I first met Devanna Pena in Detroit, during the National Organization of Minority Architect's conference hosted by The Detroit chapter of NOMA. We shared a brief conversation about our top five MC's during a shuttle ride to the Bros Art Ball. That short conversation has blossomed into a friendship which has led to us supporting each other in various initiatives aimed at increasing diversity in the field of architecture. When Devanne was announced as the editor of The NOMA Magazine, I was eager to join the team of volunteers to support her in having her visions for the publication come to life. Devanne's design thinking is out of the box. She is a Hip Hop Architect. If you see her, ask her about her presentation with Perkins & Will, where she represents the stages of her career with Tupac tracks. Earlier this year, I called on Devanne to help me facilitate The Universal Hip Hop Museum Design Cypher in The Bronx, where we joined hip hop pioneers, community members, high school students and others to create the programming and conceptual vision of The Universal Hip Hop Museum.
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