design buildings; we design solutions, foster community, and lead change.

Olsen’s perspective is not only a testament to the impact of storytelling but also a testament to the impact of a diverse profession. 

6 ways to embrace storytelling as a vehicle for a more equal, diverse, and inclusive profession.   
As local AIA chapters, firms, and individuals seek to create more inclusive environments, the following actionable approaches, drawn from the Guides, outline how to integrate storytelling effectively.

• Congregate: Form spaces like informal monthly dialogue groups, chapter EDI committees, or firm-led EDI committees where members share personal narratives tied to professional challenges. For example, a local chapter could use the new Guides for Equitable Practice Activation Kit to host a session inspired by the Guides’ section on intercultural competency, inviting participants to recount experiences with bias or exclusion. This type of event can build community culture and trust.
• Cultivate mentorship: Leverage the Guides to set up in-depth discussions between mentorship pairings in informal or formal programs. One example of this in action is providing mentorship guides or training with EDI-specific conversation starters. Encourage confidentiality agreements in formal programs for increased safety and trust among participants.  
• Elevate stories: Utilize social media campaigns, newsletters, and testimonials to spotlight narratives by focusing on how subjects from the Guides are contributing to success. For example, a firm could feature a client’s story of resilient community development in a case study, echoing the Guides’  chapter on community engagement.
• Share: Proactively offer your own story to normalize vulnerability and inspire others.  
• Inquire: Seek out narratives from colleagues, clients, or community stakeholders to uncover insights on equity gaps. Use open-ended questions like, “What experiences shaped your path in the built environment?”
• Create: Develop a meaningful piece of programming with your chapter or firm. Design events or resources that are tethered to EDI education, such as a podcast series, webinar, interviews, or conference sessions, and embed storytelling as a critical piece of their narratives.  

Brittany Hodge is a project architect with EOA Architects.