Celebrating the Women of Craig O'Connell Architecture
In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day (which was March 8), we are inspired to share about all the incredible work that our team does here at Craig O’Connell Architecture. In fact, aside from Craig, it’s ALL women!
“It just happened that way,” muses Craig. He didn’t intentionally only pick women for his team, he picked the most talented people for the job. “What I really like about my team right now is that when I need to step away, I can trust that things are going to get done.”
Out of all the women he works with, Craig’s been collaborating with his wife Jessica the longest – she left her job as a nonprofit communications director in 2013 to help grow the business and set up a marketing program as the Chief Marketing Officer.
Jessica, Craig’s wife, was the first woman on the team as Chief Marketing Officer. photo: Melissa McArdle
"We were not intending to have an all-women team,” Jessica says. “But Craig was recently talking about how talented everyone is and how he feels supported. And then we suddenly realized that aside from Craig we are 100% women, from our architecture team and our ‘go-to' structural engineer to our copywriter, bookkeeper, tax accountant and more. This happened completely organically and I personally think it's great because I love collaborating with women and lifting other women up.”
A Team Empowered by Women
In addition to Jessica, the talented group is equipped with female consultants such as tax accountant Nancy VanHorn, bookkeeper Kamaljit Bains and copywriter and social media specialist, Brittany Nelson. Other women on the team include go-to structural engineer Lisa Tse, Revit expert Rhea Dulipsingh and senior architectural consultant Theresa Martin. Alexandra Barrett works with the studio as a designer, job captain, permit expeditor and is Craig’s overall right-hand woman on her way to becoming a licensed architect.
Craig and Alexandra Barrett, who works as a designer and job captain, at the just-finished Inner Richmond project.
A Chat with Alexandra Barrett, Craig O’Connell Architecture Job Captain and Designer
After grad school at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, working at a big firm and then freelancing, Alexandra was recommended to Craig by a mutual friend and colleague. They started working together about three years ago. Craig raves about her work as a talented designer who produces quality work and establishes great relationships with clients.
“Working on that very first project was great,” she says. “Each architect has different templates, different paces, and different styles, and it just was a really good fit with Craig. He’s motivating, patient, and is really there to make sure everyone around him is doing the best they can; he has a really good guiding hand with that.”
Her favorite project? “One that I’ve been at from the beginning all the way through final construction was a full home remodel for a family in the Inner Richmond district of San Francisco. It’s one of the first projects I’ve seen from birth all the way through completion. It was cool to be a part of the meetings and every step of the process, and then take pictures of everything after it was installed. That type of thing is really special.”
She’s now taking the reins on some residential remodels that she’s excited about.
In addition to working with Craig, Alexandra teaches a studio at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, where she got her master’s degree, and this semester is teaching a sustainability course for both undergraduate and graduate students. Craig actually sat in a couple of her studio working panels to help support students and give them feedback on projects.
As far as being in a male-dominated industry with an all-women team, Alexandra reflects it’s unique and “really empowering.”
“It is a pretty male-dominated field on the design side, architecture side and construction side, so being a part of a team that is mainly organically women, which just kind of happened that way, is awesome. It’s really empowering and really cool to see that it wasn’t deliberate; he just found these talented people who work well together. This is the only time I’ve seen this happen, and I’d love to see more of this in other studios,” she says. In school, Alexandra mentions she did have a couple of great female professors, but it was primarily male-dominated in both the student body and in the faculty.
“I really enjoy being part of this team. We have great projects and Craig is always really enthusiastic, supportive, and it’s been a really wonderful experience in my career.”
Craig at home with his two children, Wyatt and Farrah. photo: Melissa McArdle