Kimberly Dowdell is a native of Detroit, Michigan who joined HOK New York in 2008 as an architectural technician. Recently, she transitioned into a public relations role that is focused on articulating and promoting the unique value that HOK brings to the design process.

Before joining HOK, Kimberly lived in Washington, D.C. for two years and spent time working for GSA and ASG (the acronym reversal was unintentional). While she appreciated her DC experience, there is nothing quite like the excitement and opportunity embodied by the “Big Apple”.

In her free time, Kimberly likes to hang out with friends and have a good time participating in random activities throughout the city. She spends most of her time away from work on activities related to the design profession in one way or the other – volunteering her time to the ACE mentorship program and serving as the Northeast Regional University Liaison for the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). Kimberly also is an associate member of the AIA, a member of New York’s AREW (Association of Real Estate Women), CREW, ULI and CoreNet Global. Kimberly earned a Bachelor of Architecture at Cornell University and she is a graduate member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Her career as an hoklife.com blogger began in early 2009.

In the past, Kimberly represented young design professionals as one of six “Emerging Leaders” at the annual Leadership Summit on Sustainable Design. Hosted by the Design Futures Council, the summit facilitated the discussion of 100 delegates to address how the design profession can be more responsive to the needs of the environment.

While Kimberly is committed to sustainability, she wants her position on the subject to be clear, “Sustainable design is really about the integration of social, economic and environmental factors to create the most productive design solutions.” Kimberly co-founded an organization called SEED (Social, Economic, Environmental Design) to address “Triple Bottom Line” issues and to, “Advance the right of every person to live in a socially, economically and environmentally healthy community.”