Creatives Xplore the Career Paths of Tuskegee University’s Architecture and Construction Science Management Graduates
The Tuskegee University Robert R. Taylor School of Architecture and Construction Science (TSACS) will host its annual Design + Construction Management (D+CM) Expo Monday, January 31st through Friday, February 4th, 2022. The Expo’s mission is to provide students mentorship seminars, interview opportunities, and design-based seminars. This year’s virtual seminar will be open to students and professionals nationally and internationally.
Creative’s XP is excited to partner with TSACS to provide a two-hour XPlore seminar on Friday, February 4th. The seminar will be moderated by TSACS’ own, Jennifer (Taylor) Matthews, 2013 graduate and founder of Creative’s XP. The four featured speakers, highlighted below, are also TSACS graduates and will share their post-graduate career path stories with students and professionals attending this year’s event. Check out the speaker bios below, and register for the D+CM Expo using the button below.
Jennifer T. Matthews, Associate AIA
(Moderator) Creative’s XP Founder and
Architectural Designer @ SS&A Design Collective in Montgomery, Alabama
Jennifer is an Architectural Designer at SS&A Design Collective in Montgomery, Alabama and founder of Creative’s XP. With five + years of healthcare design experience, Jennifer has worked on architectural projects for multiple DC Metro healthcare providers and nationwide government entities. She was awarded the 2018 Healthcare Design Magazine's Educator Honor Award for creating an annual event that introduces architecture students to healthcare design and careers within. Her recent outreach efforts include professional practice seminars, design studio critiques, and managing her professional development platform, Creative's XP.
In 2013, Jennifer graduated from Tuskegee University with a Bachelor of Architecture. In 2020, she acquired a Master of Arts degree in Business Design and Arts Leadership from The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Jennifer served as the 2013-2014 National Vice President of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) and the 2015-2019 National President of the Tuskegee Architecture and Construction Alumni Association (TACAA).
Garrett Spears, Associate AIA
Project Designer @ MOA Architecture in Greenville, South Carolina
“Traditional Practice, Small Firm, Leadership Track”
Garrett graduated from Tuskegee University in 2015 with a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture. During his time at Tuskegee, he served as the local AIAS President and Vice President while helping the chapter organize its first regional conference, the South Quad Conference.
Garrett’s seven-year career includes a specialization in sports and recreation and experience in higher education, healthcare, and community based project. As a highly skilled designer, he uses the latest technology platforms such as Revit, Lumion, Enscape, and BIM (Building Information Modeling) to develop documentation and visualization for clients.
Garrett's passion is using design to help people feel comfortable in their environments. He also enjoys volunteering at schools to teach students about architecture.
Travis Armbrister, LEED AP BD+C | NOMA
Architect @ Perkins+Will in Atlanta, Georgia
“Traditional Practice, Large Firm, Newly Licensed”
Travis Armbrister is a newly licensed Architect at Perkins+Will’s Atlanta, Georgia office. He is from New Providence, Bahamas and came to the United States in 2011 to study architecture at the Tuskegee University Robert R. Taylor School of Architecture & Construction Science (TSACS). During his undergraduate studies, he worked with the local and
national Pre-Alumni Council organizations under the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), acted as Tuskegee University's chapter president of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS), and fulfilled a two year role as student representative on the board of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA).
After graduating in 2016, he has been fortunate to work with a diverse team of designers and engineers in markets such as healthcare, commercial, corporate, K-12, higher education, science, and technology. His focus is to continue learning new and innovative methods to design sustainably to improve the quality of life of his fellow islanders in The Bahamas. In the meantime, he hopes to continue developing new and old friendships and mentorships that he has gained along the way.
Ashley Webb
Project Manager @ Impact Development Management in Atlanta, Georgia
“Traditional Practice, Construction Science Project Management”
In 2013, Ashley obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Science & Management from Tuskegee University and pursued the traditional route of working with top-ranked contractors following graduation. Ashley always knew she wanted to create buildings from a very young age. Now with more than nine years of experience in project management, she has developed a strong background in preconstruction, project controls, and subcontractor management for complex, multi-million dollar projects including higher education, commercial office, data centers, aviation, site utilities and parking decks.
Making a career path change last year, Ashley is now a Project Manager and Owner Representative at IMPACT DM. She oversees day-to-day activities from start to completion (pre-development to closeout), including but not limited to scope buyout; budget, schedule and quality management; and commissioning.
Career Highlight -
Amber Payne
Global Program Manager @ Netflix in Los Angeles, California
“Nontraditional Path - Architecture Background, ”
With an expansive portfolio of over 2.5mil square feet of successfully managed development and construction projects, Amber Payne is well known for her role in managing real estate projects in the technology and entertainment industry. She got her start in project management by accepting her first job offer with Jones Lang LaSalle (now JLL) in Los Angeles, CA, as an Associate Project Manager in 2012 and quickly realized she had a knack for mapping objectives and deadlines to attain a larger goal.
Amber graduated from Tuskegee University with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and a minor in Business. She realized first semester senior year that pursuing a long term career as an architect was no longer a passion of hers and having participated in an urban planning charrette, she knew that she wanted to remain in the real estate and development industry. After being asked to apply for the Associate Project Manager role by a fellow Tuskegee Alumni, Amber was one of 8 graduating seniors to receive a job offer with JLL where she quickly rose in ranks as her organizational and creative thinking skills were recognized.
During her 4 year tenure at JLL, she was able to work with clients like Deloitte, Linked In, Microsoft, NBC Universal, DirecTV, Amazon, Viacom, and Beats by Dre (now Apple) where she provided construction management, tenant improvement, facility improvement, and move management services across Los Angeles and Orange County. In 2016, she left JLL to go work for Uber Technologies as a Senior Program Manager where she was responsible for mapping out the real estate strategies and building out offices, support centers and cloud kitchens throughout the United States and Canada. As Uber prepared to go public, she was also responsible for developing best practices, standardized workflows and template documentation, and financial benchmarking to ensure the team was ready for IPO. In 2020, Amber left Uber to go work for the commercial real estate team at Netflix where she currently leads the Integration Office as a Global Program Manager.