Karyn Reddick, Assoc. AIA, is a planner with the City of Montgomery, Alabama. Her focus is on the revitalization and preservation of the National Voter’s Right Trail. She is a native of Selma, Alabama. She was inspired to pursue architecture as a career by the numerous vernacular architecture that was the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. She received her Bachelor of Architecture from Southern University A & M College in Baton Rouge, LA. She received her Master of Business Administration Specialization in Project Management for American InterContinental University.
She has worked in various capacity in the built environment across the southeast from an Intern Architect, Instructor and a community organizer. As a Project Manager in Pensacola, Florida, she oversaw the transformation of the abandon childhood home of General Daniel “Chappie” James into a museum.
Karyn is a professional artist. She is inspired to the work in the community serving as an advisor to Sisters Anointed to Lead Together (SALT) an organization that mentors teenage girls in Pensacola, FL area. She was a part of the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliation Economic Design Team that works on racial equity in her hometown.
Domonique Jiles is a proud 2020 graduate of Tuskegee University, receiving her Bachelor’s of Architecture with a Minor in Construction Science Management. Her journey through school was hard, but well worth it. Domonique grew up in a small rural community with a population of roughly one thousand. She did not receive much exposure to architecture and design in her community, but she always had a natural inclination for it.
In her personal statement she wrote while applying for the AIA LFRT ARE Scholarship, she recalls sketching designs of our 13’x60′ trailer home reimagined into a modest, yet functional and beautiful space for her family of four. While matriculating through school, she was able to marry her natural inclinations for design with the knowledge she was attaining. She learned that architecture was about creating a better well-being of life that adapted to the needs of a community.
Domonique currently works at an architecture firm in Montgomery, AL while she studies to take the Architect Registration Exam. She hopes to inspire other African American women to pursue a career as an architect. Domonique credits her wonderful mother and late father, as well as her faith in Christ, for how far she has come.
My name is Shanelle Brown and I am a high school senior from Fairhope High School in Fairhope, Alabama. I am the class president of my senior class, vice president of my school’s student government association, a member of National Honor Society, and a member of my school’s marching and concert band. I am honored to be receiving this scholarship and I am thrilled to be using this scholarship to help my future education into architecture. As an architect, I would like to design schools for less fortunate children in urban areas, auditoriums for fine art programs that have nowhere to display their art, facilities for teenagers who suffer from depression and other disorders, and so many other ideas that could benefit the future of our upcoming generations. There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t thought about becoming an architect. It will take a large amount of dedication, but I will do whatever it takes to achieve my ambitions.