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Lead, Grow, Thrive: Advancing Your Career & Practice

THUR-B07: How It Started…How It’s Going: Stories and Struggles in Practice

Thursday, September 17, 2026
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM PT
1.50 PDH, LA CES/non-HSW

Photos of impeccable landscapes earn accolades, but they can mask the hard decisions, false starts, trials, and tribulations of everyday practice. Three women leaders from different generations and geographies trace the arc of their careers, sharing stories and struggles from the frontlines of practice that can inspire all to persevere.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Examine how three practitioners formed their practices and what shaped their motivation to persevere despite many challenges.
  • Build resilience strategies for a complex and ever-changing business environment and identify approaches to address challenges specific to women-owned practices.
  • Analyze the complexity and contradictions that converge in building a practice, and how different practice goals translate into different design business models.
  • Compare the stories of three different founders to identify diverse pathways through landscape architectural practice applicable to your own career.