2021 Women in CRE: Kenne Shepherd, Kenne Shepherd Interior Design Architecture PLLC

Name: Kenne Shepherd, AIA, LEED AP ID+C, WELL AP

Title: Principal

Company Name: Kenne Shepherd Interior Design Architecture PLLC

How do you contribute to your community or your profession?
Through active participation in CREW New York. I have been a member of the organization for 20 years and have been a committee chair for eight of those years and co-chaired our 40^th Anniversary Gala. I am currently vice-chair of the Legacy Leaders Committee and recently organized and hosted our first in-person event, a cocktail at Nordstrom’s women store bringing our members together for the first time in over a year and a half. We enjoyed a presentation by Chris Wanless, VP and general manager of Nordstrom, who gave us a behind the scenes look at what makes Nordstrom unique as a retailer. Following that John Seery, customer and community relationship manager, gave us a look at some of their favorite fashion designers.

Why should women consider a career in commercial real estate and related services?
A career in architecture and interior design is both immensely challenging and satisfying. The opportunities in the field are quite diverse. My preference is interior architecture not only because of the faster pace, but also for the ability to directly impact and enhance the lives of our clients through the environments we create. I have always had a wide range of interests and working as an architect allows me to draw on my background in construction and design while incorporating my interests in lighting design, psychology, the dynamics of human behavior and the impact of the environment on health and wellbeing. Beyond that I love the level of detail and complexity required to design luxury projects.

Tell us a thing or two about you that is NOT on your resume or LinkedIn profile?
Early in my career I worked onsite in construction for two large contractors. The first, in Charlotte, N.C., was for a large general contractor who at the time was building several high-rise buildings in the city. Among other responsibilities, I designed their new office building. Sometime later, after moving to Kenai Alaska, I worked onsite for a large international petrochemical contractor on the construction of a refinery in Kenai. Both opportunities gave me an in-depth understanding of the construction process and the dynamics of building. These experiences have been invaluable to my work as an architect, especially as a women in architecture. They gave me a much deeper understanding of the construction process than I obtained either in college or working in the profession.