August 24, 2026
From Imagine a Place podcast, August 2026.
By Maria VanDeman, Director of Design Strategy & Host of The Imagine a Place Podcast
This was not just another panel about design or the workplace. It wasn’t stuffy, formal, or forced. It was a group of people coming together around a part of life that is foundational to so many of us, yet rarely talked about at work: motherhood.
Recently, I moderated a panel hosted by IIDA Tennessee, “Mothers of Design: Calling in the Double Shift,” in Knoxville, Tennessee. Three design leaders joined me for a candid conversation about building careers they love while raising families they love, and navigating all of the ambition, responsibility, joy, pressure, and messiness that comes with both.
As an ambitious professional and mother of two young children, this conversation was very personal. It was empowering to hear other women talk openly about their own experiences and to recognize that our lives at work and at home aren’t as separate as we sometimes pretend they are. The empathy, adaptability, leadership, and care required in one can make us better in the other.
And perhaps back-to-school season is the perfect time for this conversation. As calendars fill with projects, travel, school schedules, practices, pickups, and everything in between, I’m reminded that the people designing spaces for others need support, wellbeing, and connection too. Healthy places start with healthy people. If we want to create environments that help people live and work better, we also need to care for the people imagining them.
There were many impactful moments from the panel and conversations that followed, but I’m highlighting three that have stayed with me.
Community matters
One of my favorite moments of the night was towards the end of the event, and someone from the audience encouraged us to simply look around the room and recognize the community of designers and IIDA members there to support one another. It was a beautiful reminder that community is there, but we also have to show up, get involved, and allow ourselves to lean on it.
Julie Dalby, Studio Director at Lauderdale Design Group, spoke about what that support looks like day to day, “ Showing up and showing out for one another every single day… to support one another because you never know what somebody’s going through and what their personal home life needs may be.”
The support also extends beyond our professional community. Barbie Thomas, district sales manager with OFS in Knoxville, stated, “ I think having a partner that can respect and understand your work is just as important… There’s no way you can do it by yourself.” Whether among peers or at home, having people in your corner makes all the difference.
You can have it all, but not necessarily all at once
Careers and families have seasons, and our capacity and priorities naturally shift with them. Recognizing those seasons doesn’t mean letting go of ambition or lowering our aspirations. It means that different parts of our lives will need more from us at different times.
Kelly Reynolds, Principal and Vice President at Johnson Architecture Inc, spoke about what that balance can look like through the small things: “ You can be successful in work and be successful as a mother and as a spouse. It really just takes the balance to get there… For me, it is prioritizing consistent small things with my family.”
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