Unruly Practices: Navigating Non-Traditional Careers in Design and Social Impact Real Estate

How can an architectural education prepare you to break away from traditional practice and tackle complex systems like social impact housing, community advocacy, and non-traditional careers?

In this episode of Practice Disrupted, host Evelyn Lee sits down with Sarai Williams, Vice President of Housing Strategy and Partnerships at BDP Impact Real Estate. A thread that keeps surfacing this season is what happens to the people who receive an architectural education and then choose not to practice traditionally. Sarai’s multi-disciplinary journey, spanning a Bachelor of Architecture from Howard University, a dual Master’s in City & Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture from Penn, and years in architectural consulting and landscape design, offers a compelling look at how design thinking extends far beyond the drafting board.

Sarai reflects on realizing early in her education that she was better suited as an editor and advocate than a traditional "starchitect". From performing forensic architecture in consulting firms to leading housing initiatives that keep people successfully housed across a national portfolio, she shares how systems thinking from architecture applies directly to real estate development and homelessness mitigation. She also dives into the art of the informational interview, a critical tool that shaped her career, and how asking candid questions opens doors to unconventional opportunities.

The conversation also explores Unruly Practices, a graduate elective Sarai co-taught at the University of Pennsylvania. Designed around unprepared guest panelists who answer unfiltered student questions, the course helped students channel career anxiety into actionable strategies for grant writing, entrepreneurship, and alternative paths. Sarai and Evelyn close on the future of housing, emphasizing the need for architects to strip away ego, become better listeners, and build multi-disciplinary teams with professionals outside design.

"The future of housing relies on architects stripping away ego, becoming better listeners, and building multi-disciplinary teams with professionals outside design." - Sarai Williams

This episode serves as a powerful reminder that an architecture degree is a versatile toolkit for systems thinking, problem-solvingv, and advocacy. By stepping outside traditional boundaries and collaborating across disciplines, architects can drive meaningful social impact where it is needed most.

Guest:

Sarai Williams is Vice President of Housing Strategy and Partnerships at BDP Impact Real Estate, where she works at the intersection of social impact real estate development and homelessness response. She earned her Bachelor of Architecture from Howard University and a dual Master's in City & Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. With past experience in architectural consulting, forensic design, and landscape architecture at Olin, Sarai also spent four years co-teaching Unruly Practices, an elective at Penn dedicated to helping students navigate non-traditional design careers and systems-level advocacy.

This episode is especially for you if:

You are curious about how to leverage an architectural education in non-traditional fields like social impact real estate, urban planning, and advocacy.

You want to master the art of informational interviews to discover new career paths and build authentic professional networks.

You are seeking strategies to manage career burnout, set healthy boundaries, and transition from traditional design practice.

You want to understand how systems thinking from design school can be applied to complex social challenges like veteran homelessness and affordable housing retention.

You believe that the future of architecture relies on cross-disciplinary collaboration, active listening, and community-centered problem solving.