Talent Spotlight: Ramak Khaleghi
International Women's Day 2023
Name: Ramak Khaleghi
Role: Senior Technical Designer / Project Manager
Studio: Seattle
What’s something a well-designed building/space can’t exist without? Taking the last extra mile to ensure an additional finishing/refining layer with a bird-eye view of activities, life cycle, and productivities supported by the space. (This is then called well-designed since it encompasses the detailed needs of the customer from various aspects.)
What was the proudest moment in your professional life? It’s definitely been the times when I walked a completed project I was part of. Observing the joy and satisfaction on users’ faces while working in their new space ranks highest for me.
What have you learned much from? Listening to people. It’s a powerful tool of communication I have always tried to apply in my profession intentionally. Not only does it help me to gain more knowledge from different experts, but it also helps team members, clients, and other stakeholders to feel heard and included at all times.
Do you have any words to live by? “We’ll worry about it when the time comes.” I’d like to live by that mantra as not everything has to be addressed immediately, and when tomorrow comes, we will get to it which keeps me on track with prioritization and handling work stress.
How would you describe your approach to design? My goal is to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. The world is awash in details of colour, form, and sound. I try to draw people’s attention to various details so they can gain new perspectives from the space; they can then let those details be experienced through their senses to see, touch, and hear with new sets of eyes, skin, and ears.
Are there any words of wisdom from a client that stuck with you? One of my colleagues once reminded me that “we are not building another Taj Mahal, it’s just an office.” This was truly a pearl of wisdom I took to heart and have been advocating to stay more people-oriented than task-oriented. Sometimes you can go beyond perfectionism down the rabbit hole and ignore the client’s actual urgency to see what’s coming together at all and lose their trust while being stressed out.
What might people be surprised to know about you outside of work? I definitely won’t come off as someone who would enjoy singing and karaoke. I actually used to sing as a soprano for a choir group several years back.