Mona is a licensed architect with more than twenty-three years of experience in the built environment. Her work addresses the urgencies of climate change by offering design solutions that weave together resilience, equity, health, and biodiversity considerations. As part of these efforts, Mona remains focused on designing and building projects that are enabled to draw down carbon emissions—rather than contribute to them—through material performance, circular economy, and regenerative design and development. In combining big-picture systems thinking with attention to detail, Mona works together with clients to craft a carbon impact vision, fit with both ambitious and achievable goals that support their ideal outcomes for the project.
Mona is the Chair of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Committee on Regenerative Environments (CORE), and Co-Chair of the RAIC Climate Action Engagement and Enablement Plan (CAEEP) steering committee. Prior to joining DIALOG, she was Executive Director of the Cascadia Green Building Council, responsible for the successful leadership and operation of the International Living Future Institute’s bioregional program. Simultaneously, she was Vice-President, Education and Events, responsible for overseeing, planning, curating, and producing the organization’s internal-external education and events including their annual, international signature event, the Living Future unConference. Her influence has created a ripple effect throughout DIALOG’s culture and practice, design approach and delivery, as well as performance on projects locally, regionally, and internationally.
Where do you find inspiration?
I am a lifelong learner and adventurer. I have traveled to many countries. I have lived, studied, and worked abroad in Venezuela where I lived with a family for a year, Japan where I taught English as a second language, and Chile where I studied architecture with an experimental school that fostered a dialogue across many artistic and disciplinary fields. I am fluent in three languages. French is my mother tongue. I am also fluent in English, and Spanish. I still claim to have Japanese language survival skills from the years I lived in Japan. Being immersed in other cultures and languages has taught me to broaden my perspective and continues to motivate me both personally and professionally.
How do you hope your work positively impacts our communities and environment?
Through my professional and community leadership experience, I have kept pace with the latest sustainability trends and best practices as I enjoy learning in this continually evolving discipline. I am passionate about engaging and staying on the ever-evolving leading edge of sustainability and climate action to create a ripple effect through culture and practice, design approach and delivery, ultimately accelerating the scale and pace of change within the built environment.
What’s one item you won’t leave home without (that’s not a cellphone)?
My water bottle!
What’s your favourite way to give back to the community?
I have volunteered for all types of organizations for as long as I can remember! One of my more memorable experiences was being a construction volunteer for Habitat for Humanity in the Philippines. We dug foundations with shovels, mixed concrete by hand and laid brick for some modest homes in a small community.
Master of Architecture
University of Manitoba
Bachelor of Environmental Design
University of Manitoba
Universidad Católica
