My mom was an artist and my dad was a carpenter. I grew up helping them do hands-on remodeling work in our home, and discovered early on that I wanted to become an architect. I earned my Bachelor of Architecture at Cornell University, becoming a licensed architect at the unusually young age of twenty-six. After college and a year working in Boston, I drove across the country to join the LA architecture scene in 2002. For years, I’d dreamed of owning my own firm, a place where I could pursue meaningful projects and provide the kind of dedicated, personalized design experience you simply won’t find in a large corporate office. My early start led me to found Letter Four with Jeremy Baker, whose construction expertise was the perfect complement to my design skills. I now have more than 20...